After her parents' funeral, the house felt unbearably empty.
Sarah Mortayne sat alone at the dining table, staring at the untouched food in front of her. The house had always been quiet, but this silence was different. Before, it had been filled with expectation—waiting for her parents to return. Now, it was permanent.
Even though Adrian and Alena Mortayne were rarely home, they had never abandoned her. They called whenever they could, asked about her health, her studies, and whether she was eating properly. They sent gifts from distant countries and left notes she often pretended not to read.Only after losing them did Sarah understand how much they had cared.And how much she had cared for them.
Nights were the hardest.Grief pressed down on her chest, making it difficult to breathe. Sometimes she woke up shaking, her body burning as if something inside her was trying to tear free. Her heart would race, and an unfamiliar energy would surge through her veins, wild and uncontrollable.Before, she had thought she was sick.But now she knew it was something else.
The blue crystal necklace resting against her collarbone pulsed softly whenever the strange energy rose. A cool sensation spread through her body, calming the chaos inside her. Her breathing slowed. The pain eased.Without the necklace, she felt certain she would lose control.Lucas hadn't just given her a gift.He had given her balance.
As the days passed, Sarah slowly began to think clearly again. And the clearer her mind became, the more one truth stood out.Her parents did not die naturally.The nightmare replayed in her thoughts—the black-robed figures, the spells, the lights pulled from her parents' bodies. At first, she had dismissed it as a product of fear and grief. But the postmortem report made no sense.No wounds.No illness.Two heart attacks at the same time.Impossible.
Late one evening, Sarah sat on her bed, clutching the crystal tightly in her hand."If someone did this to you," she whispered, her voice trembling, "then I'll find them."Her sadness did not disappear—but it changed.It became determination.She began searching through her parents' belongings. Old files, travel records, sealed documents they had never spoken about. There were gaps—trips that were never explained, meetings that had no records.
And then there was Lucas.He had come to her before everything fell apart.He had known something was wrong.He had given her the necklace at the exact moment her body began to change.Lucas knew more than he was telling her.
Standing by the window, moonlight spilling across the floor, Sarah Mortayne lifted her head."I'll find out who killed you," she said quietly."And I'll find out why."Outside, the night wind stirred, and for just a moment, the blue crystal around her neck glowed faintly—as if answering her vow.