Chapter 27 : Finally Met The First Hybrid Briefly…

Our eyes meet across the impossible space between us, and something inside me shifts.

It's like having a word lost on the tip of your tongue and finally remembering it, or finding the last piece of a puzzle you didn't even know you were solving.

Click.

Their mouth moves, and this time the words reach me, though they're fragmented, breaking apart like ships lost in a storm:

"...not alone..." Their voice sounds ancient, carrying the weight of centuries.

"...hidden too long..." A pause, their form flickering like a candle in the wind.

"...the third ones..."

I take a step closer, desperate to hear more, to understand.

"What are you trying to tell me? Who are the third ones?"

But something's happening to the space around us.

The colors are shifting faster now, the whispers growing more urgent.

I can feel power radiating from this other hybrid… so much power that it makes my teeth ache and my vision blur.

But there's something else too; a deep, profound sorrow that seems to seep from them like blood from a wound.

I reach out, trying to bridge the gap between us, but my hand passes through where their shoulder should be.

It's like trying to grab smoke… there but not there.

The whispers are getting louder now, more insistent. They're trying to tell me something, I can feel it.

"Please," I say, my voice cracking. "I don't understand. What am I supposed to do?"

The hybrid's form flickers again, more violently this time. Their features shift between human, wolf and something… something that makes my mind skitter away from it like a spooked animal.

But in those brief glimpses, I see power. Raw, untamed power that makes what I can do look like parlor tricks.

I can feel it coming… Whatever this is, it's about to end. The space around us is becoming unstable, reality bending back on itself like a rubber band about to snap. The hybrid reaches for me, their eyes full of desperation and warning.

Their lips move again, forming words that send chills down my spine: "Be careful of the third ones."

Before I can ask what they mean, the world around us begins to tear apart.

A wind that isn't wind howls through this impossible space, dark and hungry, ripping at the vision of the hybrid.

I lunge forward, my fingers just managing to graze where their wrist should be as their form begins to dissolve.

Something solid presses into my palm; real, physical, anchoring me back to my own reality even as this other place tries to pull me deeper.

The hybrid's form is almost gone now, swallowed by swirling shadows that seem to devour light itself.

Just before everything goes dark, I catch one last glimpse of their eyes; eyes that hold centuries of secrets, of battles fought and lost, of truths too dangerous to speak aloud.

Then the darkness takes them, and I feel myself being pulled back, back, back…

…

When reality snaps back into place, I nearly fall to my knees.

The solid ground beneath my feet feels almost wrong after the weightlessness of... wherever I just was.

My lungs burn like I've been holding my breath, though I know I was breathing the whole time.

Something warm pulses in my clenched fist.

Opening my fingers, I find a bracelet resting in my palm.

It looks simple enough:- woven wood that seems to glow from within, like it's caught the last rays of sunset and kept them trapped inside.

But as I stare at it, I can feel it... breathing? No, that's not quite right. It's more like it has a heartbeat, slow and steady against my skin.

"Liv?" Jay's voice sounds far away, though he's right next to me.

"What just happened? You were... flickering. The whole time."

I try to answer, but the first hybrid's presence still lingers in my mind, overwhelming in its intensity.

I can still feel echoes of their power, their sorrow. It sits heavy in my chest, like swallowing stones.

Looking up, I see both Jay and Evelyn staring at me with wide eyes. Jay looks worried (what else is new?), but Evelyn... there's something else in her expression.

Recognition? Fear? Before I can figure it out, it's gone, replaced by her usual careful mask.

"What did you see?" Evelyn asks, her voice barely above a whisper. There's an urgency to her question that makes me hesitate.

The hybrid's warning echoes in my head: "Be careful of the third ones." Who were they talking about? What were they trying to warn me about?

Our spirit guide still hovers nearby, but her form seems different now; more focused, somehow.

Her gaze fixes on the bracelet in my hand, and something like satisfaction crosses her graceful features.

You have what you need, she seems to say, though no actual words reach my ears.

Jay steps closer, peering at the bracelet. "That's not just a trinket, is it?" His voice is hushed, like he's afraid speaking too loudly might break whatever magic lingers in the air.

"What is this thing?" I whisper, more to myself than anyone else.

But when I look up to ask our spirit guide, she's already starting to fade.

Her form grows dimmer, like a candle burning out, but her eyes... her eyes stay fixed on mine until the very last moment.

Five words drift to me as she disappears: You will need it soon.

And then she's gone, leaving us alone in a forest that suddenly feels much darker and more dangerous than before.

"Okay," I say, trying to keep my voice steady despite the way my heart is racing. "Would either of you like to explain what just happened? Because I just met... I think I just met the first hybrid. And they seemed pretty freaked out about something called 'the third ones.'"

The moment I say "third ones," Evelyn's head snaps up. There it is again… that flash of recognition in her eyes.

She knows something.

She has to.

"We need to move," Evelyn says, already backing away. "Now."