ASHES AND ECHOES

The next morning broke with a chill that clung to Ari Hale’s bones.

She hadn’t slept. Not really. She’d tossed beneath heavy blankets until the stars gave way to a grey, reluctant dawn. Kael’s words looped in her head like a curse: “The pact lives in your veins.”

She wanted to believe he was lying just some backwoods lunatic weaving stories out of shadows. But the notebook her grandfather had kept hidden beneath the false drawer in his desk told a different story.

It was filled with strange symbols, genealogy lines, and entries that read more like warnings than journal entries.

The Red moors are scattered. Kael survived the culling, but for how long? I fear the thorns are moving again. The balance is breaking.

Ari can never know. If the blood awakens, she’ll be marked. If she stays ignorant, she stays safe.

Except she wasn’t safe. Not anymore.

The forest knew her. The creatures in it knew her name. And if Kael was right if there was someone trying to break the pact then ignorance was a death sentence.,

She made eggs but didn’t eat them.

Her phone buzzed twice. The first was a message from Erin: You ghosting school again? Want me to drop notes off?

The second was from an unknown number:

Stay out of the woods. This is your only warning.

She stared at it for a long time before deleting it.

Instead of heading to school, she drove thirty minutes up the mountain road to Hollow Creek Cemetery.

Her grandfather’s grave was at the far end, near the broken stone wall. The headstone was plain no frills, no epitaph. Just his name, birth and death years, and a small engraving of a crescent moon.

Now that she knew what to look for, it felt more like a mark than a tribute.

She stood there in silence for a while.

“I’m not mad,” she said aloud. “I just... I wish you’d told me.”

The wind answered with a soft rustle of leaves.

“I don’t know what I am. Or what I’m supposed to do. But you knew this was coming. You prepared for it. I found the notebook. I know about the Red moors. The Thorns.”

She crouched and brushed a few leaves from the base of the stone.

“I don’t know who I can trust. But I think I need to go back. To where it started.”

The clearing was different in daylight. Less threatening, but no less strange.

The stone arch still stood like a relic out of time, but the air no longer hummed with tension. The burned bowl of earth in the centre was still there untouched by wind or weather.

Ari paced slowly around it, her fingers tracing the outer edge.

She knelt to inspect the arch again, trying to decipher the worn symbols. Spiral marks... fangs... moons...

Then her hand brushed something smooth.

A small, silver medallion, half-buried in the dirt.

She pulled it free. It was warm to the touch, etched with the same crescent moon and a rune she didn’t recognize. As soon as she gripped it, the forest went utterly silent no birds, no wind, no rustling branches.

Then she heard the whisper.

Not from outside her.

From within.

A woman’s voice calm and cold.

Blood remembers. Bones carry the oath. Flesh answers the moon.

Ari dropped the medallion, heart pounding.

“What the hell...?”

“I see you found it,” said a voice behind her.

She spun around.

Kael again same dark hair, same storm-wracked eyes. But today he looked less like a monster and more like someone who hadn’t slept in a week. His arms were crossed, but not aggressively. Like he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.

Ari stayed crouched, ready to run if she had to. “You following me?”

He shrugged. “Not exactly. This place calls to both of us. It's hard to stay away.”

“You said the Thorns were building something.”

“They are.”

“And that I’m ‘one of you.’ What does that mean? Am I supposed to turn into some giant wolf-thing?”

Kael’s eyes flashed silver for just a second a flicker of truth.

“No. You don’t just turn,” he said. “There’s a trigger. Bloodline or not, you have to be awakened. Usually, it takes pain. Or rage. Or loss.”

“I’ve had all three.”

He nodded. “Then you’re close.”

“I didn’t ask for this.”

“No one does.”

Ari stood. “So, what, you’re just going to keep stalking me in the woods?”

“I want to help you. Whether you believe it or not.”

“Why?”

Kael hesitated. “Because when the Thorns come for you and they will you’ll need someone who knows what they’re capable of.”

