Lyrae's POV
"I'm not going."
The words leave my mouth before I can stop them. Dawn is breaking through my window, and Mom stands in my doorway with my packed gear. Her face is tired but determined.
"Yes, you are," she says quietly. "Your father said you could come, so you're coming."
"That was before I knew it was a trap!" I hiss, glancing down the hall to make sure no one hears. "Mom, please. This is suicide."
"Lower your voice." She steps inside and closes the door. For a moment, her strong mask slips, and I see the fear underneath. "Do you think I don't know it's dangerous? Do you think your father doesn't know?"
"Then why are we going?"
"Because Orion is nine years old and terrified, and he's our son." Her voice cracks. "Because family doesn't leave family behind, no matter the cost. Because if we don't try, we're no better than the monsters who took him."
She grabs my shoulders, her grip tight.
"We stay together, Lyrae. All of us. That's how we survive. That's how we've always survived."
I want to argue. I want to scream that staying together didn't save Caelan. But the look in her eyes stops me.
She's already lost one child. She can't lose another.
"Okay," I whisper. "Together."
Mom pulls me into a fierce hug. "I love you. Whatever happens out there, remember that."
The way she says it—like a goodbye—makes my stomach drop.
Twenty minutes later, we're riding out of the village. There are twelve of us total: Mom, Dad, me, Riven, and eight of Dad's best soldiers. Everyone's armed to the teeth. Everyone except me—Dad gave me a small knife and nothing else.
"You're support, not combat," he said when I protested. "Stay in the middle of the group. Stay quiet. Stay alive."
Now, as we ride toward the border, I feel completely useless. Again.
Riven rides beside me, his face pale but set with determination. He catches my eye and mouths: "Together."
I nod. Together.
The journey takes all morning. The forest grows darker and thicker as we approach enemy territory. The trees here are different—twisted and black, like they've been burned from the inside out. The air tastes like ash.
"This is wrong," I mutter to Riven. "Everything feels wrong."
"I know," he whispers back. "Do you feel it too?"
I do. It's like the earth itself is screaming at us to turn back. Every instinct I have says DANGER, RUN, FLEE. But everyone keeps riding forward like they can't feel it.
Or maybe they can, and they just don't care.
Around midday, Dad raises his hand. We stop.
"We're at the border," he announces. "Ashborn territory starts half a mile ahead. We rest here for one hour, then we cross at sunset. Questions?"
One of the soldiers—a woman named Kira—speaks up. "Sir, our scouts reported unusual Ashborn activity in this sector. Are we sure they don't know we're coming?"
"They don't know," Dad says firmly. "Our intelligence is solid. We have the element of surprise."
Liar, I think. You know it's a trap. So why are we still going?
I watch Dad's face carefully, and suddenly I understand. He DOES know it's a trap. But he's betting on his team being good enough to fight through it. He's betting our lives on being faster and smarter than the enemy.
He's wrong.
I know it in my bones.
While everyone sets up camp, I wander to the edge of the clearing. My hands are shaking. That strange feeling is getting stronger—like invisible fingers are tugging at my chest, pulling me toward something.
I close my eyes and try to focus on it. The feeling leads... north? West? I can't tell. But it's urgent. Desperate.
"What are you doing?"
I jump. Mom appeared beside me without making a sound.
"I..." How do I explain this without sounding crazy? "I feel something. Like a warning. Mom, we shouldn't cross that border."
Her expression softens. "I know you're scared. We all are. But—"
"No, it's not fear. It's something else." I grab her hand and press it to my chest. "Feel it. The earth is trying to tell us something."
Mom pulls her hand back gently. "Lyrae, there's nothing—"
"Please!" Tears burn my eyes. "I know I'm not a warrior like Caelan was. I know I'm not brave or strong. But I can feel things others can't. And right now, every part of me is screaming that if we cross that border, we're all going to die."
For a moment, Mom actually seems to consider it. Then she shakes her head.
"Your father has made his decision. We trust him."
