Chapter 7

Liz’s POV

“There’s something wrong with Liz,” he choked out, his breath ragged. His hand pressed harder against his chest like he was trying to keep something inside from shattering.

Carlos frowned. “What do you mean?”

I took a step closer, my ghostly form hovering just behind them, but suddenly…

Everything felt off.

The room blurred. Their voices became distant, muffled—like I was underwater. I tried to focus, to listen, but their words slipped through my grasp, fading into nothingness.

Panic tightened in my chest.

I couldn’t hear them.

I always heard them.

Something was wrong.

A strange sensation crawled over my skin, like static in the air before a storm. My fingertips tingled, my body growing lighter and unsteady.

I looked down.

My hands were flickering.

No.

No, no, no—

I tried to move, to speak, to do something, but my body wasn’t obeying me.

I was fading.

Disappearing.

And I had no idea why.

My vision darkened at the edges, a crushing weight pressing in on me. It was suffocating, pulling me down into an abyss of nothingness. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

Then, all at once—light.

A blinding, radiant glow swallowed me whole, so bright it seared my eyes even though I was already dead. The weight vanished. The pain eased.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence.

Then, a voice.

Soft. Powerful. Ancient.

“Elizabeth Campbell.”

I gasped.

The glow around me dimmed, and I saw her.

The Moon Goddess.

She stood before me, more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. Silver hair flowed like liquid light down her back, her eyes endless galaxies filled with wisdom. A soft glow radiated from her, warm and soothing yet commanding.

I tried to speak, but my throat felt tight.

The Moon Goddess smiled gently as if she understood my turmoil. “You are at a crossroads, child.” Her voice was like the night sky—vast, infinite, filled with power. “Between life and death.”

I swallowed hard. Between life and death?

Was I… coming back, or was I dying?

I shook my head, my hands balling into fists. “I—No. I can’t. Not yet. I haven’t avenged myself. I haven’t made them pay for what they did to me. To my pup.” My voice broke on the last word, but I forced myself to keep going. “I can’t leave yet.”

The Moon Goddess’ expression turned solemn. “That is why I have come.”

A shiver ran down my spine.

“If you wish to live, you must uncover the truth behind your death,” she said. “Only then will the path to resurrection be revealed.”

My breath caught.

Truth?

What truth?

I had some thoughts on who it could be.

Judy.

Robert.

Those traitors.

And Lumian—he let it happen. He may not have driven the blade into me, but he had killed me all the same.

Hadn’t he?

Doubt crept in, unsteady and unfamiliar.

I clenched my jaw. “I don’t care what it takes,” I said fiercely. “I’ll find the truth. I’ll make them pay. I swear it.”

The Moon Goddess watched me for a long moment before nodding. “Then fight, Elizabeth.”

The light surrounding her grew brighter, consuming everything.

“Fight for the truth. Fight for justice. Fight for the second chance that awaits you.”

The world exploded into white—

And then, I was back.

My body was solid again.

I gasped, my ghostly form stabilising. The flickering stopped. The suffocating weight was gone.

I was here.

And I had a mission.

I wasn’t going to disappear.

Not until I found out the truth.

Not until I made them all pay.