Chapter 167

Hannah

We must return to the underworld. I could see the fear on everyone’s faces, except for Sebastian who just looked more determined than ever.

“No!” Wren cried, holding onto Sebastian even tighter. She had tears in her eyes and her small body was trembling. I placed my hand on her back to try to calm her down. “Please don’t leave me again,” she pleaded.

It broke my heart that she was so distraught over this whole thing. The last thing I wanted was for this to affect her.

“You can’t just leave again,” Raya breathed sadly. “What if you are gone again for another 5 years.”

“We won’t be,” Sebastian said firmly. “We aren’t going to let him freeze us again.”

I admired his confidence, but even I knew we couldn’t prevent something like that from happening to us again. We didn’t even know it happened the first time until it was too late. I didn’t want to have to leave my daughter again.

“it’s going to be okay,” I breathed to Wren. “I won’t let him get us.”

“No…” she cried again. “Please don’t go.”

My heart was heavy as I watched my little girl shaking in her father’s arms. A thought crossed my mind; maybe we could use a witch to enchant us and make time not affect us. Could that be a thing? I mean, Gemma was incredibly powerful. Maybe she would be able to help us or at least know a way that we can do this without losing another 5 years. There had to be a spell or something.

But as I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t seen Gemma yet. Why wasn’t she here too?

“Where’s Gemma?” I asked, staring around at everyone. “Maybe she can help us.”

Raya and Arnold looked at one another and I saw something flashing through both their gazes. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach.

“What are you not telling us?” I urged.

“You might want to sit down,” Raya said, eyeing me carefully. I shook my head, narrowing my eyes at her.

“Just tell us, Raya.”

“The night the portal was opened, Gemma tried to keep the darkness away. But a part of it came loose before the portal was sealed again,” Raya explained.

“What does that mean?”

“The part of the darkness that came loose, consumed Gemma and destroyed her from the inside out…” Raya continued. “She died months later.”

“Gemma died?” I gasped, covering my hands with my mouth.

We didn’t even see her in the underworld; was she actually gone? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I looked up at Sebastian whose expression hardened at her words.

“We had a funeral for her though,” Arnold chimed in. “She’s buried in the king’s cemetery. She might be gone, but she isn’t forgotten.”

This was our fault; she lost her life because we convinced her to help us.

“We have to fix this,” I breathed. “We can’t let her just die…”

“She’s already dead, Hannah. It’s been 5 years. She’s been gone for a long time. By now, her body is decomposed.”

“We didn’t see her in the underworld, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t there. If we were frozen, she could have died and entered the underworld while we were leaving,” Sebastian said from beside me.

“No,” I breathed; I refused to believe that Gemma was actually gone. This couldn’t be happening. I took a step away from them.

“We have to fix this,” I said again. “This isn’t fair. She didn’t even want to help us to begin with. We forced her to do this.”

“No, we didn’t force her to do anything. She wanted to help because the thought of Xander being in control of our wolves was worse than the outcome of opening the portal. She wanted to protect this kingdom and she died doing just that,” Sebastian said, trying to keep me calm.

“We have to go back and fix this,” I said, staring at him.

“We will go back to the underworld and figure out what to do from there. Don’t worry, Hannah. We aren’t going to let Xander win.”

I wanted to go and visit her grave; maybe I could get some insight while being there.

Wrenley continued to cry harder in Sebastian’s arms; she was really frightened. She didn’t want us to return to the underworld.

“If you go back, you will die… please…” she continued to cry.

I furrowed my brows together; was she basing this off a couple of dreams she’s had? Why was she reacting this way? I understood that she was frightened, but it almost seemed like she knew something we didn’t. Raya was staring at Wren with a concerned frown, but she didn’t seem that surprised.

I was sick of secrets and not being told the entire truth. I knew Raya was keeping something from me and I needed to know what it was, and I wanted to know it now. I grabbed onto Raya’s arm and pulled her along with me until we reached the kitchen, leaving everybody else behind.

“Ouch,” Raya complained as I released her. She rubbed her aching wrist and stared at me in shock.

“I know you are keeping something from me. What is it?”

“What do you mean?” She asked, trying to sound innocent.

“Don’t play stupid, Raya. I know you, even if it has been 5 years. Tell me what you are keeping from me. Is it about Wren?”

She was quiet for a moment; she shuffled slightly in her shoes and glanced down at her feet. She looked defeated; she knew she had to tell me the entire truth before I completely snapped.

She finally met my eyes again and nodded at me once.

“It is about Wren,” she answered. I waited patiently for her to continue. “She sees things.”

“Sees things?” I asked, raising my brows. “Like in her dreams?”

“Future things, past things, current things…”

“What are you talking about Raya?”

“They aren’t just dreams. They are visions. She’s a seer, or she’s something. I don’t exactly know what she is. But she can see everything. It often comes to her in dreams, but sometimes it happens when she’s awake. ] They are usually about you and Sebastian. But she could see you in the underworld. She also sees you dying in the underworld.”

“What?” I gasped.

Wrenley has been watching me die at the hands of Xander in her dreams? No wonder she was so distraught about me returning. But why would the moon goddess give her this kind of power? She was way too young; something like this could destroy her.

“It started developing a few years ago. She hardly sleeps anymore because of these visions. They scare her and they hurt her,” Raya continued explaining.

Before I had the chance to say anything more, Sebastian and Arnold came into the room.

Arnold looked uncertain but Sebastian just looked angry. He held up a maroon envelope. I recognized the stamp on the envelope; it was coming from the palace.

“What’s that?” I asked, eyeing it carefully.

“An invitation,” Arnold answered. “From the palace. One of the palace guards just dropped it off. It’s addressed to you and Sebastian.”

I frowned, unsure of what that meant; and then I heard Sebastian’s voice breaking through my thoughts.

“It seems we’ve been invited to attend the Bluemoon ball in a couple of days.”