Part One
Meanwhile, before the castle collapsed, Sophia was still searching for Bonnie.
Nothing had gone her way.
Then, through the main link, she heard the announcement.
Bonnie had been found.
Sophia stopped walking.
For a moment, anger burned through her.
She had wanted Rose to die.
But now…
She would have to think of something else.
As Sophia headed back toward the truck, the ground trembled beneath her feet.
Once.
Then again.
She remembered something.
Rose and Claudette had arrived at the base together.
They were close.
Very close.
A plan began to form in Sophia's mind.
Slowly…
she grinned.
And waited.
⸻
The water dagger pierced Claudette's body.
At the same moment, the castle collapsed.
Stone.
Brick.
Dust.
Everything came crashing down on top of Rose as she held tightly to Claudette.
From inside the truck, everyone turned toward the sound.
Their faces went pale.
"ROSE!"
The creatures charged.
"EVERYONE, BUCKLE IN!"
Out of the thirty-two rescued people inside the truck, seven knew how to create barriers.
They immediately raised their hands.
One barrier surrounded the truck.
Then another.
Then another.
Five layers of magical protection formed around them.
The Lizardmen attacked first.
Their swords slammed against the barriers again and again.
The Trolls lifted massive boulders and hurled them toward the truck.
BOOM!
The entire vehicle shook.
"There are too many of them!" the driver shouted.
He stepped on the gas.
The truck didn't move.
Above the ruins of the castle, the Lich hovered silently.
Waiting.
Watching.
Then…
he felt it.
A vibration.
A pulse.
Another.
Stronger.
Stronger.
STRONGER.
The Lich slowly turned toward the ruins.
Something was coming.
⸻
BOOM!
The rubble exploded.
Stone and debris flew in every direction.
A black aura erupted from beneath the ruins.
Fire twisted through it.
Darkness and flame fought against each other with rage and unbearable heat.
Rose rose from the ruins.
Claudette was still in her arms.
For one moment, Rose did nothing.
She did not look at the creatures.
She did not look at the truck.
She did not look at the destruction around her.
Her mind had gone completely blank.
There was only Claudette.
The weight of her body.
The silence where her voice should have been.
Rose's lips parted.
No sound came out.
Dark, bloodlike tears slowly spilled from her eyes.
The air changed.
Pressure rolled outward from Rose in violent waves.
The ground cracked beneath the ruins.
Trees bent away from her.
The creatures stopped attacking.
One by one, they turned toward Rose.
Then they ran.
All of them.
Except one.
The Lich.
Even he moved back.
For the first time, fear entered his ancient face.
Every instinct told him to leave.
To run.
To put as much distance between himself and Rose Maxwell as possible.
But he stayed.
Because he had waited far too long for this moment.
And even if the power before him terrified him…
he would not leave before he had the chance to bow.
Another pulse struck the world.
Across the globe, members of the Blackwell bloodline suddenly froze.
They felt her.
Rose Maxwell.
Again.
⸻
Slowly, Rose began floating higher into the sky.
Then she screamed.
It was not a scream of anger.
It was not a scream of fear.
It was the sound of a heart breaking.
Black tears streamed from Rose's eyes.
Fire danced across her skin.
Darkness surrounded her.
The two powers twisted around each other, forming a massive sphere of fire and shadow.
The earth shook.
Trees bent violently.
Snow melted beneath her.
The creatures fled farther into the darkness.
None of them dared to turn back.
The Lich remained near the ruined castle.
He moved away from Rose…
but he did not run.
He did not hide.
He simply watched.
And waited.
Because he had been waiting a very long time…
to bow before the most powerful Blackwell.
⸻
Inside the truck, everyone stared through the windows.
Rose was floating above the destroyed castle.
But only one person could truly see what was happening.
Selena.
Her third eye opened.
The moment she looked at Rose—
it slammed shut.
Selena screamed.
"DRIVE!"
Everyone turned toward her.
"What?"
"DRIVE!" Selena screamed again. "DRIVE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"
The driver stared at her.
"But Rose—"
"IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE, DRIVE!"
The pain Selena had felt from Rose was unlike anything she had ever experienced.
The driver slammed his foot onto the gas.
This time…
the truck moved.
None of the creatures attacked them.
They were too afraid.
The truck sped away, leaving Rose behind with her grief.
Her madness.
And her power.
⸻
Rose screamed Claudette's name.
The sound shook the earth.
Far beneath the frozen ground…
something heard her.
Something ancient.
Something enormous.
The burial ground began to move.
