<b>Chapter </b><b>161 </b>


    <b>Elliot </b>


    The tether burned in my chest, pulling so hard it felt like it would rip me in two. I focused on it, her voice in my bones, her heartbeat in my blood, the bond that wasn’t just magic but everything that made me me. I pressed both palms out, fingers shaking, and forced the world to split. The portal ripped open, light bending until it became a hole in the air. I didn’t think. I jumped. I dropped onto hard ground, knees scraping grass and stone. The world smelled wrong. Sharp. Metallic. The stench of blood coated my tongue before I even looked around. Broken fairy lights hung from branches, torn and dangling, a few still sparking weakly. Candlesy toppled in the dirt, some still smoking. A movie flickered on a torn projector screen, the reel half–shredded, colors bleeding nonsense into the night. And then…the bodies.


    So many. Scattered across the field, twisted in ways they shouldn’t be, blood soaking into the earth until it shone ck in the low light. Souls drifted like mist above them, confused, circling, lost. Their whispers scratched at my ears. My stomach heaved. I wanted to cry, to scream, to run back through the portal. But the tether yanked tighter, pulled my eyes forward. Past the blood. Past the ruin. To them. Four men. My Dads. Kneeling in the grass, their bodies ringed around someone. Protecting her. Holding her. <i>Her</i><i>. </i>My mum.


    “Mum!” The word ripped out of me, raw and desperate. My legs moved before my brain could, carrying me across the torn–up field.


    All four of them turned at once, their faces streaked with blood and tears, their eyes wide and broken. For a moment, they looked like I’d torn their hearts out just by standing there. Uncle Arztec moved first. Fast. His massive body blurred as he sprinted and scooped me up before I reached them.


    “Don’t look,” he said, voice harsh, trembling as he pressed my face into his chest. “Don’t look, Elliot. It’s okay. It’s okay.”


    But it wasn’t. I kicked, shoved, and punched at him with everything I had. My throat burned from screaming.


    “Get off me! Let me go! Mum!”


    I could still feel her through the tether, faint and flickering. Fading. And every second I


    wasn’t by her side felt like betrayal.


    678


    “Mum!” I screamed again, thrashing, my nails digging into Arztec’s arms. “Please, let me


    go!”


    Arztec’s arms tightened around me, iron bands locking me against his chest. His heartbeat thundered in my ear, heavy, frantic, but it wasn’t the one I needed. It wasn’t


    hers.


    “Don’t look, Elliot,” he begged, voice cracking. “Don’t look…”


    “I have to!” I screamed, my throat raw, tears streaming hot down my face. The tether inside me was fraying, screaming that she was slipping, slipping away, and if I didn’t reach her now, I’d lose her forever. The panic broke something open inside me. My body burned, my veins lit with fire, and before I even thought about it, the magic surged. My hands pressed t against Arztec’s chest, and I shoved, not with strength, but with power. A shockwave burst out. Arztec flew backwards, his massive frame crashing into the dirt with a grunt, his eyes wide with shock. I scrambled to my feet, my whole body shaking. Mchi and Julius stood in my path, arms wide, trying to block me, their faces pale and wet with grief.


    “Elliot, no…” Mchi’s voice cracked.


    “Stay back!” Julius pleaded.


    But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I ran straight at them, tears blurring my vision. And just as their hands reached for me, I ripped the world again. A portal bloomed beneath my feet, bright and wild, and in the next heartbeat, I spilled out on the other side, inside the circle. Inside, where my dads knelt, surrounding her. Her. My mum. Shey so still. Too still. Blood in her hair, her skin pale as moonlight. My Dads‘ hands hovered over her body, protecting, pleading, praying.


    “Don’t look, son,” Xavier said, his voice breaking like ss.


    “Elliot, please,” Levi begged, his eyes shining with despair.


    “She’s okay, it’s okay,” Noah whispered, but his voice shook too hard to believe.


    “Don’t…don’t do this to yourself, pup,” Haiden muttered, tears streaking down his <b>face</b>.


    Their words mmed into me from every side, their grief crushing, but it only made the rage burn hotter in my chest. The magic surged with it, wild and sharp, until it felt like my whole body was shaking apart.


    “SHUT UP!” I roared.


    The words ripped out of me, thunderous, maging every syble. It cracked across the battlefield like lightning, carrying above every cry and plea. And they obeyed. My dads, the strongest men I knew, fell silent. The world narrowed to her. I dropped to my knees beside her, my hands shaking so badly I could barely dig into my pocket. But I found it. The crystal. Her crystal. The one containing her raw magic. The one they gave me the day she called me son, the day she made me family. It pulsed faintly, a soft light in the dark. I pressed it to her chest, right over her heart.


    “Come on, Mum,” I whispered, tears dripping onto her skin. My hands trembled, but I held the crystal steady, willing it to connect, to matter.


    I closed my eyes and breathed. In. Out. In. Out. The way she taught me when fear was


    too big.


    “I need you,” I whispered. “We all need you. Please. Please don’t leave us.”


    I called to her tether, the bond in my chest that tied me to her, to Layah, to everything that had ever made me more than just a scared boy. I called to her blood, her magic, her soul. I begged them toe back. To stay with me. <i>Please </i><i>stay </i><i>with </i><i>me</i><i>, </i><i>Mummy</i><i>. </i>The crystal pulsed harder, brighter, beating in rhythm with mine. I breathed. In. Out. In. Out.


    “Live,” I whispered. My voice cracked. I pressed harder, willing the magic into her. “Live, Mum. Please live.”


    And as the light grew, I felt it, the faintest flutter. A heartbeat, weak but real, answering mine.


    But it wasn’t enough. The faint flutter under my hand wasn’t enough. I needed more, I


    needed her heartbeat strong, loud, alive. I needed her. Tears streamed hot down my face as the desperation twisted into rage. My whole body trembled with it, magic sparking in my veins, pouring down my arms into the crystal.


    “Fucking live, Mum!” I screamed. The words tore my throat raw, but the power answered.


    The crystal red, blinding white–gold, and the surge mmed into her chest. Her body arched, her back bowing off the ground as if lightning had struck her. For a heartbeat, everything froze. Then her eyes blew open.


    She dragged in a huge, shuddering breath that rattled the air. Her lips parted. And with a rasp that was both broken and sharp as ever, she croaked: “Elliot. Language!”


    I let out augh that cracked right through my sobs, half–hysterical, half–relieved, and I whispered through my tears, “Don’t you ever do that to me again, Mum. Please.”


    Pam Bishop


    18 hours ago


    Wow. Im a mess. That was incredibly moving.I can’t wait for more.