Chapter 21
The howl echoed through the ruins, low and haunting, vibrating deep in Riley's chest.
Kieran.
She didn't know how, but she could feel his presence closing in, the pull in her ribs tightening like an invisible thread stretched between them.
Callum exhaled, tilting his head like he was listening for something else. "I'd say we have about five minutes before he finds us."
Riley turned toward him, heart still hammering. "And what? You think I'm just going to stand here and wait?"
Callum's smirk was lazy, but his eyes were sharp. "Depends. Do you want answers, or do you want to run back to the same lies you've been living in?"
Riley gritted her teeth. "I don't trust you."
"Smart." His gaze flickered toward the sealed entrance. "But trust isn't the problem right now, is it?"
She hated that he was right.
The vines covering the doorway were unnatural, twisted in thick, unbreakable knots. The stone itself had shifted, closing over the exit like the ruin had come alive.
Because of her.
That part scared her the most.
Not Callum. Not Kieran's approaching footsteps in the distance.
But the truth that had slammed into her chest the moment she touched the ruin's energy.
This place responded to her.
Like it knew her.
Like it was waiting.
Riley took a shaky breath. "Then open it."
Callum blinked. "Excuse me?"
"The door." She pointed at the entrance. "You want me to believe you? Do you want me to 'wake up' or whatever cryptic nonsense you keep spouting? Then open it."
Callum studied her for a long moment, something unreadable passing through his golden gaze. Then he shrugged. "Alright."
He stepped toward the stone archway, raising a hand.
Nothing happened.
His smirk twitched. "Interesting."
Riley folded her arms. "Guess you're not as powerful as you think."
Callum turned back to her, raising an eyebrow. "I told you. This place isn't responding to me." His gaze flicked to her hands. "It's responding to you."
A cold knot formed in her stomach.
"No."
"Yes," he countered smoothly. "And there's only one way we're getting out of here."
Riley swallowed hard. "How?"
Callum took a slow step forward, voice dropping to something calm, coaxing. "You have to command it."
The air thickened.
Riley's breath turned shallow.
"No," she said quickly, shaking her head. "I don't know how."
Callum's gaze burned. "You do."
Her hands clenched at her sides. "And what if I can't?"
"Then I hope you're ready to explain to Kieran why you're locked in a room with me."
She glared at him.
But she knew he was right.
Riley turned toward the sealed entrance, her pulse roaring in her ears.
She had felt it before when the ruins reacted to her touch. A whisper of something old, something alive beneath the stone.
If she just reached for it
No.
She couldn't.
Could she?
Her fingers twitched.
She exhaled slowly, pressing her palm against the cold, unyielding surface.
Open.
Nothing happened.
Callum made a noise behind her. "You're hesitating."
"I am not"
"You're thinking like a human."
Riley whipped around. "Because I am one!"
Callum just smiled. "Are you?"
The words struck deeper than she wanted to admit.
Her hands shook as she turned back toward the stone.
This wasn't possible.
She wasn't this.
But the ruins knew her
Riley clenched her jaw, pulse roaring in her ears. The idea that this place was this ruin was answering her made her skin crawl.
She had spent her entire life not believing in things like fate, like destiny. But now?
Now she had to face the truth.
She took a slow, steadying breath.
This time, when she reached out, she didn't hesitate.
Her fingers pressed against the stone.
And she pushed.
Not physically.
But with something deeper.
Something buried.
The response was instant.
A low vibration rolled through the ruins, dust raining down from the ceiling. The vines shuddered, unraveling like loosened thread, stone groaning as the entrance peeled open.
The cool night air rushed in.
Riley staggered back, heart pounding.
She had done that.
Callum let out a low whistle. "Well, well."
She turned to him, breath still shaky. "What the hell am I?"
Callum's golden eyes gleamed. "You're waking up."
Before she could respond, footsteps crunched against the gravel outside.
Fast. Purposeful.
Riley turned just as Kieran appeared at the entrance.
His golden eyes flickered between her and Callum. Then, without missing a beat, he growled,
"What the hell is going on?"
Kieran stood rigid, his entire body humming with tension.
His golden eyes locked on Callum, rage burning beneath the surface.
Riley had seen him angry before.
But this?
This was different.
Callum, of course, looked completely unbothered.
He leaned casually against the stone, arms folded, smirk firmly in place. "You're late."
Kieran's jaw tightened. "You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should she," Callum countered smoothly, nodding toward Riley. "But here we are."
Riley stepped between them. "Stop."
Kieran's gaze snapped to her.
Something flickered in his expression. Relief. Concern. Something else.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice lower now, more controlled.
Riley hesitated.
She should say yes.
She should lie.
But the truth was still pressing against her ribs, still thrumming in her blood.
"I"
"She opened the ruins," Callum cut in.
Kieran's entire body stiffened.
His gaze whipped back to Riley. "You what?"
She swallowed hard. "I didn't mean to."
Kieran took a step closer like he needed to see for himself. "How?"
Riley clenched her jaw. "I don't know."
But that wasn't entirely true.
She had felt something, had reached for something, and the ruins had answered her.
And from the way Kieran was looking at her now
He knew exactly what that meant.
His golden eyes darkened.
