Immediately Ava was pointed out, the whole crowd erupted into chaos.
Shrieks and curses tore through the walls of the assembly hall like a raging wildfire. Students who once walked the same corridors with her, who once shared the same cafeteria and classrooms, now stared at her like a plague. Some recoiled in fear, others leaned forward with anticipation, ready to witness a spectacle. The air was thick with dread, judgment, and something worse—betrayal.
Ava stood frozen in place, her heart drumming like war drums in her ears. Her breathing was shallow, and her knees felt weak beneath the weight of the thousands of eyes fixed on her.
She locked eyes with Harlan, who still stood at the pulpit with iron cuffs wrapped tightly around his wrists. His grin had vanished, replaced by something else—regret. Or was it guilt? Why was he chained in the first place? Was he threatened to speak?
Before she could even process it, Aaron Richardson's steel-edged voice cut through the noise like a guillotine.
"Ava Gonzalez, please come up."
There was no warmth in his voice. No invitation. Just pure command. A man used to being obeyed without question.
Lyon, her father, slammed a heavy ceremonial hammer on the iron desk beside him, and a reverent silence immediately fell across the hall. The sound echoed like a death sentence.
Ava's hands trembled as she stepped out of the crowd. Her once-flowing white dress now seemed to weigh her down like chains. Each step felt like a mile, each face she passed either twisted in hatred or curled in disgust. No one offered her kindness. No one remembered the Ava who laughed, the once queen bee of Paradise high. They only saw a villain. A threat. A betrayer of their sanctuary.
By the time she reached the stage, her legs barely held her up.
Aaron Richardson took his time, his eyes grazing over her like a scalpel. To the others, he appeared composed and authoritative, but his mind was in turmoil. What he saw before him wasn't just a teenage girl—he saw a divine force awakened too soon. A mortal shell housing powers meant to remain dormant until the stars aligned. But someone had interfered. Someone had tampered with fate.
He remembered the reports. The death of Ares—the Tribrid king—was a ripple that threatened to grow into a tsunami. Ares wasn't just any leader. He was the fiercest of them all. His existence kept the balance between the races: vampires, werewolves, witches, and sirens. Now that he was gone, that balance teetered on the edge of collapse.
And it all pointed back to her.
Ava Gonzalez.
Or rather—Avery, the goddess reborn.
It wasn't supposed to be her. It was supposed to be the chosen one, the one marked by the ancients. But somehow, this mortal girl had become the torchbearer. She had conjured the Flame of Death—a divine weapon no mere human should ever wield. And worse, she had taken the Phoenix Stone and vanished from the eyes of every supernatural tracking system known to the magical realms.
Aaron clenched his fists behind his back.
He hadn't wanted to come back to this cursed school. Too many secrets. Too many ghosts. But when Lyon called and reported that the chaos was linked to Ava—his own daughter—it shook even Aaron's rigid sense of control.
He remembered his private conversation with Lyon.
"Isn't she your daughter, Lyon? Why are you turning her in?" Aaron had asked, his voice unusually low.
Lyon's eyes had been unreadable, his tone too calm.
"Because my kingdom needs power, not sentiment. And she is far more powerful than she knows. I can't afford to be emotional now."
Aaron didn't trust him. He never did. But Lyon had influence, and influence was power. For now, Aaron would play along. Let the girl suffer. Let her be broken. She might serve as a warning. Or a weapon.
Ava, oblivious to the plotting around her, stood at the center of the stage, surrounded by towering officials and iron-hearted guards. Her eyes, however, drifted toward the grand mirror she had seen earlier.
And what she saw turned her blood cold.
Emily.
Still inside the mirror. Still drenched in blood. Her eyes pierced through the veil of death and stared directly at Ava. Rage boiled in her twisted face. Pain rippled across her disfigured features. Emily's hand reached out, pressing against the mirror from inside—as if trying to break through. As if trapped between worlds.
Ava gasped and staggered backward, her heart slamming against her ribs.
Aaron noticed the sudden movement.
"You see something?" he asked sharply.
Ava didn't answer.
She couldn't. Her voice had abandoned her.
Aaron, ever perceptive, narrowed his eyes. "You're not just a powerful vessel. You're a seer too, aren't you? You can see the in-between."
Ava swallowed hard.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said in a hoarse whisper.
Aaron grinned darkly.
"We'll see."
Without warning, Aaron raised his hand, and a burning blue sigil appeared above her head. The hall flickered. A cold wind swept across the room. Gasps filled the space as a magical screen appeared behind the pulpit. A projection of Ava's memories—the stolen Phoenix Stone, the fiery burst of the Flame of Death, the silhouette of Ares crumbling into ash.
Cries of disbelief rang out.
"She did it…"
"She killed Ares…"
"She's the reason for all this…"
Ava's heart dropped. They had seen it all. The secrets she fought to bury now laid bare like a rotting carcass.
Aaron turned to the crowd.
"She's more than she claims. She's dangerous. And if we don't take action now, paradise High will become the next burial ground."
Then, he turned back to Ava.
"Do you deny the memories projected before these people?"
Ava looked up, tears swimming in her eyes, but her jaw tightened.
"No. I don't."
Another collective gasp.
"But I didn't do it without reason the dead witches were after the stone and a dangerous threat was looming behind," she added. "Ares was going to destroy paradise high to get the Phoenix stone . He was going to wipe out everything. I protected what I loved. My home town"
Aaron's voice dripped with contempt. "How poetic."
The hall erupted again—this time with chants for punishment.
Lyon finally stepped forward, cloaked in his false humility, and placed a gentle hand on Aaron's shoulder.
"We must be swift and wise. Lock her up in the Stone Chamber. Let her remember who she truly is. If the goddess within her awakens fully… we may need her after all."
Ava's face turned to her father, the betrayal slashing through her soul like a dagger. Her voice broke as she whispered:
"You… you gave me up."
Lyon didn't answer. He couldn't meet her eyes.
The guards came. Chains were pulled from velvet-lined boxes, the kind used to bind immortals. As they shackled her wrists and ankles, the divine sigils burned into her skin, and Ava let out a small cry.
They were taking her to the Stone Chamber—a place no one ever returned from.
As the hall emptied, Harlan was dragged away in silence. But as he passed her, he whispered:
"They'll come for you… Asher, Rose, Jeremy… they haven't abandoned you. Don't lose hope."
But Ava could only stare at the ground, the weight of betrayal pressing her down.
And somewhere, deep within the shadows of the school, the mirror still shimmered.
Emily watched.
And smiled.
Things were going terrible wrong, and as it seems the world might never recover from the catastrophy about to be unleashed; because the only two people that has a chance of stopping it were being held away.
Asher soul was battling in the land of unknown, his soul threatening to vanish from existence; as Lamia was attempting to send his soul to oblivion.
Ava the last hope was been caged to go the stone chamber where she might never return meaning humanity will forever be extinct.