Lahat ng Kabanata ng Between Destiny's Chains and Moonlight (Book series): Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

Michael’s truck was definitely not winning any awards for a smooth ride.Every time we hit a dip in the mountain pass, the whole cabin rattled so hard I thought my molars might actually vibrate right out of my head. It was that kind of low-end hum that settles deep in your bones and stays there.For the first hour, I’d tried to stay focused on the scenery, but we’d ditched the asphalt and the comfort of streetlights miles ago. Now, it was just the endless, rhythmic crunch-crunch-crunch of gravel and loose shale under the tires as we climbed higher and higher into the clouds.Outside the dusty windows, the world I knew was officially a memory. The tidy lawns and cookie-cutter suburbs I grew up in had vanished, replaced by a wall of old pines that loomed over the road like a crowd of giants. Their branches were so thick and tangled that they basically wove a living ceiling over the truck, choking out the morning sun and leaving us in a world of cool, mossy twilight. It was beautiful, su

The cabin was way too quiet.That was the first thing I noticed when I blinked my eyes open in the pitch black. Back home, the silence was never really empty, there was always the hum of the refrigerator, the distant rumble of a neighbor’s car, or the low, comfortingly buzz of the streetlights outside my bedroom window. But here, deep in the mountains, the silence lay over everything, palpable and unbroken. It sat on my chest like a burden, making me aware of every slow breath I took. The air in the room was chilly, smelling faintly of the dying embers of the hearth in the main room.I shifted under the woolly blankets, my skin prickling against the heavy fabric as I tried to find a cool spot on the pillow. Just as I was about to drift back into a dream about that obsidian lake and the way the water felt like silk, a sound sliced through the dark.Awooooooo.I bolted upright, my heart performing a frantic, messy drum against my ribs. It wasn't a scream, but it was just as sharp, cut

For a moment, our gazes met across the space between us.It was a quick, sharp glance, the kind that felt like a warning shot, almost piercing in its intensity. She seemed ready to say something sharp, maybe venomous, but then she spun on her heel and disappeared into the thick underbrush without a word.“Did you see her?” I whispered to Uriel, pulling my towel more tightly around my shoulders. “She looks like she’s stalking us. Do you think she’s following us around the mountain?”“Just passing through, Mehanda,” Uriel replied calmly, though I caught the tension in his jaw, clenched tight as stone. “Don’t let her ruin the sun. She doesn’t have any power here, not today.”We didn’t linger much longer after that. The mood had shifted just enough that the water felt a little colder. By the time we made our way back to the cabin, the sun was slipping below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of bruised purple and fiery orange. We arrived late, breathless and laughing

The morning light didn’t make things any better at the Perreira house. Mr. Joshua and Mrs. Rosa hadn’t slept a wink. They had spent the hours moving through the rooms in a heavy silence. The panic from the evening before had cooled, but it hadn't disappeared, it had simply hardened into a cold, desperate plan.“We’re not running this time, dear,” Mr. Joshua stated. He was standing by the kitchen sink, staring at a patch of peeling paint on the wall as if it were a map of their failures. “If we try to run now, we’ll just be bait. Predators love a chase, Rosa. And now that they have actually found us, running is entirely useless. It only indicates we have something to hide.”Mrs. Rosa nodded slowly, her fingers trembling slightly as she held a cup of coffee she had no intention of drinking. The steam rose in a mocking curl against her pale face. “I suggest we just wait. We watch her closely first. We need to see if she’s still our Mehanda, or if they’ve already… taken her.”The word

It started at the front door, a heavy scratching that made the old oak groan in its frame.It wasn't the polite tap of a neighbor or the distant chime of a doorbell. It was something much larger, pressing its full weight against the house until the hinges shrieked.Mr. Joshua stood up from his armchair, his body stiffening.Mrs. Rosa felt a cold shiver run down her back, but it had nothing to do with the drafty windows. To her, it sounded like a big stray dog had wandered onto the porch, but the force of the scratching suggested something far more dangerous, something she had desperately hoped was still in the past.“Joshua, what is that?” she whispered, her fingers clutching the fabric of her skirt so hard her knuckles turned white. Her eyes stayed fixed on the door handle, which hadn’t moved, even as the wood beneath it started to splinter.“I don’t know,” he confessed, hesitation thick in his tone. His hand slowly moved toward the silver letter opener, his grip tight.Before he coul