Kael's POV
The power explosion blinds me.
Silver and black light erupts from Mira like a star going supernova. Marcus screams—actually screams—as the stolen energy he's trying to reclaim tears away from him instead. It flows outward in all directions, thousands of glowing threads connecting to nothing and everything at once.
"NO!" Marcus roars. "What are you doing? STOP!"
But Mira doesn't stop. She stands in the center of the chaos, her eyes pure white, her hair floating wild around her. She looks terrifying and beautiful and completely out of control.
"The souls want to go home," she whispers, but her voice echoes like thunder. "I'm letting them go."
Morgana lunges forward, her face twisted with rage. "You stupid girl! Do you know what you've done? Marcus will kill us all!"
She raises her hand, and I see dark magic gathering—enough to tear Mira apart.
My body moves before my brain catches up.
I throw myself in front of Mira, shadow blades raised to block. Morgana's blast hits me square in the chest. Pain explodes through my ribs. I taste blood. The world tilts sideways as I fall.
Worth it, I think as darkness creeps into my vision. At least I saved her.
Then Mira screams my name, and her power detonates.
The silver light swallows everything.
I'm not in the apartment anymore.
I'm standing in a beautiful house I've never seen before. Sunlight streams through windows. Flowers grow in pots along the windowsills. A woman with silver hair sits in a rocking chair, singing softly to a baby in her arms.
The baby is Mira. I know it somehow, the same way I know this is a memory.
"She's beautiful, Elena," a man says, walking into the room. He's tall and kind-looking, with the same warm eyes as Mira. "Just like her mother."
The silver-haired woman—Elena, Mira's mother—smiles up at him. "She's going to be powerful, love. More powerful than both of us combined."
"Then we'll teach her to use her gifts wisely." He kneels beside them, touching the baby's tiny hand. "To heal, not to harm. To protect, not to destroy."
The scene shifts like flipping a page.
Now it's nighttime. The house is dark. Baby Mira is crying in a crib upstairs.
"They're coming," Mira's father says urgently, packing books into a bag. "Marcus knows what we discovered. He knows we're going to expose him."
Elena holds baby Mira close, tears streaming down her face. "We should run. Take Mira and disappear."
"He'll find us. You know he will." Mira's father grips her shoulders. "But we can protect her. Hide her where he'll never think to look—inside his own stolen power."
"That's impossible. The magic would kill her—"
"Not if we seal it properly. Not if we make her the key instead of the lock." He pulls out a glowing crystal. "Our daughter will carry the evidence of his crimes inside her. When she's old enough, when her powers awaken, she'll be able to free all the souls he's trapped. She'll be able to stop him."
"She's just a baby," Elena sobs. "She deserves a normal life."
"She deserves to live. That's all that matters now."
The memory fast-forwards. I see them perform the ritual, see the stolen power flow into baby Mira, see her glow with silver and black light. I see them seal her abilities, ensuring she'll grow up human until her eighteenth birthday.
Then I see the door explode.
Marcus Thorne walks in with Morgana at his side and five hooded assassins behind them.
"Elena. Thomas." Marcus smiles that same dead smile. "Did you really think you could betray me and live?"
Mira's father steps in front of his wife and child. "The Council will know what you've done. We've already sent them proof—"
"The Council works for me," Marcus interrupts. "Every member, bought or threatened or too scared to oppose me. Your 'proof' is already destroyed." His eyes glow with dark power. "Where's my stolen energy? What did you do with it?"
"Somewhere you'll never find it," Elena says defiantly.
Marcus's face hardens. "Morgana. Search the house."
I watch Morgana tear through rooms, getting more frustrated with each empty space. The stolen power is gone. Hidden.
Inside the baby neither of them are looking at.
"Last chance," Marcus says, raising his hand. "Tell me where it is, or I kill you both."
"Never," Mira's parents say together.
Marcus shrugs. "So be it."
The attack happens so fast. Shadow creatures pour from Marcus's hands—the same ones from Mira's nightmare. They tear through the room with claws and teeth. Mira's father fights back with memory magic, pulling weapons from the past, but there are too many.
I watch him fall. Watch the light leave his eyes.
Elena screams and unleashes her full power. Silver light floods the room, burning away the shadow creatures. For a moment, I think she might win.
Then Morgana stabs her in the back.
Elena collapses, blood pooling beneath her. She reaches for baby Mira with trembling fingers.
"Remember," she whispers with her last breath. "Remember who you are, little spark..."
Then she's gone.
I watch Marcus search the house for his stolen power, getting angrier by the second. I watch him order Morgana to find the baby and kill her too.
But then another woman runs in—the real Aunt Vivian, younger, terrified. She grabs baby Mira from the crib.
"Please," she begs Morgana. "Please, she's my sister's child. She's innocent. Just let me—"
Morgana's blade goes through her throat before she can finish.
The real Vivian dies instantly, still holding baby Mira.
Morgana stares at the baby for a long moment. Then she looks at Marcus. "I have an idea."
She explains her plan—take Vivian's form, raise the baby in hiding, wait for the powers to awaken, then deliver Mira to Marcus when she's most useful.
"Eighteen years is a long time," Marcus says doubtfully.
"Eighteen years to find your stolen power," Morgana counters. "The baby must have it hidden inside her somewhere. When her Memory Weaver abilities awaken, the seal will break. The power will reveal itself." She smiles. "And I'll bring her right to you."
Marcus considers, then nods. "Don't get attached."
"I won't," Morgana promises.
But I see her eyes when she looks at baby Mira. See the flicker of something that might be guilt or pity or both.
The memory fractures.
I'm back in the destroyed apartment, gasping for air. Everyone else is on the floor too—Leo, Rowan, Marcus, Morgana. All of us lived through Mira's memory vision together.
All of us saw the truth.
Marcus was the monster all along. The Council is corrupt. Memory Weavers aren't evil—they were murdered for trying to expose the truth.
Everything I believed for fourteen years is a lie.
Everything I've done in the Council's name—the people I've killed, the families I've destroyed—was all for a corrupt system run by a murderer.
I've been the villain this whole time.
The realization hits like a physical blow. I double over, wanting to vomit.
"Kael..." Mira's voice, soft and broken.
I look up. She's staring at me with tears streaming down her face. She just showed us her parents' murder. Forced us all to watch the worst moment of her life.
And she's looking at me with pity.
Like I'm the one who needs comfort.
"I'm sorry," I choke out. "God, Mira, I'm so sorry. All the Memory Weavers I killed—they were probably innocent too. They were probably just like your parents. And I—"
"You didn't know," she whispers.
"That doesn't make it better!"
Marcus laughs, drawing our attention. He's standing now, blood dripping from his nose, but he's smiling. "Touching. Very touching. But ultimately pointless." He wipes the blood away. "So you showed them the truth. So what? They're all going to die anyway."
He raises both hands, and dark energy crackles around him. More power than before. Different power.
"Did you think releasing those stolen souls would weaken me?" Marcus grins like a wolf. "I've been collecting power for centuries, girl. What your parents sealed away was only part of it. I have so much more."
The building starts to shake. Cracks spread across the walls.
"I'm going to tear this place down," Marcus says calmly. "Everyone inside dies. And I'll find another way to reclaim what you stole from me—even if I have to rip it from your corpse."
The ceiling starts to crumble.
Mira grabs my hand. Her touch sends warmth through me, healing the wound Morgana gave me. Memory Weaver healing magic—gentle and pure.
"I won't let him hurt anyone else," she says quietly. Her eyes meet mine. "Even if it costs me everything."
Then she turns to face Marcus, silver light blazing from her hands.
And I realize she's planning to sacrifice herself to stop him.