The earth cracked.
Snow exploded into the air.
Then—
ROOOOOAAAAAR!
A massive creature burst from beneath the ground.
Its roar shattered everything around it.
Windows cracked in nearby towns.
Buildings trembled.
People rushed outside, believing an earthquake had struck.
Then came another sound.
A piercing cry from the sky.
A little girl looked up.
Her eyes widened.
"Mommy…"
She pointed toward the darkness above them.
"Look!"
Her mother followed her finger.
The little girl smiled.
"It's a dragon."
Everyone looked up.
A massive black dragon shot across the sky.
Its scales shimmered beneath the moonlight as it flew faster and faster toward the source of the pain.
Toward Rose.
The dragon felt everything she felt.
Her grief.
Her rage.
Her heartbreak.
It rushed toward her through the storm of darkness and fire.
It did not understand Rose's pain.
It only knew one thing.
She was hurting.
And because she was hurting…
everything around her had to burn.
⸻
Rose looked down at Claudette.
She already knew.
She had known from the moment the dagger pierced Claudette's heart.
Claudette was gone.
She had died in Rose's arms.
"No…"
Rose shook her head.
"No, no, no…"
She had promised.
She had promised to protect her.
And she had failed.
The more Rose thought about it, the louder she screamed.
Her powers exploded out of control.
Fire spread across the forest.
But this was not ordinary fire.
It did not weaken.
It did not die.
It burned like living destruction.
The forest began to disappear beneath endless flames.
Then the dragon reached her.
It circled Rose and roared.
The creature was crying with her.
It did not understand the feeling tearing through its ancient heart.
It only knew that Rose was crying…
so it cried too.
Slowly, Rose's screaming stopped.
Her power weakened.
She began descending from the sky.
The flames still burned around her as her feet touched the frozen ground.
Rose looked at the dragon.
Then she looked down at Claudette.
Slowly, she laid her on the cold earth.
Rose dropped to her knees.
She pulled Claudette into her arms one final time.
"No…"
Her voice broke.
"Claudette…"
The dark tears continued falling from her eyes.
Not ordinary tears.
Tears of pain.
Tears of grief.
Tears that would stain this moment into Rose's soul forever.
Because Rose Maxwell would make sure of one thing.
She would never forget.
Never.
⸻
Part Two
The truck sped away from the collapsing castle.
Inside, no one spoke.
No one could.
The five layers of protection still surrounded the vehicle, but something had changed.
The pounding stopped.
No more swords struck the barriers.
No more boulders crashed against the truck.
Iris slowly lifted her head.
She looked through the window.
Her face changed.
"Wait…"
Everyone turned toward her.
"The creatures…"
Sergeant Bill looked outside.
The Lizardmen were running.
The Trolls had abandoned their boulders.
Even the creatures that had been surrounding the truck were fleeing in every direction.
But they were not chasing them.
They were running away.
Away from the castle.
Away from whatever had just awakened behind them.
"They're afraid," Iris whispered.
No one answered.
Because everyone could still feel it.
That pressure.
That suffocating force that had swept across the battlefield.
The roar that had shaken the earth.
Sergeant Bill turned toward Selena.
She was sitting with her head between her knees, struggling to breathe.
"Selena."
She didn't respond.
He moved closer.
"Selena, look at me."
Nothing.
He grabbed her shoulders.
"What happened back there?"
Selena's body trembled.
"Why did you tell us to leave Rose?"
Slowly, Selena lifted her head.
Her face had lost all its color.
"That monster…"
Her voice shook.
"That monster was not Rose."
The truck fell silent.
Selena stared at Sergeant Bill.
"That thing was not even close to the person we know."
Across from her, James said nothing.
His hands were still trembling.
He had heard it.
Through the chaos.
Through the roar.
Through the sound of the castle collapsing.
A name.
Claudette.
He remembered the way it had been screamed.
It had sounded like Rose.
But there had been something inside her voice that he had never heard before.
Pain.
James looked around the truck.
Once.
Then again.
His heart began pounding.
"Where's Claudette?"
Everyone froze.
Sergeant Bill slowly turned toward him.
"What?"
"Claudette," James said louder. "Where is she?"
People began looking around.
Heads turned.
Names were called.
The rescued survivors pressed themselves against the walls as everyone searched the crowded truck.
But Claudette was not there.
"Did anyone see her get on?"
No answer.
"Was she with Rose?"
Still no answer.
Then Austin spoke.
"I…"
Everyone looked at him.
"I think she was waiting for Rose near the castle entrance."
