Ellie POV


    It was raining again.


    The kind of steady, unhurried rain that made everything in Moonstone shimmer. The packhouse windows were blurred with it, the world chilled and greyed out.


    I''d always loved the sound of rain. It was soft and rhythmic, like a symphony, buttely it only made me uneasy.


    Ever since Kieran''sst visit, the dreams had changed.


    They weren''t just whispers anymore. The goddess''s voice was clearer-still distant,


    but insistent. Each night I woke with fragments of words on my tongue, half-


    forgotten before I could write them down. Sometimes, I''d feel a presence beside me, gentle but heavy, as if someone had just left the room.


    I didn''t tell Rae. Or Cassian.


    I told myself they had enough to worry about. I tried to focus on the twins, the hospital, the work of everyday life.


    But the truth was, I was afraid. Afraid that speaking the dreams alond might make them real.


    When ric asked to see me that morning, I almost said no. He''d been watching me more closelytely, his gaze sharper, his questions softer. Something in his demeanor told me he already knew more than I did.


    Still, I went.


    The Moonstone packhouse had always felt weing, but the inner halls of the basement level were different, older, quieter, their walls lined with ancient carvings that seemed to hum faintly when I passed.


    I followed ric down a narrow corridor I''d never seen before. The twins were with ire for the afternoon, and the quiet pressed around us like fog.


    We stopped before a door made of pale wood carved with the phases of the moon. ric rested his hand against it, murmured something that sounded like a prayer under his breath, and the door swung open with a sound like a sigh.


    "Come," he said softly.


    The air inside was cool and fragrant, touched with sage and something sweeter-vender, maybe. Crystals and candles filled the shelves, glittering in the pale and flickering lights.


    In the center of the room stood a low table, and on it, a crystal sphere the size of my hands together, its surface shot through with faint veins of silver.


    I hesitated on the threshold. "What is this ce?"


    ric''s expression softened. “A sanctuary. It was your mother''s once."


    The words caught me off guard. "My-my mother?"


    He nodded. “Her name was Selene. She was..... remarkable. Gifted, even among the seers of Moonstone."


    I didn''t know what to say. I''d seen pictures of her, faded ones on the shelves and walls upstairs, but the woman in those photographs was always a stranger. A smile without a story.


    I only knew it was my mother because of how startlingly simr w looked.


    "She had a strong bond with the


    goddess," ric continued, his voice


    low and reverent. "It ran in her


    bloodline, though in her, it shone brighter than any before her. When she spoke, even the ai seemed to listen."


    Something inside me stirred at that. “You mean-magic?”


    He smiled faintly. "Not in the way you''re probably imagining it. The goddess''s touch isn''t a trick or a spell, it''s a connection. A dialogue between spirit and the divine. Your


    mother carried that connection with


    grace,"


    I took a step closer to the table, my gaze drawn to the crystal. "And you think!-?"


    “I know you do,” he interrupted gently. “The dreams, the storms, he way you feel


    energy before others sense it. It''s the same gift. The same calling.”


    I shook my head. "No. I''m just-


    “ine,” he said quietly, using the name only family did, “You''ve already heard her.


    You''re already listening. That''s more than most can manage."


    My throat tightened. "Then what does she want from me?"


    "That," he said, "is what we need to find out."


    He gestured to the crystal. "This belonged to your mother. It''s made of pure moonstone She used it tomune with the goddess directly, when dreams were not enough. I''m not as strong as her, but even I can manage a bit with this. It''s the thing that led us to you in Silver Fang."


    "What?" I asked in shock.


    “Did you think that we found you by mistake? We''d been searching for years..... I


    think that your mother led us to you when you were ready toe home."


    I stared at it, its pale surface glowing faintly in the dim light. "What happens if I touch


    it?"


    ric''s gaze was steady. "You''ll see what you''re meant to see. Nothing more, nothing less."


    I hesitated. My hands trembled at my sides. “And if I''m not ready?