“Then tell me. Tell me everything.”

They sat near the arch.

Kael spoke slowly, carefully.

“The Silver Pact wasn’t just a legend. It was a survival strategy. Three bloodlines Hale, Red moor, Thorne. Each carried traits passed down from the old world. Shifter blood. Not full-blooded, not mindless beasts hybrids. Part human, part... something older.”

“Werewolves,” Ari muttered.

Kael tilted his head. “Not quite. The stories got it wrong. We don’t lose control under the full moon. We’re not bound to it. But the moon amplifies us draws the truth out of the blood. Makes it stronger.”

“And the Pact?”

“It was made after a war. The first recorded blood war between the early settlers and a hidden clan in the forest. They fought until they realized neither side would win. So, they signed a treaty. A balance. The Triumvirate would ensure secrecy. No turning without consent. No spilling blood for dominance. No spreading the gift.”

Ari’s voice was flat. “And when someone broke the rules...?”

“They were hunted. Thorns were the first to betray it. They tried to take the power for themselves. Breeding it. Weaponizing it.”

“And now they’re back?”

Kael nodded. “Led by a woman named Saris Thorn. She’s powerful more than any of us expected. She's not just reviving the bloodline. She's rewriting the rules. Creating packs. Loyal, hungry packs.”

“Why hasn’t anyone stopped her?”

“We’re too few. Scattered. Your grandfather helped keep the line quiet. He protected you for as long as he could. But saris wants something only you can give.”

Ari narrowed her eyes. “Why me?”

“You’re a Hale. And not just any Hale you’re the last living heir to the original bloodline.”

“So?”

Kael looked her dead in the eyes.

“You carry the mark of dominion. If you turn... you could command the pact. All of it. Hale blood was made to lead.”

Ari stepped back. “No. No way. I’m not turning into anything. I’m not leading some monster pack into war.”

“You might not have a choice.”

They returned to the Hale house together.

Kael kept to the shadows, but Ari let him inside. There was something steady about him now  less threatening. Like whatever beast had spoken her name in the dark had faded back beneath the skin.

She pulled out her grandfather’s notebook and placed it on the kitchen table. Kael flipped through it silently, nodding.

“He was one of the old guards,” Kael said. “Guardians of the blood. They kept the peace for years. Until they started dying.”

“He didn’t die of natural causes, did he?”

“No.” Kael’s voice was tight. “Saris sent someone. A tracker. Not to kill him to watch you. He tried to intervene. Got caught.”

Ari’s jaw clenched.

“Why didn’t you tell me last night?”

“Because I didn’t want you to go chasing ghosts. Not until you were ready.”

“I am ready.”

Kael looked up, sharp. “You think you are. But turning isn’t like flipping a switch. It changes everything. The way you see the world. The way it sees you.”

“Then show me.”

He hesitated.

She stepped closer. “If I’m marked, if I’m hunted then I need to be able to fight back.”

Kael reached into his coat and pulled out a small silver dagger. Its handle was carved bone; the blade etched with runes.

“This is called a moon fang. Forged in pact fire. Used for ritual awakenings.”

She stared at it. “You’re saying I can just... cut myself and become one of you?”

He shook his head. “It’s not the cut that does it. It’s the intention. The blood needs a reason.”

“And I have one,” Ari said, voice steady. “I want to finish what my grandfather started. I want to stop saris.”

Kael held the dagger out to her.

She took it.

But before she could act, the windows rattled.

A low growl echoed outside.

Kael’s head snapped up. “They found us.”

Ari rushed to the window.

Three figures were stalking toward the house from the tree line. Their eyes glowed amber. Their bodies were half-shifted fur, claws, twisted limbs. Controlled.

Pack-bound.

Thorne-born.

Kael turned to her, eyes flashing silver.

“You have two options,” he said. “Hide. Or awaken.”

Ari stared at the dagger in her hand.

Then back at the monsters outside.

And made her choice