Chapter 4

Ryan was awake, but he was still weak from his first shift.

Every time he tried to get out of bed, mom forced him back down.

By the next morning, he had recovered enough strength to stand.

The moment he could keep his balance, he rushed out of the room.

“Mom, Dad, I’m okay! The prophecy didn’t come true. Let’s go tell Ethan!”

Dad nodded, his eyes reddening.

“Yes. It’s over now. Let’s go home. Ethan has been in that dungeon for two days. He should have had enough time to think about what he did.”

“We’ll pick him up, and then the whole family can go to the Moon Goddess Temple and pray together.”

Tears slipped down Mom’s cheeks.

“I know I’ve been hard on Ethan. But if he finally learns from this, then from now on, whatever Ryan gets, he’ll get too.”

I hovered beside them and smiled, though it hurt more than crying ever could.

Mom. Dad.

I had waited eighteen years to hear that. Too bad I would never live to see it.

They returned home soon after.

Ryan ran ahead of everyone. Then he stopped.

The food on the kitchen table hadn’t been touched.

It was the food he had deliberately left for me the day before.

His voice began to shake.

“Ethan... he never came out.”

Mom froze for a second. Then her face darkened.

She stormed to the dungeon and kicked the door.

“Ethan! Are you seriously still doing this?”

“Do you have any idea what Ryan went through the day before yesterday? He was worried about you even in the middle of his first shift! And you’ve been hiding in there playing dead just to punish us?”

Dad finally lost his patience too.

He walked over, anger tightening his voice.

“Ethan, I’m disappointed in you.”

“We’ve spent two days worrying about you. Have you reflected on your behavior at all?”

Ryan stepped between them, his voice trembling.

“Mom, Dad... Ethan wouldn’t do this for no reason. Something has to be wrong.”

For a moment, both of them went still.

Then Chloe walked in. She stopped outside the dungeon, her expression complicated.

“The pack’s awakening instructor came to see me.”

“He said Ethan’s test results have always been exceptional. If he’d awakened successfully yesterday, his wolf might have been the strongest of our generation.”

She pressed her lips together, disappointment filling her eyes.

“Ethan, did you already know? Is that why you were so desperate to go through the awakening?”

Mom exploded.

“Ethan! We raised you for eighteen years, and this is how you repay us? You missed the awakening ceremony, so now you’re determined to make everyone miserable?”

Dad’s face turned grim.

“Ryan has defended you every step of the way, and all you care about is proving you’re stronger than him. We rushed home because we wanted to take you to the temple with us!”

“Ethan, how did I end up with a son like you?”

Everyone was condemning me.

Only Ryan rushed to the door and grabbed the handle.

“Mom! Ethan hasn’t come out in two days. This isn’t normal!”

Mom’s eyes were red.

“Enough!”

She lunged forward and yanked the handle out of his hand.

“He knows where the key is! If he hasn’t come out, it’s because he’s determined to drag this out.”

She pulled Ryan away from the door.

His voice rose in panic.

“Mom, Ethan is still in there! We said we were coming back to get him so we could all go to the temple together—”

Mom ignored him and dragged him toward the exit.

“If he wants to stay in there, let him. We’ll see how long he can keep this up. We’re leaving.”

The outer dungeon door slammed shut. Silence swallowed everything again.

I floated there with tears streaming down my face.

Mom.

The truth was right behind that door. You were so close to seeing me.

...

Mom and dad took Ryan to the Moon Goddess Temple.

They stayed there for three days, thanking the Moon Goddess for allowing Ryan to survive his awakening at eighteen.

Ryan knelt reverently before her statue too. But his prayer was for me.

“Ethan has suffered enough because of that prophecy. I don’t care how strong my wolf is. I just want him to be okay from now on.”

When the prayer ended, the priest handed Ryan a moonstone pendant.

Ryan closed his hand around it carefully. But the red cord holding the pendant suddenly snapped.

Ryan’s heart dropped. He immediately turned to our parents.

“Mom, Dad, I can’t shake this feeling. Something’s wrong. I really think something happened to Ethan.”

Mom was already tired of hearing it.

“What could possibly have happened to him? Can’t you see what he’s doing? He wants you to feel guilty. The more you worry, the more he’ll keep this up.”

Just then, Dad’s phone rang.

It was one of the pack guards.

“Something’s wrong! Black blood is seeping out from under the old dungeon door. Someone touched it a minute ago, and it burned his fingers!”

Ryan’s face was drained of color. The next second, he bolted for the door.

Mom and dad finally went pale too.

They rushed home that night.

The moment they reached the dungeon, all three of them stopped.

A small pool of blackened blood had collected beneath the door. Tiny silver flecks glittered in it.

Ryan stood at the front, his voice cracking.

“Mom...” His trembling finger pointed at the floor. “You said there wasn’t any silver poison left in there.”

Mom threw herself at the door. It took her several tries to get it open.

The heavy iron door slowly swung inward. Dim light spilled into the cell.

And then she finally saw what was inside.

A broken, unrecognizable scream tore out of her throat.

“NOOOO!”