"You shouldn't have done that."
Anger flared inside her. "I didn't have a choice!"
"You always have a choice," Kieran shot back, voice sharper now.
Something about the way he said it like he knew what it was like to choose wrong made her chest tighten.
But Callum just sighed. "Alright, as fun as this little reunion is, we should go."
Kieran turned to him, voice deadly calm. "You're not going anywhere with her."
Callum smirked. "That's not your decision."
Riley stepped forward. "No. It's mine."
They both looked at her.
Riley exhaled. She needed time to think. To figure out what the hell was happening to her.
She glanced at Callum. "Go."
Callum raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"
Riley nodded. "I'll find you when I'm ready."
Callum held her gaze for a long moment. Then he nodded. "Try not to let him get too attached."
And with that, he was gone.
Riley turned back to Kieran, chest still aching.
But before she could say anything, Kieran spoke first.
His voice was quiet. Careful.
"What did you see in there?"
Riley hesitated.
Because she had a feeling Kieran already knew.
She met his gaze.
And whispered,
"The truth."
And she wasn't sure she was ready for it.
Riley's breath came in short, uneven gasps as the weight of everything pressed down on her. The truth she had seen the truth she had felt wasn't something she could shove aside. It wasn't something she could run from.
Not anymore.
Kieran took a slow step forward, his golden eyes dark and unreadable. "Riley."
Her gaze snapped up to his.
There was something dangerous in the way he said her name. Not anger. Not relief.
Fear.
And that scared her more than anything.
She forced herself to swallow, her throat tight. "What?"
Kieran's jaw clenched. His shoulders were tense like he was holding something back. "What exactly did you see?"
Riley hesitated.
Because how could she even put it into words?
That she had seen herself standing on a battlefield long before she was ever born? That she had heard voices whispering her name, the name she wasn't sure belonged to her anymore? That when she touched the ruins, something had answered like it had been waiting for her to return?
She shook her head. "I don't" She stopped herself. Lying wouldn't help. Not now.
"I saw" She exhaled sharply, hands curling into fists. "I saw a place like this. Before it was ruined. It was whole."
Kieran's expression didn't change.
But the air around him did.
It grew thicker. More charged.
Like he had felt something too.
Riley noticed the subtle shift in his stance the way his fingers twitched at his sides, how his throat bobbed like he was swallowing something bitter.
He already knew.
The realization hit her like a punch.
She narrowed her eyes. "You've seen it too, haven't you?"
Kieran didn't answer.
But he didn't have to.
His silence told her everything.
Her chest ached. "How long have you known?"
Kieran exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. "It's complicated."
Riley let out a bitter laugh. "Right. Of course, it is."
She turned away, pacing, anger curling in her ribs like a storm cloud. "Everyone knows something about me except me. Callum, Tobias, even you." She whirled back to face him. "What the hell am I, Kieran?"
His golden eyes darkened. "I don't know."
It was too fast. Too automatic.
A lie.
Riley's pulse spiked. "Bullshit."
Kieran's jaw tightened. "Riley"
"No." She stepped closer, her breath sharp. "Tell me the truth. Stop protecting me. Stop lying to me. If I was part of all this before if I was" She hesitated, the words almost too impossible to say. "If I was someone else, then I need to know."
Something flickered in Kieran's expression.
Something haunted.
Riley stared at him, her heart pounding. "You knew me before, didn't you?"
Silence.
Kieran's gaze lowered, his fists clenching at his sides.
And that was all the answer she needed.
Her stomach twisted.
Oh, god.
"You did," she whispered. "Didn't you?"
Kieran didn't move.
He didn't deny it.
He just stood there, the moonlight casting long shadows across his face, making him look less like the boy she had met a few weeks ago and more like something out of a dream.
Or a nightmare.
Riley's breath hitched. "Then why didn't you tell me?"
Kieran finally met her gaze. "Because I don't know how this ends."
Her body went cold.
"What does that mean?"
Kieran hesitated, his expression torn between a thousand things he wasn't saying.
Then, softly almost too softly he said,
"It means that last time, it didn't end well."
The words hit her like a punch.
Last time.
Her legs felt weak.
She backed away, shaking her head. "No."
Kieran reached for her, his voice urgent now. "Riley"
"No," she snapped. "You're telling me I've done this before? That you've known me before?" Her breath was coming too fast, her heart slamming against her ribs. "How many times? Once? Twice? More?"
Kieran stayed silent.
Her pulse stopped.
He wasn't answering.
Because he didn't have to.
Because she already knew.
This wasn't the first time.
This was just the first time she had remembered.
Her lungs seized, panic curling like smoke inside her chest.
"I need to go." The words rushed out before she could stop them.
Kieran's eyes flashed. "Riley, wait"
But she was already moving, spinning on her heel and storming toward the trees.
She needed to get out of here.
She needed space.
She needed to breathe.
Because if this was true if Kieran had known before, if she had been someone else then what else was hidden inside her?
What else was waiting to wake up?
And what had happened last time to make Kieran so afraid of this ending the same way?
Her hands trembled as she disappeared into the darkness.
And for the first time, she wasn't sure she wanted the answers.
Because something told her
She wouldn't like them.