Tara's face

*CHAPTER 16: TARA'S FACE*

We reached White Mountain at midnight.

The old protection stones were supposed to glow white when a queen returned. My mother wrote about it.

They didn't glow. They were dark. Cracked. Covered in black ice.

Magnus touched one and pulled his hand back like it burned.

"It was here," he whispered. "The Hollow. It came out."

Kade pushed me and Leo behind him, his black wolf already pushing to shift.

The gates of White Mountain village were open. Too open. No guards. No lights.

We walked in, twenty Blood Moon warriors with hands on weapons, white wolves growling low.

Then we heard crying.

In the middle of the village square, under the big Moon Tree that was now dead and black, stood a girl in a red dress.

Tara.

But not Tara. Her eyes were completely black, no white. Her smile was too wide. Her voice was not hers when she spoke.

"You are late, little queen," she said in a voice that echoed like two voices.

Leo woke up in Kade's arms and screamed. "That's not the red dress lady! That's the dark thing from my dream!"

I grabbed Kade's arm. "That's the Hollow. It's wearing her."

Tara — the Hollow — laughed. "This one wanted to be Luna so badly. She prayed to be powerful. I answered. She said 'Take me, make me strong.' So I did. Now she is me. And I am hungry."

Magnus stepped forward, his white wolf howling. "Release her, Hollow! You promised fifty years ago to sleep!"

"I slept because there was no white light to eat," the Hollow said, licking Tara's lips with a black tongue. "Now there is. A queen, a king, and a sweet, sweet heir. Give me the heir, black king. Give me his heart, his pure white light, and I will let your queen live. I will even let this pack live."

Kade's whole body shook with rage. "You will not touch my son."

"Then I will take all of you," the Hollow smiled, and black ice shot across the ground toward us, fast.

It hit our warriors. Two of them fell, their fur turning black, their eyes going empty. They stood up again, but now they were hollow too, growling at us.

It spreads.

"Ani! The light!" Kade shouted.

I lifted my staff, but I was scared. What if my light wasn't enough? What if I hurt Leo?

Then I felt a tiny hand on my staff.

Leo. He had climbed down from Kade and put his little white-haired hand on my silver staff.

"Mama, together?" he said, his golden eyes glowing white, not scared anymore.

I looked at Kade. Kade looked at Leo.

We understood.

Kade put his big scarred hand on my staff too, over mine and Leo's.

Black strength, white light, innocent heart. Just like Mama's letter said.

"Lyra, now!" I whispered.

White light exploded from the staff, but not just white — it had black edges from Kade's mark, and golden sparkles from Leo's touch.

The light hit the black ice. The ice melted.

It hit the two hollow warriors. They screamed, the black leaving them, and they fell, alive again, crying.

It hit Tara — the Hollow.

Tara screamed, but this time it was Tara's real voice underneath.

"Ani! Help me! It hurts! I didn't mean—"

The Hollow was fighting to keep her face.

I walked forward, staff glowing, family holding the staff with me, step by step toward Tara.

"You wanted to be Luna," I said softly to Tara, not to the Hollow. "You wanted to be seen. I see you, Tara. But not like this."

I touched her chest with the staff.

Light poured into her.

The Hollow screeched, a terrible sound that made the dead Moon Tree shake.

"No! White light burns! Queen light burns!"

Black smoke ripped out of Tara's body, forming a huge, shapeless thing with no face, just a mouth, floating above the square.

The Hollow's true form.

It lunged for Leo.

Kade moved faster than light. He shifted mid-air, giant black wolf, and jumped, catching the Hollow in his jaws.

"Kade!" I screamed.

The black wolf and the black smoke fought, rolling, biting, snarling. Black wolf strength alone couldn't kill a creature with no body.

"Leo, light!" I shouted.

Leo put both hands on my staff and howled — a tiny white pup howl that made the whole mountain echo.

White light shot from Leo, from me, straight into Kade's black wolf, making his fur shine silver-white at the tips.

Kade howled, now a black and white wolf, and bit down hard.

The Hollow exploded.

Black ash rained down. Then nothing.

Silence.

Tara lay on the ground, unconscious but alive, her eyes normal again, crying.

Kade shifted back, naked, covered in black ash, breathing hard, and fell to his knees.

Leo ran and hugged him. "Papa! You ate the monster!"

Kade laughed, exhausted, and hugged Leo tight, looking at me.

I fell to my knees too, hugging them both, my staff clattering to the ground, its light finally dimming.

The protection stones around White Mountain began to glow white again, one by one, bright, warm.

Magnus knelt, tears streaming, and whispered,

"The Queen has returned. The King has returned. The Hollow is dead."

And from the dead Moon Tree above us, a single white flower bloomed, falling down onto Leo's white hair like a crown.