Luna. Chapter 82

(Lyra's POV)

Saturday morning brought an unexpected visitor. I woke up to the sound of someone knocking persistently at the front door, followed by the distinctive beep of my phone battery dying.

Kael was standing on my porch at seven-thirty in the morning, looking like he'd been awake for hours.

"Your phone went straight to voicemail," he said without preamble.

"Because it's dead. What are you doing here so early?"

"I was worried. You didn't answer when I called last night, and after everything that's been happening..."

I felt a flutter of warmth at his concern, quickly followed by irritation at being checked up on like a child.

"My phone died around ten last night. I forgot to plug it in before bed."

"I know it sounds paranoid, but when someone's been systematically targeting your family, a dead phone feels like a potential emergency."

He wasn't wrong. Over the past few weeks, my phone had become a lifeline—the way people reached me in crisis situations, the way I stayed connected to security updates and Council communications.

"Come in," I said, stepping aside. "I'll make coffee."

"Is Asher awake?"

"Still sleeping. He was up late reading with Victor."

Kael followed me to the kitchen, where I put on a pot of coffee and plugged my phone into the charger. As soon as it powered up, it buzzed with several missed calls and text messages.

"Popular night," Kael observed.

I scrolled through the notifications. Three calls from Felix, two from Sally, one from Elena, and several text messages I hadn't had time to read yet.

"Felix called four times," I said, frowning. "That's not like him."

I hit the callback button, and Felix answered on the first ring.

"Lyra, thank god. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Because Sally had a vision last night. A really vivid, really disturbing vision about you being in danger."

I looked at Kael, who was listening with the focused attention of someone accustomed to supernatural emergencies.

"What kind of vision?"

"You were in some kind of building—old, with high ceilings and lots of books. There were other people there, but their faces were shadowy. And there was this overwhelming sense of malevolent energy directed specifically at you."

"That could describe a lot of places."

"Sally said it felt like a library or archive. Somewhere you might go looking for information about celestial wolf abilities."

My blood went cold. Felix and Sally were the only people I'd talked to about researching celestial wolf powers. If Sally was having visions about me being in danger while looking for information...

"Did she see anything else?"

"Just that you were alone. No backup, no protection, facing something that wanted to hurt you specifically."

Kael moved closer, his expression tense. "What's going on?"

I held up a finger, still focused on Felix's call. "When did Sally have this vision?"

"Around two in the morning. It woke her up out of a sound sleep, and she couldn't shake the feeling that it was urgent."

"I haven't been to any libraries or archives."

"Yet. But Lyra? Sally's visions usually show things that are about to happen, not things that have already occurred."

I thought about my conversation with Victor the previous morning, about my determination to learn celestial wolf abilities regardless of the risks.

"I'll be careful," I said finally.

"Promise me you won't go anywhere alone. Especially not to look for information about celestial wolf powers."

"Felix—"

"Promise me, Lyra. Sally's visions have saved lives before. Don't ignore this one."

"I promise."

After I hung up, Kael was looking at me with the expression he got when he was trying very hard not to lecture me about something.

"Sally had a vision about me being in danger," I explained.

"What kind of danger?"

I told him about the library or archive setting, about the sense of malevolent energy focused on me specifically.

"And this is related to your research into celestial wolf abilities?"

"Possibly. Probably."

Kael was quiet for a moment, processing the implications. "Lyra, what if someone doesn't want you to learn about your supernatural heritage?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if the same person who's been targeting your family is also working to prevent you from developing protective abilities? Severing your lunar connection, placing cursed objects in your house, and now potentially setting some kind of trap in places where you might find information about celestial wolves."

The possibility made horrible sense. If someone wanted to keep me vulnerable, preventing me from accessing my supernatural heritage would be an effective strategy.

"But who would have that level of knowledge and capability?"

"Someone with extensive supernatural training. Someone who understands celestial wolf magic well enough to interfere with it."

Asher appeared in the kitchen doorway then, rubbing sleepy eyes and wearing pajamas covered in cartoon dinosaurs.

"Morning, Mama. Morning, Daddy."

"Morning, baby. Did you sleep okay?"

"I had dreams about angry books. Books that whispered mean things when people tried to read them."

Kael and I exchanged glances. Asher's dreams often contained elements of future events or current supernatural threats.

"What did the books whisper about?" I asked gently.

"About how some people shouldn't learn secrets that belong to other people. About how knowledge can be dangerous if the wrong person finds it."

My skin crawled with the implications. "Were the books in a specific place?"

"A big room with lots of shelves. Like a library, but older. And there was a lady there who tasted like winter and old hatred."

Winter and old hatred. The same way Asher had described Seraphina's emotional signature.

"Baby, in your dream, was the lady trying to hurt someone?"

"She was waiting for someone to come looking for the books. Setting a trap with the angry whispers."

Kael knelt down to Asher's eye level. "Do you know who she was waiting for?"

Asher looked at me with eyes that held too much understanding for a four-year-old. "She was waiting for you, Mama. She knows you're looking for ways to protect us, and she wants to stop you."

The kitchen fell silent except for the sound of coffee brewing and my heart pounding against my ribs.

"Well," I said finally. "I guess that settles the question of whether someone's actively working against my supernatural education."

"It also explains why your lunar connection was severed," Kael said grimly. "If Seraphina or someone working with her has been planning this for months..."

"Then going to any library or archive to research celestial wolf abilities would be walking directly into a trap."

I looked at Asher, who was waiting patiently for breakfast like he hadn't just delivered a warning that potentially saved my life.

"Thank you for telling me about your dream, baby."

"You're welcome, Mama. Can we have pancakes?"

"We can have whatever you want."