CHAPTER FOURTEEN: "Ashes in Graveton"

The wind in Graveton no longer smelled like woodsmoke and bread.

It smelled like iron and endings.

Jayden stood at the edge of the town, the cloak of the Hollow tucked tightly around him, though it did little to stop the chill. It wasn't just weather. The air here felt… wrong. Like something had unspooled and wasn't ready to rewind.

Beside him, Veyna touched the ground. Her fingers came up with ash.

"This place was sanctified once," she whispered. "Now it reeks of blood magic."

Jayden's jaw clenched. "My family's still here."

---

The Shattered Home

The path to his house was overgrown — thorns twisted like angry veins. But it wasn't the plants that unnerved him.

It was the silence.

Graveton had always been alive: dogs barking, bells ringing, children laughing. Now, it was like a ghost town pretending to be real.

When they reached the house, Jayden paused.

The gate was still broken, swinging slowly in the wind. Just like it had been the night he vanished.

But the door was wide open.

Inside: a mess. Chairs overturned. Candles burnt out. One of Joyce's scarves nailed to the wall with a bone dagger — a message only someone from the Hollow could understand:

> "Leave the past. Or die with it."

---

The Bloodstone Calls

In the small cellar under the house, Jayden found the old floorboard he used to hide things in as a child. He pried it open.

No toys. No trinkets.

Just a single, glowing red shard resting on soft velvet — pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.

Veyna stepped back. "Is that—?"

"The Bloodstone," Jayden breathed. "He was right."

The stone wasn't large — no bigger than a fist — but as Jayden reached for it, his vision snapped sideways.

He was inside something. A memory not his own:

Fires raging.

The church in ruins.

A scream.

A face with no eyes, just smoke and teeth.

> "I see you," the voice said.

Jayden tore his hand away. He gasped. "He's here."

---

Hunter's Arrival

The air cracked.

A soundless boom, like glass breaking inside your bones.

From the shadows outside, something moved.

Veyna drew her blade. "Jayden. Move."

They turned toward the door — and saw him.

Not fully formed. Not yet.

But real enough.

The Hunter.

Wrapped in shadows, his form flickered — part man, part nightmare. His voice crawled across the floor like oil.

> "Blood-cursed child.

Key to the Vault.

I am your debt."

Jayden stood tall, but his knees trembled. "What do you want?"

The Hunter tilted its head, revealing teeth too many for any mouth.

> "I want you unmade."

With a scream that bent the walls, he lunged.

---

The First Strike

Veyna met him mid-charge. Her blade sang, striking the Hunter's chest.

Sparks flew. Not blood. Ash.

The creature reeled, then roared — not in pain, but in hunger.

Jayden reached for the Bloodstone — and it glowed brighter, reacting to his blood.

He held it out — and light exploded from it like a sunburst.

The Hunter shrieked and dissolved into smoke.

For now.

---

Aftermath and the Note

Jayden dropped to his knees. His ears rang. The Bloodstone had stopped pulsing.

Veyna helped him up. "You hurt?"

He shook his head. "He'll come back."

"Yes," she said. "But next time… he won't miss."

Jayden looked around. His home was gone. Burned from the inside out. But something still called him upstairs.

In his old room — under the pillow — a note.

In Joyce's handwriting:

> "I saw what you are.

And I still love you.

Find me.

Church of Black Roots. Westroad.

— Mom."

Jayden folded the note with shaking hands.

> She was alive.

---

Closing Scene

Outside, as night fell, the stars refused to shine.

And in the woods just beyond Graveton, the Hunter re-formed, slower this time — like his body was learning Jayden's scent.

He opened his cracked jaw and whispered to the night:

> "You carry the Bloodstone.

But I carry your end."