Kira's POV
The thing wearing Morgana's face laughed as I scrambled backwards, my heart racing with fear.
"You should see your faces," it said, tilting its head at an odd angle. "Did you really think the most powerful witch in existence would come here personally?"
The puppet's skin started melting like wax, showing something horrible underneath. Not human, not wolf, not anything that should live in our world.
"What are you?" Zander ordered, stepping protectively in front of me.
"I'm a shadow demon," the creature said proudly. "Morgana's best pet. She's been using me to play with you all for months."
My stomach dropped. "Months?"
"Oh yes, little helper. Every person who whispered in your ear about exploring that river? Me. Every helpful stranger who led you toward danger? Me. Every lucky escape that kept you alive just long enough to meet your mate? All me, following Morgana's orders."
The frozen pack members around us started stirring, groaning as feeling returned to their bodies. But Derek was the first to fully recover, and his face twisted with rage when he saw the monster.
"You!" he snarled. "You're the rogue who told me about Zander's magic!"
The devil grinned, showing teeth like broken glass. "Guilty as charged. It was so easy to plant those seeds of doubt. Alphas are always so paranoid about challenges to their power."
"But why?" Papa struggled to his feet, supporting Elder Seraphine. "What does Morgana really want?"
"Oh, that's the beautiful part," the devil said, clapping its hands together. "She doesn't want to rule the world or kill all supernatural beings. That was just the puppet's programming to see how you'd respond."
Ice filled my chest. "Then what does she want?"
"She wants to go home," the devil said simply. "Back to the place where magic comes from. But the doorway has been shut for a thousand years, and it takes an enormous amount of power to break it open."
"What kind of power?" Zander asked, though I could tell he already guessed the answer.
"The kind that comes from a true love bond between life and death magic," the demon said happily. "Specifically, the bond between you two lovebirds when you're in mortal danger."
Understanding hit me like a truck. "She needs us to almost die together."
"Bingo! The more desperate you are, the more powerful your bond becomes. And when you're both on the edge of death, holding to each other as your only hope..." The devil sighed dreamily. "It creates enough magical energy to crack open dimensional barriers."
"So everything that's happened," Zander said slowly, "the hunters, the coup, the resurrection spell - it was all designed to push us to our breaking point."
"You're finally catching on!" the demon said. "And the best part is, you played along perfectly. Fighting for each other, sacrificing for each other, bonding deeper with every disaster. Morgana couldn't have written it better."
Rage burned in my chest. "Where is she?"
"Getting ready for the grand finale, of course." The demon pointed toward the cabin window. "Take a look outside."
I didn't want to look. Every sense screamed that whatever was out there would be worse than anything we'd faced so far. But I had to know.
The forest around the house was gone.
In its place stretched an endless black void filled with whirling stars and floating rocks. We weren't in our world anymore. We were somewhere between worlds, suspended in magical space.
"Welcome to the in-between realm," the demon said cheerfully. "Where magic is strongest and reality is most flexible. Morgana has been pulling this entire area out of your dimension piece by piece."
"That's impossible," Elder Seraphine gasped. "The amount of power required to do that would..."
"Would drain the life force from hundreds of supernatural creatures?" the devil finished. "Yeah, she's been busy. Every pack that's gone strangely quiet over the past year, every coven that vanished overnight, every dragon that disappeared from its hoard - Morgana drained them all to fuel this spell."
The horror of it hit me. "She's been committing genocide."
"Efficient, isn't she? And now, with you two as the final power source, she'll have enough energy to tear open the dimensional barrier permanently."
"We won't do it," Zander said strongly. "We won't help her escape."
"Oh, but you will," the devil said. "Because if you don't, she'll start killing everyone you care about. Your pack, your father, your friends - one by one, slowly and painfully, until you beg to give her what she wants."
As if summoned by the threat, shapes started emerging from the void around us. Dozens of other shadow demons, but these ones were dragging inmates.
I saw pack members from both our areas. Supernatural creatures I didn't recognize. All of them asleep and trapped in magical chains.
"Insurance policies," the demon explained. "Morgana learned long ago that the easiest way to control powerful beings is to threaten the people they love."
"You're monsters," I whispered.
"We're survivors," the demon amended. "Just like you've been for the past ten years. The difference is, we picked the winning side."
A new voice echoed across the void, old and terrible and filled with power that made my bones ache.
"Enough games, pet. Bring them to me."
The real Morgana Vex stepped out of the swirling darkness, and I understood immediately why she'd used dolls before. Looking at her directly was like looking into the heart of a black hole. She wasn't just powerful - she was power itself, raw and hungry and endless.
"Hello, children," she said, and her voice carried the weight of ages. "Thank you for the enjoyable show. But now it's time for the real show."
The shadow demons started moving us forward, but I noticed something that made my heart skip.
Mira's sacrifice had done more than break the puppet's spell. When she touched the fake Morgana, some of her innocent power had rubbed off on me. I could feel it stirring under my skin - pure, clean magic that had never been touched by darkness.
And I had a bad, desperate idea.
"Zander," I whispered, so quietly only he could hear through our mate bond. "When I give the signal, use every bit of death magic you have. Don't hold back."
"Kira, what are you planning?"
"Something stupid," I admitted. "But if it works, we might be able to turn her own trap against her."
"And if it doesn't work?"
I looked at the prisoners, at Papa's worried face, at the endless void where our world used to be.
"Then we die trying to save everyone we love."
Morgana stopped in front of us, her ancient eyes gleaming with pleasure. "Are you ready to open the door home, my dears?"
"Actually," I said, letting Mira's innocent power flow through my voice, "I have a question first."
Morgana raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"What happens to this realm when you leave it?"
"It crashes, of course. Returns to the void it came from."
"Taking everyone in it with you?"
Morgana shrugged. "Collateral damage."
That was all I needed to hear.
"Now, Zander!" I screamed.
But as his death magic burst outward and my healing power rose to meet it, Morgana's laughter echoed through the void.
"Did you really think I wouldn't see that coming?" she said.
And that's when I realized our magic wasn't flowing toward each other.
It was flowing straight into Morgana, making her stronger with every second.