Chapter 260

Agnes

The drive to the old mining site took forty minutes through winding forest roads that barely deserved to be called roads at all. Richard drove the lead vehicle with Elijah and me, while Thea sat quietly in the backseat. Behind us, three more vehicles carried Richard’s warriors—twenty men in total, all armed and ready for whatever we might find.

The closer we got to our destination, the tighter my stomach wound itself into knots. This was really happening. In less than an hour, I’d be walking up to my stepmother’s front door with my eight-year-old daughter, hoping that my measly abilities and sheer determination would be enough to end this nightmare.

Each moment, I chided myself for making this decision. I considered telling Richard to turn around more than once.

But every time I opened my mouth to do it, I felt an undeniable tug in my chest. My wolf. She kept a firm belief in the fact that this was the only way.

It felt insane, doing something like this—risking my daughter—on a hunch that my wolf had. But as we inched closer to the mines, I found myself less and less able to go against it; as if fate itself really were pulling me in this direction.

“The quarry should be just ahead,” Richard said, slowing the vehicle as we approached a fork in the road. “We’ll stop here and go the rest of the way on foot.”

The vehicles pulled off onto a barely visible dirt path, hidden from view by thick trees and overgrown brush. Richard had chosen this spot well—we were close enough to reach the facility quickly, but far enough away that no cameras or patrols, assuming there were any, would spot us.

We climbed out of the vehicles in silence. The night air was crisp and cold, and I pulled my jacket tighter around myself as Richard’s warriors began spreading out through the forest. They disappeared into the darkness like shadows, not even making a sound.

“Agnes,” Richard called softly. “Over here.”

Elijah, Thea, and I made our way to where Richard was standing at the edge of a small clearing. From here, I could just make out the outline of the old quarry in the distance—a gaping hole in the earth that had been abandoned decades ago.

“My scouts found what seems to be an entrance into the facility,” Richard said, pointing toward the quarry. “See where the concrete looks different? Newer? They blew apart the old seal to create a way in.”

I squinted into the darkness and could just make out what he was talking about. There was definitely something there—a dark opening in the quarry wall. An entrance to the old mines.

“That’s where you’ll need to go,” Richard continued. “The scouts also spotted cameras and at least two guards posted just inside the entrance. You won’t make it more than fifty feet before they see you.”

Which was exactly what we wanted. The plan depended on me being seen and being escorted inside to my stepmother. Still, the thought of walking right into danger like that made my skin crawl.

“Remember,” Elijah said quietly, “if you don’t give the signal within thirty minutes—”

“I know,” I cut him off.

The signal would be simple—a burst of flame shot into the night sky from wherever I could manage. If Richard’s warriors saw it, they’d know I’d handled my stepmother and it was safe to move in. If they didn’t see it within thirty minutes…

Well, hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

I turned to look at Thea, who had been unusually quiet during the drive. She was standing close to my side, her eyes wide as she stared toward the quarry. My brave little girl, about to walk into danger because she wanted to save other children.

“Thea,” I said, kneeling down to her level. I still wanted to give her agency in this, even if my wolf was calling it fate. “You know you don’t have to do this, right? You can stay here with Uncle Richard and his warriors. They’ll keep you safe.”

But even as I said the words, I knew what her answer would be. Thea shook her head firmly.

“I want to stay with you, Mommy,” she said. “I feel it in my heart that if we stay together, everything will be alright. We should do this together.”

Her words sent a shiver through me, because they echoed exactly what my own wolf had been telling me. So she felt it, too.

“You feel that?” I asked softly. “In your heart?”

Thea nodded. “It’s like… like there’s something warm inside me that says we’re supposed to do this together.”

I exchanged a look with Elijah. Could Thea’s wolf be starting to emerge? She was only eight, but some children showed signs earlier than others. And if she was sensing things the way I was…

Maybe we really were meant to do this after all. Maybe this wasn’t just a desperate plan thrown together in the face of impossible odds. Maybe this was something bigger. Our elemental genes binding us together and guiding us on a certain path, or something else entirely.

“Okay,” I said, pulling Thea into a hug. “We’ll stay together. No matter what happens, we won’t let them separate us. Deal?”

“Deal,” Thea said firmly.

I stood and turned to Elijah, who was watching us with both pride and horror on his face. He stepped forward and pulled both of us into his arms, holding us tight.

“I love you both so much,” he whispered. “More than anything in this world.”

“We love you too,” I said, breathing in his scent. I tried to memorize it, just in case. But I hoped I wouldn’t have to.

“Be careful,” he said, pulling back to cup my face in his hands. “Trust your instincts. And if something feels wrong—”

“I’ll get us out of there,” I promised not just to him, but to myself. I would not let anything happen to Thea. No matter what.

He kissed me then, soft and sweet and full of everything we couldn’t say out loud. When we broke apart, he knelt down to Thea’s level.

“You take care of your mommy, okay, Princess?”

“I will, Daddy,” Thea said solemnly. “I promise.”

He kissed her forehead, then stood and stepped back. “Go,” he said. “Before I change my mind and lock you both in the car.”

I took Thea’s hand in mine. Her skin was warm, and I could feel a faint tremor running through her—whether from fear or excitement or something else, I couldn’t tell.

“Ready?” I asked.

She nodded, and together we began walking toward the quarry.

The forest was eerily quiet as we made our way through the trees. No bird calls, no rustling of small animals in the underbrush. Even the wind seemed to have died down.

We’d parked about a quarter mile from the entrance to avoid being spotted, so the walk gave me time to think. Time to go over the plan one more time, to prepare myself for what I might find inside that facility.

My stepmother would be expecting me to be broken, desperate. She’d expect me to beg for Thea’s safety, to offer myself in exchange for my daughter’s life. She wouldn’t expect me to have full control of my abilities. She certainly wouldn’t expect me to attack. Not even Lena had known about my training.

The element of surprise was our greatest advantage. I had to make it count.

As we got closer to the quarry, I could see lights from deep within the mine. The entrance was definitely there, carved into the rock face where the original concrete seal had been blasted away.

We emerged from the tree line and began walking across the open ground toward the entrance. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure the guards would hear it from fifty yards away. I didn’t have to fake the fear on my face or the sway in my step because that was real. To whoever was watching, I looked like a scared, desperate mother. And I was.

Sure enough, when we were still about thirty feet from the entrance, a figure emerged from the shadows. A man in dark clothing, holding a gun. He raised the weapon and pointed it in our direction. I instinctively pushed Thea behind me.

“If you hear a bang,” I whispered, “Run.” Thea nodded against my leg.

“Stop right there!” the man shouted. “Hands where I can see them!”

I raised my free hand, keeping my other hand firmly clasped around Thea’s. She raised both of her small hands as well, and I hated how brave she was being, because it was another fucking reminder that she had aged far beyond her years due to the horrors she’d endured in her short little life.

“Don’t shoot,” I called out. “I’m not armed.”

The guard approached us cautiously, his weapon still trained on us. When he got close enough to see our faces clearly, his eyes widened slightly.

“You’re her,” he said. “The stepdaughter.”

“Yes,” I said, lifting my chin. “I came to speak to my stepmother. I have a proposal for her.”