CHAPTER SIXTY SIX

Cody sat in the backseat of the car, silent, holding Alice like she was made of starlight.

The car interior was dim, but the soft silver glow from Alice's hair cast strange shadows across his face.

Alva was curled beside him, unconscious, her hand resting lightly on his chest. Her breathing was steady. Peaceful.

In the front seat, Sam was still, her head tilted against the window. Bruised. Quiet. Unmoving.

Then—

The driver's side door creaked open.

Tim climbed in, quietly. His shirt was torn, soaked in both blood and sweat. His hair clung to his forehead. He sat behind the wheel but didn't start the engine.

The two men sat in silence for a long moment.

Just the sound of breath.

Tim glanced back through the rearview mirror, his eyes meeting Cody's.

"…She stopped us," Tim said finally, voice raw.

Cody nodded, slowly. "She stopped everything."

"She stopped me."

Tim gripped the steering wheel with trembling hands. "I almost killed her, Cody…"

Cody didn't reply.

Tim's voice cracked. "If she hadn't stopped me, I would've—" he broke off, his fists tightening. "I couldn't control it. It was like something else took over. Something dark."

Cody leaned his head back, eyes still on Alice.

"It's not just you," he said quietly. "I felt it too. When I looked at you… during the fight. I wasn't myself."

"You looked like a demon," Tim said with a half-laugh that wasn't really a laugh. "Your eyes… black as death."

Cody smiled faintly, bitterly. "And yours were glowing like you'd eaten fire and ice."

Silence.

Cody shifted slightly, adjusting Alice in his arms. Her glow pulsed once, like a heartbeat.

"She's not human anymore," Tim said softly, staring at her through the mirror.

"She never was," Cody whispered.

That made Tim turn around in his seat, his eyes narrowing. "What do you mean by that?"

Cody stared down at the girl in his arms. "I mean… I think she's the reason both of us are still alive."

"And Alva?" Tim asked.

"I don't know," Cody said. "But I think she's tied to this too. Somehow. This power… this thing in Alice…"

He stopped, staring down.

"She didn't stop time, Tim. She rewrote it. She paused the world with a whisper."

Tim looked away, jaw clenched. "So what does that make us? Monsters playing house with gods?"

Cody met his eyes.

"No," he said. "It makes us guardians. And maybe we already failed."

****

The car engine rumbled quietly.

Tim gripped the steering wheel, staring out at the endless road ahead. The woods behind them were silent now, but the air still carried the scent of blood, fire, and regret.

Cody sat in the back, cradling Alice in his arms, her silver hair glowing softly against his black shirt. Alva rested silently against his chest, warm but unconscious. Sam remained still in the passenger seat. Only Cody and Tim were awake. And both of them were broken.

Cody broke the silence first. His voice was low and tired.

"When did it start, Tim?"

Tim kept his eyes on the road. "The anger?"

"No. The awakening. When did you remember everything?"

Tim was quiet for a long moment. Then he rolled up his sleeve. His tattoo glowed faint red—like a sleeping flame beneath his skin.

"Last night," he murmured. "It burned. And then it started flashing… like something was pulling me apart from the inside."

He swallowed hard. "And then it all came back. My childhood. The fights. The hidden training. The fear. My real family. The blood."

Cody looked up, watching him through the rearview mirror.

"I remember who I was, Cody," Tim said, his voice cracking. "I wasn't a boyfriend. I wasn't just some angry guy. I was built for this. I was made to be a weapon."

Cody's expression was unreadable.

"I thought I was protecting Sam all this time," Tim went on, voice hollow. "But the truth is… she was trying to protect me. Even when I hurt her. Even when I broke her."

Silence filled the car.

Cody slowly rolled up his own sleeve. The place where his tattoo used to be—just above the wrist—was now blank. Faded. Gone.

Tim glanced back and saw it.

"…Yours disappeared?"

Cody nodded. "Faded the moment Alice touched me."

"What does that mean?"

