All Chapters of A Nerd for the Hockey Alpha Captain : Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

### CHAPTER 51: ECHOESThe rift screamed.Not sound. Feeling. Like nails on my soul.Through the tear in the air: faces. Kids. Women. Old men. Reaching. Screaming. Mouths open but no sound."Echoes," Viktor said. "The ones Moon magic broke."He looked at me. "You did this. Every time you used it. You cracked the world.""Lie," Kai said. He was already moving. "Vex, seal it!"But Viktor was faster. He grabbed my wrist. Pulled me to the rift."Close it," he hissed in my ear. "Or I push you in."---Cold. So cold.The echoes were pulling at me. Hands made of fog. "LILA!" Kai roared.He hit Viktor. Knocked him back.Viktor laughed. "She can’t close it. Not without giving something up."Vex was chanting. Wards flaring. "It’s not a Gate! It’s a wound! From all the times Moon magic was forced!""Then we heal it," Marisol yelled."With what?" Viktor said. "Blood? Life? You have to give the magic back."He looked at me. "Your magic, Moon."---I understood.My mark was burning. Not with

The lights were off.Only moonlight through the window.Viktor stood in the doorway. And behind him: a little girl.6 years old. Pigtails. My sweater.My face.---"Number 4," Number 2 whispered. "Don’t—""Shut up," Viktor said. He didn’t look at her. "Lila. We need to talk."The girl looked at me. Her eyes were mine. But scared. Empty."Hi," she said. Small voice. "Are you my sister?"My chest cracked. "I... I don’t know."Viktor stepped forward. "She’s Number 4. The last spare. And she’s malfunctioning.""Malfunctioning?" Kai said from behind me. He’d followed me."She keeps asking questions," Viktor said. "About her parents. About why she has to practice. About you."He put a hand on Number 4’s head. She flinched."So I thought," Viktor said, "maybe if she met you, she’d understand her purpose."---"Her purpose?" I said. My voice shook."To replace you," Viktor said simply. "In case you die. In case you refuse. In case Moon magic needs a vessel."He knelt to Number 4’s level.

The forest was frozen.Luna. Walking. Away from me. Toward him."Luna?" My voice cracked. "Baby, what are you doing?"She stopped. 3 feet from Viktor. Still wouldn’t look at me."Good girl," Viktor said. He reached to ruffle her hair.Luna ducked.And drove her elbow into his stomach.---Viktor doubled over. "What—"Luna turned. Ran. Straight into my arms."I’m not his," she whispered in my ear. "I’m yours."I squeezed her so tight. "I know. I know."Behind us, Kai, Vex, Elder Nia, Number 2 — all out the door now.Viktor straightened up. Face red. "You little—""Don’t," I said. My mark flared. White light. "Touch her again and I’ll end you."Viktor laughed. "You? You can barely control that power.""Watch me," I said.The ground shook.---Moonlight poured from the sky. Even though it was day.It hit my mark. Hit Luna’s. Hit Number 2’s.Three beams. One circle.Viktor stumbled back. "What is this?""The truth," Elder Nia said. She stepped forward. "Moon magic isn’t yours to own. It

Aria was breathing.Real, ragged, human breathing against my shoulder. Not the echoing, underwater breathing from before. This was broken, wet, alive. She was light, too light, like she hadn't eaten in years. Which, in a way, she hadn't. The dead don't eat."Aria?" Number 2 was on her knees in front of us, afraid to touch her. Her hands hovered over Aria's face, shaking. "Aria, is it you? Is it really you? Look at me."Aria lifted her head from my chest slowly, like it weighed a thousand pounds. Her eyes were brown. Stayed brown. No stars swirling anymore. Her moon mark — on the back of her left hand — was white now, but scarred. Like it had been burned and healed wrong, the edges blackened."I... I remember you," she whispered to Number 2. Her voice was hoarse, raw, not echoing anymore. Like someone who had been screaming for a very long time. "You sang. When Viktor... when he put us in the dark box for punishment. You sang so we wouldn't hear him outside the door. You sang the lulla

We didn't walk back to the PackHouse. We were carried.The Blackridge wolves that had opened their eyes in the dark — over a hundred scouts — formed a circle around us. Not attacking. Guarding. When they saw Kai carrying me and Elara in one arm, Luna on his back, they bowed their heads.The walk through the forest was silent except for Elara's small, exhausted breathing against my chest. She had fallen asleep the moment the white light faded from the altar, her little hand fisted in my shirt like Luna used to do."She's cold," I whispered.Kai pulled his jacket — his Blackridge varsity jacket that still smelled like hockey tape and Alpha — around both of us. "PackHouse is warm. Nia has the fire going."Elder Nia was walking ahead with Number 2 and Aria, her staff lighting the path. Vex was behind us, carrying Number 1.Yes, carrying him. Kai had knocked him out with one punch after he said "He will come for them." But Nia said we couldn't kill him. Number 1 was the first — he knew whe