Chapter 5

Daria's POV

I could hear voices everywhere, as though underwater.

"She's fading!"

"The child, too!"

"Silas, you gotta decide!"

Choose?

Choose what?

My head was spinning since I attempted to open my eyes, but all was blurry. Shapes, weird shapes, swerved upon me--rags. Hands. Light flickering. I did not know what was going on. I simply felt acute, cutting pain hammering again and again through my stomach.

I heard Silas scream, I will not choose!

They are going to shoot you, said a witch of the younger generation, and to lose them both!

My breath got stuck. It seemed as though my heart was squeezing. There was a time when I attempted to raise my hand, but it was not my hand.

"Please..." My voice shook. "My baby... please save my baby..."

I was leaned over by one of the witches. "Don't talk, child."

I ignored her. "Save... her."

Silas leaned over me and touched my hand. "Daria, no. Don't speak. You need your strength."

I blinked hard. In and out of focus, his face came. "Save... my baby."

His eyes were full of pain. "I will not lose you either."

There was a furore of shouting in that room once more.

"Begin the ritual!"

"No—she's too weak!"

"We don't have time!"

Magic sparked like electricity. I could feel that it was getting hot around me. One of them touched my stomach with a palm. I was touched on the forehead by someone else. There was the onset of a chant — shaky, desperate, loud.

I choked, and a rush of energy passed through me.

"What—what is that?" one witch screamed.

"She's rejecting the magic!"

The baby--the baby is sucking out her life!

Pain exploded in my core. My voice tore with the scream, but I could not stop it. It was as though fire ran in my veins.

She will not get through the whole ritual, Silas! Another cried.

"Quiet!" he snapped. "We're saving them both."

"That's impossible!"

And then we shall do the impossible!

My eyes became cloudy at the periphery. I heard chanting rise again. The air shook. My stomach sank in the hands of someone.

Then everything turned red.

I was hot, hotter than at any time I had been hot. My back arched. The witches fell a-stumbling back.

"What was that?" someone yelled.

Something wrong with the child, child, something wrong!

"It came from her womb!"

There was another rush inside me--larger, fiercer, frightful. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. The witches screamed.

"Brace yourselves!"

"It's too strong!"

"She's going to tear apart!"

"Silas, stop the ritual!"

"I can't! Her magic is awakening!"

Magic? My baby had magic.

There was a violent shockwave out of my body. Candles shattered. Herbs flew across the room. One of the witches was thrown into the wall. Another fell to her knees.

I started to lose myself once more.

"Silas..." I whispered. "Save her..."

His fingernails held on to my sides. "Daria, listen to me. Your child is powerful. Too powerful. You must hold on."

"I... I can't..."

"Yes, you can," he said firmly. "You survived a cruel pack. You survived the woods. You were a survivor of the curse of an Alpha. You can survive this, too."

A new pain passed through my stomach, and another scream tore out of me. I tasted blood in my mouth.

"She's haemorrhaging again!"

"Her pulse is dropping!"

"We're losing them!"

"Silas, choose now! The mother or the child!"

"No!" he thundered. I will not take one in place of the other.

"You're going to kill them both!"

"I said NO!"

He grabbed me in both hands on the belly. There was a blinding golden light on his palms.

"Silas, what are you doing?!" a witch cried.

"Stabilising her."

"It will drain you!"

"I don't care."

The glow intensified. I was hot in myself--this time not painfully so. My breath came somewhat level.

"S-Silas?" I whispered.

"Yes, child?"

"What... what are you doing?"

Giving you all the strength I may. His voice trembled. It may not be enough, but I will not permit you to die. Not you. Not your baby."

Another witch touched him on the shoulder. You are robbing with your life-force, Silas. Stop."

"No," he whispered. "This is my granddaughter. I lost her mother. I will not lose her, too."

The agony came back, but more acute than ever. A scream burst from my chest.

"Push the energy to the child!" one witch shouted.

"I'm trying!"

"She's slipping!"

"No—hold her! Keep her awake!"

"I can't!" I cried. "It hurts— it hurts so much—"

An unpleasant chill swept through me. My limbs went numb. My breath became short. The grouping of the witches united in a humming.

"She's going into shock!"

Silas, afore before thou kills thyself!

"Just a few more seconds!"

Her heart--her heart--Silas, her heart is failing!

I caught the wild frantic thuds subside... subside... subside...

Silas grabbed my hand. "Daria, do not leave me. Do you hear me? Stay alive!"

My eyelids fluttered. "My baby… please… let her live…"

I experienced a second rush--strong, wild, bright.

Then it burst.

I burst out magic like a star out of my womb. The whole room shook. Shelves tipped over. Smoke filled my lungs. The witches screamed and covered their faces.

"What is happening?!"

The child--she is letting forth power!

"She's not a normal baby!"

"She's a hybrid—witch and wolf!"

Silas's voice broke. "Moon Goddess…"

Something within me slackened. A warmth diffused through my belly. The pain slowly faded. Not gone—just gentler.

Someone said in shock, "She is stabilising. The child--she got them both straightened out.

"That's impossible."

"No… It's a miracle."

I took a breath. Then another. Then another.

The chanting slowed. The shaking stopped. The light dimmed.

One of the witches bent to examine me. "Her pulse is steady."

Another checked my stomach. "The child… is safe."

Silas let out a broken laugh. "Thank the Goddess."

But then his body swayed.

"Silas?" I whispered. "Are you… Alright?"

He didn't answer.

"Silas?" My voice rose. "Silas, talk to me."

His knees bent. The hands fell out of my stomach. His breathing hitched.

"Silas!" a witch screamed. "You went overboard!"

He gave a weak smile. "Daria, chill. Your kid's strong..."

I tried to get on my back but could not. "No. No, stay with me. Please. Don't leave me."

He touched me with his shaky fingers on my cheek. "You're safe now... both of you..."

"Silas, stop talking like that!"

His eyes fluttered. His chest lifted... and dropped... and then....

He collapsed beside me.

"Silas!" I screamed.

Witches rushed to him.

"Check his pulse!"

"He's not responding!"

"He's not breathing!"

"Silas, wake up!"

I faintly touched him with my fingers, just touching his robe.

"Grandfather... please..."

Everything spun. The world darkened again. I felt like a stone weighing down my body.

And as my sight was shutting down to black, I heard no more cry:

"Silas is down! We're losing him!"

And then--

Silence.

Did he just die?