Luna. Chapter 159

Lyra's POV

The shadow's words kept echoing in my mind over the next few days. The Moon Goddess is dead. Has been for centuries.

I tried to dismiss it as lies, manipulation. But doubt had taken root.

During my evening prayers, I searched for that familiar warmth, that sense of divine presence I'd always taken for granted.

There was nothing.

"Moon Goddess," I whispered. "If you're there, please give me a sign. Just a small one."

Silence.

"I need to know you're real. I need to know I'm not fighting this battle alone."

Still nothing.

Maybe the shadow was right. Maybe she was gone.

But as I sat there in the quiet darkness, another thought occurred to me. Maybe it didn't matter.

The light that had driven back the shadow, the power I'd felt when fighting the curse - that had come from me. From my love for my family, my determination to protect them.

Maybe the Moon Goddess had never been the source of our strength. Maybe we'd been the source all along.

"Mom?" Asher appeared in the doorway. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, baby. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"About faith. About what we believe and why we believe it."

He came and sat next to me. "Do you still believe in the Moon Goddess?"

The question caught me off guard. "Why do you ask?"

"I've been praying for Dad to come home safe. But it doesn't feel like anyone's listening."

My heart broke a little. "Sometimes it's hard to feel her presence."

"Do you think she's real?"

I looked at my son, this wise little boy who'd already seen too much of the world's darkness.

"I think there are forces in this world that we don't understand. Good forces and bad forces. And I think we have the power to choose which side we're on."

"Even if the Moon Goddess isn't real?"

"Even then."

"So we're not fighting for her. We're fighting for us."

"That's right."

"I like that better," he said. "It makes us sound stronger."

"We are stronger than I ever realized."

He hugged me. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too."

After he went back to bed, I sat in the darkness a while longer. The shadow had tried to break my faith, to make me despair.

Instead, it had shown me something I'd never understood before.

I didn't need a goddess to be strong. I had something better.

I had love.