Benny's face went pale.
"I remember that too."
Silence.
James slowly lowered his eyes.
Claudette had been waiting for Rose.
Rose had screamed Claudette's name.
Then the roar had come.
Then the creatures had run.
"Guys…"
Everyone turned toward him.
"I think something happened to Claudette."
Selena stopped moving.
James looked at her.
"And whatever scared those creatures…"
His voice became quieter.
"I think that was Rose."
Selena stared at him.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then a broken memory returned.
Something she had seen through the chaos.
A figure.
Red hair.
Someone being held in the air.
"I think…"
Selena pressed both hands against her head.
"I think you're right."
Sergeant Bill stepped closer.
"What did you see?"
"I don't know."
"Selena."
"Everything was happening too fast!" she shouted.
The truck fell silent again.
Selena's voice dropped.
"I couldn't understand what I was seeing."
She closed her eyes.
"But I think I saw Claudette."
James stopped breathing.
"What do you mean?"
Selena opened her eyes.
"Rose was holding her."
Shock spread across every face.
No one knew what to say.
Then Sophia spoke.
"Rose could've survived that?"
Every head turned toward her.
Sophia froze.
For one terrible second, she realized what she had said.
She quickly forced concern onto her face.
"I mean…"
She swallowed.
"If that really was Rose, then we should go back and get her."
"No."
James and Selena spoke at the same time.
James looked toward the back of the truck.
"Something was wrong back there."
"We can't go back," Selena whispered.
Sergeant Bill looked at both of them.
James shook his head.
"Didn't you hear that roar?"
No one answered.
"Didn't you feel the earth shaking?"
Again, silence.
"We were lucky Selena told us to leave."
James looked at everyone.
"If we had stayed…"
He didn't finish.
He didn't have to.
Iris, Ryder, Austin, Benny, and Achelous were still trembling.
None of them could stop their hands from shaking.
They had all felt it.
The pressure.
The suffocation.
The terror.
Even Bonnie sat quietly with one hand over her stomach.
She had no idea what had happened behind them.
But whatever it was…
Her entire body had told her to run.
No one noticed Sophia sitting in the corner.
No one noticed her biting her nails.
No one noticed how hard she was trying to control her breathing.
The castle had collapsed.
Rose should have been dead.
But the creatures had run.
And Sophia could think of only one thing.
Rose survived.
As the truck drew closer to the base, Sergeant Bill opened a mind link.
General Baxter.
His face hardened.
We have a problem.
⸻
Hours passed.
The battlefield became quiet.
The darkness slowly faded as the first light of morning appeared across the ruins.
Rose had not moved.
She still held Claudette.
The dragon remained nearby.
It had not left her.
It lay against the ruined ground, watching Rose in silence.
Every few moments, a soft whimper escaped it.
Rose did not react.
She sat in a daze.
Her mind refused to understand what had happened.
So it kept trying.
Again.
And again.
And again.
She replayed the moment.
The door.
Claudette.
The water.
The attack.
She rocked Claudette gently in her arms.
Her tears had stopped hours ago.
She had cried until there was nothing left.
Now there was only numbness.
Rose looked down.
Water.
The weapon had been made from water.
But where had it come from?
A trap?
Rose stared ahead.
No.
That didn't make sense.
She had walked through that doorway.
So had everyone else.
They had entered through it.
They had come back out through it.
Nothing had happened.
The door had even opened for them.
Then Rose thought about the Blackwell.
Could he have done it?
Her mind immediately rejected the idea.
He had been afraid.
He had run from her.
He had been desperate to escape.
Why would he come back?
Rose closed her eyes.
The moment came back to her.
Claudette waiting by the door.
The truck leaving.
The water.
Rose's eyes opened.
The water had come from behind them.
From the direction of the truck.
Her body went still.
Why then?
Why at the exact moment they were about to leave?
Rose looked down at Claudette.
And something inside her broke all over again.
"Claudette…"
Her voice trembled.
"You weren't the reason."
The dragon lifted its head.
Rose pulled Claudette closer.
"They needed me to stop."
The words left her mouth, and suddenly she couldn't breathe.
The truck.
The attack.
The collapsing castle.
Someone knew.
Someone knew she would never leave Claudette behind.
Rose slowly lifted her eyes toward the direction of the base.
The numbness in her face began to disappear.
Someone had done this.
Someone had used Claudette to keep her there.
But who?
Rose held Claudette tightly against her.
"I have to go back."
The dragon rose.
Rose never took her eyes off the direction of the base.
"I need to know who did this."