Luna's POV
I ran.
My paws thundered against the forest floor as I sprinted away from that impossible mirror, my heart hammering like a drum in my chest. The human girl's hand reaching through the glass—it couldn't be real. It couldn't.
But I'd seen it. Felt the cold air that came from the other side.
I didn't stop running until my lungs burned and my legs threatened to collapse. When I finally skidded to a halt, gasping for breath, I realized where my panic had taken me.
The Sacred Grove.
"No, no, no," I whispered, spinning in a circle. Ancient trees surrounded me, their trunks wider than five wolves standing side by side. Moonlight filtered through the canopy, painting everything silver and shadow. The air here felt different—heavier, like it pressed against my skin.
This was the one place in our entire territory where we were absolutely, positively forbidden to go.
A howl split the night. The pack's hunting call. They were gathering for the full moon hunt, and I was supposed to stay far away, remember? Banished. Alone. But the howls were getting closer, which meant the hunting party would pass right by the Sacred Grove's border.
If they caught me here, banishment would be the least of my problems.
I had to hide. Fast.
I shifted into human form and pressed myself against the nearest massive tree, trying to become part of the bark. Another howl, closer now. I could hear paws pounding through the underbrush. They'd be here in seconds.
That's when I saw it—a hollow space between two enormous roots at the base of the tree. Without thinking, I dove for it, squirming into the gap. The roots scraped my arms and caught my hair, but I pushed deeper into the darkness.
My hand hit something solid.
Something that shouldn't be there.
The hunting party rushed past outside, their excited yips and howls fading as they chased some unlucky deer deeper into the forest. I held my breath until the sounds disappeared completely.
Then I looked down at what I'd touched.
In the cramped space beneath the roots, barely visible in the darkness, something glowed with a soft blue light. I reached for it again, my fingers closing around something smooth and cold.
I pulled it free and gasped.
It was a disk about the size of a dinner plate, made of crystal so clear it seemed to hold trapped moonlight. Strange symbols covered its surface—the same symbols I'd seen on that mirror's frame. As I stared at them, they seemed to shift and move, like they were alive.
"What are you?" I breathed.
The crystal pulsed once, bright enough to make me squint. Warmth spread from my hands up my arms, not painful but intense, like drinking hot chocolate on a freezing day. The symbols glowed brighter, spinning faster.
Then words appeared in my mind. Not spoken out loud, but crystal clear, like someone had written them directly on my thoughts:
The barrier weakens. The time approaches. She who finds the mirror must choose.
"Choose what?" I said aloud. "What barrier? What are you talking about?"
The crystal pulsed again, and suddenly images flooded my brain. I saw humans and wolves living together in harmony. I saw cities where both species walked side by side. I saw children—both human and wolf—playing together without fear.
But then the images changed. I saw war. Fire. Screaming. Wolves and humans tearing each other apart. I saw the mirror shattering into a thousand pieces. I saw darkness swallowing everything.
I dropped the crystal disk with a yelp, and the visions stopped immediately.
My hands shook as I stared at the glowing object lying in the dirt. What was this thing? And why was it hidden under the oldest tree in the Sacred Grove?
"Luna?"
I froze. That voice—I knew that voice.
Alpha Kieran stepped into view between the trees, his human form somehow more intimidating than his wolf. His eyes locked onto me, then dropped to the glowing crystal at my feet.
His face went completely white.
"How did you find that?" His voice was barely a whisper.
"I... I was hiding from the hunting party, and I fell into the roots, and it was just there—"
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" He moved toward me slowly, like I was a wounded animal that might bolt. "That crystal has been hidden for over a century. It was never supposed to be found. Never supposed to be touched."
"Why? What is it?"
"It's a key." Alpha Kieran's jaw clenched. "A key to the barrier between our world and the human world. And by touching it..." He closed his eyes. "You've activated it."
The ground beneath my feet trembled. Not much, just a gentle vibration, but enough to make the leaves rustle in the trees above.
"What's happening?" Panic crept into my voice.
Alpha Kieran grabbed my shoulders, his grip tight. "Listen to me very carefully. That mirror you saw tonight—it wasn't a hallucination. It was real. The barrier between worlds is breaking down, and you're at the center of it."
"But I don't want to be at the center of anything! I just wanted to—"
The ground shook harder. Cracks appeared in the earth around the crystal disk, spreading like spider webs. A light brighter than the sun burst from the crystal, and I heard a sound like glass shattering.
Alpha Kieran pulled me close, shielding me with his body. "Whatever happens next," he said urgently, "don't let go of me. Do you understand? Don't let—"
The world exploded into blinding white light.
When I could see again, we weren't in the Sacred Grove anymore.
We were standing in a human bedroom.
And the girl from the mirror stood right in front of us, her eyes wide with shock.
"You're real," she whispered.
Then she fainted.