I swear I wasn't snooping. People love to slap that label on me, like I walk around with a magnifying glass and a trench coat. Honestly, I just needed air. Lunaris Manor squeezes you from the inside out, like the walls have opinions about your existence. The whole place hums with secrets, and tonight it felt louder than usual.
So yeah, I slipped out during dinner.
Nothing dramatic.
Or… it wasn't supposed to be.
I opened the wrong damn door.
Heat punched me in the face the second I stepped in. Not normal heat, the kind that feels like fire is breathing on you even when you don't see flames. My skin instantly went clammy. The room was almost pitch-black except for red symbols glowing faintly on the floor.
I should've turned around. Anyone sane would've.
But then I heard my mother's voice.
Cold. Flat. Chanting.
My mother doesn't chant. She barely prays over food.
My heart kicked into overdrive, and the room tilted for a second.
"Elara…?" Kael's voice came from deeper inside: low, tense, like he already knew I'd stepped into something I shouldn't have.
I took one slow, shaky step forward.
And there they were: My mother, Victor Lunaris, and two elders I'd only seen during ceremonies.
And Kael standing at the edge of a glowing circle carved into the floor.
In the center of it…., something was moving.
It was breathing and waiting.
My stomach dropped so hard I nearly gagged.
Kael snapped his gaze to me, ice-blue, furious. "Elara, get out—"
Too late.
My foot brushed the edge of the circle. Just barely. The symbols flared so bright I threw a hand over my eyes.
The creature inside lifted its head, slow and wrong, like it wasn't supposed to wake up yet.
I stumbled back into the wall. "What… what the hell is that?"
No one answered.
My mother's chanting cut off.
Victor hissed…., he actually hissed. The creature jerked against invisible restraints.
Kael moved fast. "You shouldn't be here." His voice shook. Kael does not shake. "Elara, look at me, do not panic."
"Don't panic? That thing is moving!"
It growled.
The sound hit somewhere inside my bones, like fear suddenly had a physical weight.
My knees almost gave out. I grabbed the nearest table and sent a tray of silver tools crashing to the floor. The sound echoed through every shadow.
The creature reacted instantly. Its head snapped toward me.
Its eyes glowed amber, it had my eye color, but twisted like something had broken inside them.
"Elara, MOVE!" Kael grabbed my arm.
And that tiny point of contact was enough. Something in the ritual snapped, I felt it, like a wire burning in half.
Victor shouted something that didn't sound human. My mom gasped, the red light around her flickering.
The circle cracked like shattered glass.
The creature lunged.
" Oh sh******" ….. I screamed.
Kael yanked me down just as claws sliced the air above us. The sound alone made every hair on my skin stand up. We hit the ground hard, the breath knocked out of me.
The creature landed where I'd been standing, cracking stone, shaking off whatever was left of the ritual. Its shape rippled, wolf-like but wrong, bones shifting like it couldn't decide what it wanted to be.
Victor yelled, "CONTAIN IT!"
Contain it?
This thing could eat a lot of us for breakfast.
Kael dragged me behind a pillar. His breath was hot and shaky in my ear. "Don't look at its eyes. Keep your head down."
"Why?!" I asked.
"Because it'll know you're scared."
"I AM scared!"
The creature slammed into another pillar, cracking it. Dust rained down on us, this made my heart punch at my ribs, too fast, too hard.
Kael pushed me lower, shielding me with his body. He was warm and shaking.
"Elara… why did you come down here?"
"I was trying to get air!"
"This isn't funny."
"I'm not laughing!"
Victor started chanting again, it was sharper this time. My mom joined him, her voice cracking. The creature only thrashed harder, snarling like the sound hurt it.
Then its head snapped toward us, directly at me and it felt like a punch. This made me forget how to breathe.
Kael cursed and grabbed my jaw, forcing my head down. "Do NOT meet its eyes, damn it!"
"I didn't do it on purpose!" My whole body trembled. "What is that thing?"
"A guardian," he said. "A failed one."
Failed.
Failed at what, staying alive?
The creature charged again.
Victor shouted more words I couldn't understand.
A streak of red light slammed into the creature's side.
It barely flinched.
Kael suddenly pulled me to my feet. "We're running, now!!!!!."
"I can't outrun THAT!"
"No. But I can."
Before I could complain, he dragged me through a side passage. My legs moved on instinct alone. The creature roared behind us, the sound so powerful the walls shook.
Kael slammed into another door with his shoulder.
"Move!" he barked.
I stepped aside. He rammed it again, the wood split. One more hit sent it flying open, and we tumbled into a narrow hallway with one sad flickering light.
Kael shoved the door shut and braced against it. "Elara, run. End of the hall. Now."
"No." I grabbed his arm. "I'm not leaving you."
He looked at me, not angry, not annoyed. Just… scared. The kind of scared people hide.
"The ritual broke because of you," he said quietly. "It's bound to your scent now."
"Bound? To me?"
The creature slammed into the door so hard the wood bowed inward. Kael grunted, muscles straining.
"Elara!" he shouted. "GO!"
Another slam. More cracking wood.
I backed up, my chest felt tight and burning. I was never supposed to see this, any of it.
And now something ancient and furious was hunting me.
The door split, Kael yelled my name and the creature burst through.