Page 216 of Midnights
I was happy… wasn’t I?
I’ve spent my entire life not knowing who my parents were, and it never mattered before, so why should it now?
Except that’s a lie, too. Because even as I try to convince myself that none of this should matter, that knowing or not knowing shouldn’t change anything, I can feel how wrong that is.
There’s something here. Something telling me that if I leave now, if I walk away from this without seeing it through, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
I can’t leave.
I shut my eyes, exhaustion pressing heavy into my bones. The mattress does its job and swallows me whole while tears slide down my cheeks. I don't even bother wiping them away.
They don’t change anything.
Just as sleep finally starts to pull me under, a low bark echoes in the distance, followed by a long, slow howl.
Chapter 36
Change
Kane
She drives me insane, and I’m not even sure she cares. She’s under my skin, and every second I’m near her, the urge to close the distance gets harder to resist.
Watching those tapes only drove it home.
Sleep feels like an impossible luxury, but I force myself to give in, knowing I need it if I’m going to make sense of this tangled mess. Or maybe I’ll just find myself even deeper in it.
I’m in the forest. The air is thick with the scent of pine and damp earth, it clings to my skin. The sky is endless and black, streaked with swirling blues that pulse in rhythm with my heartbeat.
Something’s wrong. Everything feels off. The stillness isn’t peaceful, it's suffocating. My instincts are on edge, and every step I take feels heavier than the last.
I know this place. Or at least, I thought I did. But tonight, it’s different, drawing me deeper into the darkness.
A rustling sound shatters the silence, and I pivot, narrowing my eyes as I track the movement between the trees.
A massive wolf steps into the clearing, with fur as dark as midnight. His steel-gray eyes glow when they lock onto mine.
“I should’ve known it was you.” He lifts his head, sniffing the air like he's searching for something, then his eyes snap back to mine.
“Yeah, I smell it too,” I mutter, keeping my voice low. The wolf's gaze sharpens, and an unsettling intensity burns behind those steel eyes.
The air around me stirs with a breeze twisting through the trees, carrying whispers that brush against my skin like cold, invisible fingers. At first, they’re faint, blending with the rustling leaves, but they grow louder, curling around me like a noose. “It’s time,” they whisper, their voices cold as ice.
“How is this possible?” I narrow my eyes at the wolf. “Go. Be careful.” I command, my tone is hard enough to cut through the rising whispers. The wolf dips its head in acknowledgment before melting into the shadows.
I exhale slowly, but tension coils in my chest as I look up. The swirling blues of the sky are streaked with a lavender haze that pulses with strange energy. It should be beautiful, but instead, it fills me with unease.
A scream slices through the air and my heart slams against my ribcage. I move instinctively toward the sound, but before I get far, the sound gets cut off, leaving only a suffocating silence in its wake.
“Raven?” Her name is a growl on my lips. She’s on the ground with her face twisted in pain. Everything about this feels wrong. Urgency spreads through me like wildfire as I rush over.
The second I reach out, her eyes meet mine, and she vanishes.
“Princess!” I shout, the word echoing into the emptiness as I spin around, searching the darkness. But she’s nowhere.
I spin around again, and I’m in my office. The walls feel taller, and the energy in the room hums with something dark. I turn and Cam’s sitting at the desk with a drink in his hand and he looks infuriatingly calm.
“She was there,” I snap. My voice has a dangerous edge. “And then she was gone.”
