Chapter Nine: The Vessel Wakes

"Ivy," Ethan - No, the Thalia -Sarpet, rising on his feet with terrible grace. "It's been so long."

Ivy's breath was stuck in the neck. "Let him go."

"Why should I do that?" Thalia echoed, stretching Ethan's limbs like she was testing a new skin. "He's warm. Loyal. She tilted Ethan's head mockingly" You always pick the soft ones, sister. ""

"I'm not your sister."

"Oh, but you are," she said, the voice syrupy sweet. "Our blood remembers even if your mind does not"

Ivy clutched the edge of the shelf. The hollow's heart still pulsed like another heartbeat under the palm. "Let him go."

Thalia sighed through Ethan's mouth. "Do you think you can order me now? When I have given you everything? Life. strength. memory."

"You took my family."

"I was your family!" The chamber echoed with her anger. "They stole me from you. I did what I had to do."

Thorne stepped forward, drawing his blade. "Get out of him. Now. Or I'll tear out myself."

Thalia smiled. "Still playing Knight, Thorne? You couldn't stop the hollow. You couldn't stop me then either."

Thorne lunged. But Athan's body moved much faster than humans. Thalia grabbed his wrist and rotated it quickly. A sick crack echoed through the chamber.

Thorne fell with a groan.

"Thorne!" Ivy shouted and moved forward.

But Thalia picked up the little finger, Ethan's finger and ivy body closed the center stage.

She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

"You were always so difficult," Thalia said, stepping closer. "That's why I chose you."

"I never chose you."

"No," she whispered. "But the hollow did."

She pressed Ethan's palm against Ivy's chest. No warmth Just raw, lukewarm energy. It lit a fire in her blood that was pulsed like a drum. familiar. Ancient.

"You are the vessel," Thalia said. "You always were. You just don't remember yet."

The top tree moaned. The roots were torn through the roof. Thick red sap that drips like blood.

Ivy clenched her teeth. "I won't let you control me."

"But you already do," Thalia smiled.

"I'm not yours."

"But I'm yours," she said. "Your other half. They tried to kill me, Ivy. for what I was.

The heart of ivy thudded. Her organs trembled. She didn't remember.

"You're lying."

"I am?"

Thorne groaned from the floor, trying to get up. "You have to separate the Sigil," he gasped.

"That's how she's holding on."

"How?" Ivy asked, her eyes never leaving Thalia.

Thorne threw the broken blade towards her . "Metals from the hollow. It can cut through the bond."

Ivy dived for it.

Thalia was faster.

A pulse of dark magic blasted from Ethan's chest , which slammed ivy into the wall. Pain shot through her back as she hit the stone. blood filled her mouth.

"Don't make me hurt you," Thalia said gently," "We can do everything right. Be whole again."

"I don't need you to be whole."

"You don't understand," Thalia said. Her voice cracked. Her eyes - Ethan's eyes - shimmered with something almost human. "I did this for you."

"Then why does it feel like you are destroying everything?"

Thalia blinked. Only once. The glow falls in Sigil on the back of Ethan.

"I—" Ethan's voice broke through. "Ivy…"

Her breath caught. "Ethan?"

"I'm fighting him." His jaw clenched. The veins got dark under his skin. "She's ... strong."

"You are stronger."

"No," Thalia made a full comeback. "He's mine!"

Ivy charged forward, gripping the blade. With a cry, she shone it into the center of Sigil glowing on Ethan's back

He screamed.

This mark exploded in the fracture of dark light, sharttered like glass.

Thalia's soul erected from his body in form of smoke and shadow .

She recoiled ,screamed. Writhing .

The roots above thrashed.

Ivy caught Ethan before he collapsed, pulling him on her lap.

"Stay with me," she said, brushing blood from his cheek.

His eyes were open - light brown, and clear. "You saved me."

"You fought her," she whispered. "You didn't let go."

Thorne limped to them, clutching his broken hands. We don't have long. She's not gone. she's just been taken out for now."

"What does she want?" Ivy asked.

"The book," Thorne said, nodding to the heart of the hollow. "She needs to bind it completely to herself."

"Then we destroy it."

Thornes face tightened. "You can't. It's a part of you. Destroy it and you destroy yourself."

Ivy's hands clenched. "What?"

"You rewrite the bond . Finish what she started—on your terms."

"I don't know how."

"You don't have time to figure it out."

The hollow moaned again. A huge root crashed into the ground next to them and splitted the floor.

Ivy stared at the ancient book. It strikes with life - dark, but not hostile.

"I don't want to be a monster."

"You're not," Ethan said. "You are the girl who took me out of the dark."

She reached the book. At that moment her fingers touched the cover, a Surge of energy ran through her body. Her breath caught.

It welcomed her.

Not like a prisoner.

As a queen.

Memories filled her. Fire. Shadows. Power. Wolves howling under the blood red moon.

She didn't scream.

She howled .

The sound echoed through the hollow.

When her eyes opened, they glowed silver.

"I see now," she whispered.

"See what?" Thorne asked, eyes wide.

"The truth. I was not just chosen. I was meant."

The walls were rawly shaken.

From the shadows, smoke from Thalia spiraled again - desperate . Anger.

But when it neared Ivy, it recoiled.

She stood for a long time, and Aura pulsing. 

"Your time is over."

Roots shot towards her.

Ivy lifted one hand.

The roots stopped. Trembled.

Then bent.

Thalia's scream tore and defeated through the chamber.

And then -silence.

Ethan stumbled on her side.

Thorne pulled back slowly, fear in his eyes.

"You're the vessel ," he whispers.

"No," Ivy said. "I'm the heir."

But before any of them could breathe, the floor expanded under their feet.

They fell.

Into the dark.