---
POV Claire
They led me down to the basement.
The furniture had been pushed against the walls.
The small windows were covered with thick curtains.
Daylight no longer existed here.
It felt like the room had been swallowed by something.
A circle had been drawn on the floor.
White powder.
Red symbols.
Candles arranged with almost… surgical precision.
The air was heavy.
Too heavy.
Every breath felt incomplete.
My grandmother was already whispering.
My grandfather held an old book open.
My mother placed a gentle hand on my arm.
They handed me a dark drink.
I drank it.
Bitter. Thick.
It slid down my throat like a bad memory.
Then someone applied a warm, black liquid to my forehead.
It trickled slightly toward my temple.
I didn't like it.
I didn't like any of this.
"Lie down in the center, Claire."
My grandfather's voice was calm. Too calm.
I obeyed.
The floor was freezing beneath my back.
I stared at the ceiling for a second… then closed my eyes.
I didn't want to see this scene straight out of an exorcism.
Then I felt the necklace pulse against my skin.
Not gently.
A beat.
Then another.
Like a heart that wasn't mine.
The voices began.
Low.
Ancient.
Repetitive.
The words vibrated in the air as if they were searching for something.
Me.
An invisible pressure closed in around me.
As if space itself were tightening.
My wrist burned.
The mark.
Even faded… it burned.
I clenched my teeth.
I should be afraid.
I should want this to stop.
But beneath the fear…
There was something else.
A forgotten sensation.
A familiar shiver.
My powers.
They were moving.
After all these years of silence…
something inside me was waking up.
And despite myself—
I liked it.
That vibration.
That energy crawling under my skin.
It was dangerous.
I knew that.
My powers had never been stable.
They overflowed. They exploded.
They consumed me.
But now…
I felt alive.
"Keep going…" my grandfather murmured.
The air vibrated harder.
A tension formed in my chest.
Then—
I felt it.
A thread.
Invisible.
But real.
Something was connecting me to someone.
Pulled.
Tight.
Alive.
Avery.
The necklace turned icy.
Then burning.
Then both at once.
"It's reacting too fast…" my mother whispered.
Their voices sounded distant now.
Distorted.
The symbols on the floor shifted behind my closed eyelids.
The energy wasn't coming only from the ritual anymore.
It was coming from me.
It was rising.
And the words I had read earlier surfaced in my mind.
Not like a memory.
Like a key.
I whispered them.
Softly.
Almost against my will.
But deep down, I knew.
I wasn't helping the ritual.
I was redirecting it.
If they wanted to break the bond…
I wanted to understand it.
I wanted to see.
Even if it burned me.
Fear hit me all at once.
I hadn't used my powers in years.
What if I lost control?
What if I made it worse?
But the need to know was stronger.
Always stronger.
The air became unbreathable.
My ears rang.
"Claire?!"
Something was wrong.
I tried to open my eyes.
Impossible.
Panic surged through me.
My body was heavy.
But my mind—
pulled.
The thread tightened violently.
Something yanked me.
Hard.
Brutal.
A scream tore from my throat—
And my eyes finally opened.
But I wasn't lying down anymore.
I was standing.
And I wasn't in the basement anymore.
I was in a cave.
Damp.
Cold.
The air smelled of stone and something ancient.
"Mom…? Grandpa…?"
My voice echoed without answer.
I moved.
Not really knowing where I was going.
As if something was drawing me forward.
I finally stepped into a brighter room.
A living room.
Luxurious.
But not ours.
The silence here wasn't empty.
It was watching.
Then I felt it.
Behind me.
A presence.
Ancient.
Overwhelming.
Hungry.
Someone—or something—was standing behind me.
Its gaze pierced the back of my skull.
My heart almost stopped.
Cold flooded my chest.
And in that silence—
I slowly turned around.
---
External POV — