All Chapters of MOON OF ASHES: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The mountain shook hard enough to knock Silas to his knees. Dust rained from the ceiling of the shaft. The runes on the railing, already dim, guttered out entirely. For a moment there was only darkness and the low groan of rock shifting under strain.“Ava!” Silas’s shout echoed uselessly down the empty shaft. No answer came back, not even the glint of frost where she had been.Mara dragged him up by his collar before another tremor could throw him off his feet. “She’s gone,” she snapped. “We can’t help her from here.”“We don’t leave people behind!” Silas barked, but his voice cracked. He stared at the sealed spiral of stone where the tunnel had been. All that remained was a faint shimmer like heat haze, already fading.Lyra staggered over, one hand clutching a bleeding cut on her temple. “Whatever she just did down there…” She pointed upward. “It’s waking everything up.”The sound reached them then — a low, rolling howl that seemed to come from inside the stone itself. It wasn’t like

Ava felt the silver threads at her feet tremble before she heard them. She turned from the altar, the glow of the lake painting her face in pale light. Out beyond the trees, between the shifting trunks, something moved — not a wolf this time, but a shape she knew by heart.“Silas…” she whispered.He came out of the mist at a run, runes burning across his arm, eyes wide and fixed on her. Behind him Mara, Lyra and Caleb stumbled into the clearing, their faces a mixture of awe and fear at the silver lake and the mist-wolves ringed around it. The wolves didn’t move, only watched, their pale eyes following the newcomers.Silas skidded to a halt at the edge of the glowing water. For a heartbeat neither of them spoke. He looked thinner than she remembered, shadows under his eyes, but the determination in his face was the same.“You’re alive,” he said hoarsely.“I told you not to follow me,” Ava answered, though her voice cracked. Her mark pulsed, warm and bright.“I couldn’t stay up there wh

The spiral of silver light wound up and up until Ava’s legs trembled. The mist thinned, but it wasn’t like climbing a tunnel — it was more like rising through water. With each step, the weight of the Between fell away from her shoulders. She could breathe more easily, though her mark still tingled as if a thread were tugged inside her palm.Silas stayed close, his hand brushing hers every few steps. Behind them, Mara muttered under her breath, counting paces like a mantra. Caleb held a scrap of silver thread between his fingers, eyes glazed; Lyra kept glancing over her shoulder at the mist below.Then the light burst open above them and they stumbled out onto solid ground.They were back in the forest — or at least what should have been the forest. The altar clearing was gone. In its place stretched a wide glade of grass silvered with dew, the trees at its edge taller and darker than Ava remembered. The air smelled cleaner but older, like a place long sealed. The sky overhead was not

When the chanting died away, the circle of stones no longer felt like a courtroom. It felt like a storm that had just passed — a wild, dangerous hush where lightning still hummed in the air. Wolves shook out their fur, humans lowered their hoods, and the great black Alpha who had fought her stood half-shifted, breathing hard but no longer baring his teeth.Ava’s hand still tingled from the silver net she had woven. Her knees wanted to buckle, but she locked them, shoulders squared, eyes level. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing her stumble.The grey-cloaked woman tapped her staff once on the ground. The sound cracked through the valley like a whip. “The Rite of Measure is fulfilled,” she intoned. “The claimant stood and the knot held. Who among you speaks next?”For a heartbeat no one moved. Then the masked Alpha who had questioned her about the bones stepped forward and bowed slightly. “Our pack has no quarrel with the child of two moons,” she said. “If she can m

The sky was a pale grey when Ava stepped outside. The valley smelled of wet stone and pine; dew had gathered on the black pillars like beads of glass. Somewhere a raven croaked. The night’s smoke was gone, replaced by a strange, expectant quiet.She clutched the token the masked woman had given her. Its edges were cold against her palm, grounding her. Behind her, Silas and the others emerged one by one, all wearing plain cloaks over their weapons. Each of them bore a faint mark on their wrists — the anchor runes Silas had inked into their skin with ash and salt.“Positions,” Silas murmured. His voice was calm but low. “North, south, east, west. Don’t break the circle until I signal.”Mara adjusted her bow and nodded, peeling off toward the eastern pillar. Caleb went south, knife sheathed under his cloak. Lyra strode to the north, blade reversed, expression blank. Silas remained with Ava for a moment, looking at her with something almost like regret.“Remember,” he said. “Let them star