The chanting stopped.
But the air didn't still.
It thickened.
Like the world had inhaled and forgotten how to exhale.
Magnolia's blood stained the old stone altar, soaking into ancient grooves carved by forgotten claws. The symbol on her hand glowed faintly, pulsing with a heat that wasn't fire but memory. Ancient and wild.
She kept her head bowed, ignoring the throb in her skull and the rising hum in her chest. The voices of the elders had faded into silence behind her, and still she waited.
Waited for the door to open.
For the gate in her blood to respond.
But nothing happened.
At first.
Then a breath not hers filled her lungs.
And a whisper followed.
"You shouldn't have called me."
Magnolia staggered back from the altar, clutching her chest.
The voice hadn't come from outside her.
It had risen from within.
The others around the circle tensed instantly. Beckett stepped forward. Rhett's claws were already half-shifted.
"Magnolia ?" Rhett said, voice hoarse.