"Even if he's wrong?"
"Especially then. Because that's what family does."
She walks back to camp, leaving me alone at the edge.
I stay there until sunset, that warning feeling growing stronger and stronger. By the time Dad orders us to move out, I feel sick to my stomach.
We cross the border in silence. The moment we step into Ashborn territory, something changes. The air gets hotter. The shadows get darker. And that pulling feeling in my chest becomes a scream.
"Dad," I call out. "Stop. Please, stop."
"Not now, Lyrae."
"But—"
"I said NOT NOW."
We keep moving deeper into enemy land. The forest is completely silent—no birds, no insects, nothing. Just us and the sound of our own breathing.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, my instincts chant.
Riven rides up beside me. His face is white. "Do you hear that?" he whispers.
"Hear what?"
"Exactly. Nothing. No sounds at all."
He's right. The forest is too quiet. Like everything living has fled.
Or is hiding.
"Dad!" I yell, louder now. "We need to turn back!"
"Lyrae, I swear if you don't—"
The arrow comes out of nowhere.
It flies past Dad's head, missing by inches, and buries itself in the tree behind him. Everyone freezes.
On the arrow's shaft, a message is carved in rough letters: "WELCOME TO YOUR GRAVE."
For one heartbeat, nobody moves.
Then the forest explodes.
Arrows rain down from every direction. Something detonates to our left, and fire erupts through the trees. Soldiers scream. Horses panic and bolt.
"AMBUSH!" Dad roars. "DEFENSIVE FORMATION!"
But it's too late. We're surrounded. I see shadows moving in the smoke—dozens of them. Hundreds of them.
The Ashborn were waiting.
Riven's horse rears up, throwing him to the ground. I scream his name and jump off my own horse, running to him. An arrow flies past my head, so close I feel the wind.
"LYRAE!" Mom's voice cuts through the chaos. "RUN!"
But I can't leave Riven. I grab his arm and pull him to his feet. Around us, the world is fire and blood and screaming.
A shadow materializes from the smoke. An Ashborn warrior, tall and massive, with a sword bigger than my whole body. His eyes lock on me and Riven.
He smiles.
"Found you," he says.
The warrior raises his sword. I push Riven behind me, even though I have nothing but a small knife. Even though I know I'm about to die.
The sword comes down—
Another explosion rocks the ground. The warrior stumbles. And in that split second, someone grabs my wrist and yanks me sideways.
"Move!" a soldier yells—it's Kira. She fires an arrow past my head, hitting the warrior in the shoulder. "Get to the rally point! NOW!"
She pushes me and Riven toward the trees. We run, stumbling over roots and rocks. Behind us, the sounds of battle rage on. I hear Dad shouting orders. I hear Mom screaming my name.
But we keep running because that's what she told us to do.
We crash through the forest for what feels like hours but is probably only minutes. Finally, Riven collapses against a tree, gasping for air.
"Where... where are the others?" he pants.
I look back. Through the trees, I can see the orange glow of fire. Hear the distant sounds of fighting.
"I don't know," I whisper.
That's when the ground beneath us shakes. Not from an explosion. From something else.
Something big.
The trees in front of us bend and crack. Something massive is moving through the forest. Coming straight toward us.
Riven grabs my hand. "Lyrae, we need to—"
The creature bursts through the treeline.
It's not a person. It's not even a normal animal. It's like a wolf, but three times bigger, with skin that looks like cooling lava. Cracks run through its body, glowing red-hot from the inside. Its eyes are pure fire.
An ash-wolf. The deadliest predator in Ashborn territory.
And it's staring right at us.
"Don't move," I breathe to Riven. "Don't even breathe."
The ash-wolf takes one step forward. Then another. Its breath comes out in puffs of smoke.
Behind it, more shapes emerge from the darkness. More ash-wolves. An entire pack.
We're trapped. No weapons. No help. No way out.
The lead wolf opens its mouth, showing teeth like daggers.
And then it lunges.