Cody looked down at the glowing child in his arms. "It means I'm not what I was before. But I'm still not human."

Tim blinked. "You… you knew?"

"I've always known," Cody said quietly, his voice like thunder smothered in ash. "That I wasn't normal. That I had something inside me. Something dangerous."

He stared out the window now. "The things I've done… the blood I've spilled… I'm no different than you, Tim."

"No," Tim whispered. "You're worse."

Cody didn't deny it.

"But I'm done running," he said. "It's time we stop hiding behind fake lives. Sam. Alva. Alice. They deserve to know the truth."

Tim stared at the road, voice thin. "What if the truth kills them?"

Cody looked down at Alice. "She's already stronger than both of us combined," he said. "And she's just a child."

He leaned back and whispered: "Drive. Take us to my mansion. We need answers… before whatever's coming finds us first."

Tim nodded. And the car disappeared into the shadows.

The headlights cut through the misty road as the car rolled deeper into the night. Trees stood tall like shadows whispering secrets.

Tim's grip tightened on the wheel. "Cody…"

"Mm?"

"That thing inside us…" He paused. "What is it, really?"

Cody looked down at Alice, then at Alva resting beside her. He exhaled slowly. "It's not just inside us anymore."

Tim glanced in the mirror, confused.

"When Alice screamed…" Cody continued, "time didn't just stop — something else broke."

He rolled up his sleeve, revealing smooth skin where his tattoo had once burned dark.

"It started here," Cody said. "That symbol — it wasn't just ink. It was a seal."

Tim's eyes widened.

Cody turned to him. "We weren't meant to awaken. Not yet. The tattoo kept it buried. But when she screamed — when Alice used whatever power lives inside her — it shattered everything holding us back."

Tim slowly pulled up his own sleeve. The red glow was gone. Only faint scar tissue remained — like a memory of fire.

"I felt it," Tim said quietly. "Like something inside me was being ripped open."

Cody nodded. "Same. But it didn't stop there."

He looked back down at Alice.

"She touched me."

Tim froze. "What?"

"In the moment everything stopped," Cody said slowly, "her hand reached for my chest. Just once. Just her fingers. And the second she touched me… her hair turned silver."

Tim stared, breath catching.

"That's not normal, Cody."

"I know," Cody whispered. "I think… I think she unlocked something. Not just in me. In herself."

He looked down, brushing her glowing hair gently.

"She wasn't supposed to awaken either. Not this young."

Tim's voice was rough. "So what do the tattoos mean? Who gave them to us?"

Cody looked out the window. "They were seals. Bound to our bloodline. To keep us from remembering what we are."

He turned back to Tim, eyes dark.

"They were warnings."

Tim gripped the wheel tighter. "You think… our parents knew?"

"I think everyone did," Cody replied. "Except us."

He stared ahead, his voice cold now. "But the Tree woke up. And Alice shattered the seal. Now the bloodline's awake… and the world's about to feel it."

"The Tree?" Tim asked.

Cody nodded. "The one that held it all together. Time. Memory. Life and death. It's alive again. And now everything we buried—everything the world forgot—is coming back."

Tim's voice dropped. "You mean… the vampires. The werewolves. The witches."

Cody gave a humorless laugh. "Those were just the children of the curse."

Tim frowned. "So what does that make us?"

Cody looked at him, dead serious. "We're not one of the three. We're something older. Something that came before vampires drank blood, before wolves howled at the moon, before witches whispered to the stars."

Tim's blood ran cold. "So what are we?"

Cody turned back toward the window, his voice almost too soft to hear. "Descendants of the Dark Root."

Tim stared ahead in silence, then whispered, "Monsters."

Cody didn't answer right away.

Then finally, he said, "Not monsters. Not yet."

They drove in silence for a long moment, the weight of truth sitting heavy in the air.

And then, from the back seat, a faint sound. A pulse. Cody looked down. Alice's hair shimmered again. Her glow flickered—then brightened for a moment. Like a warning.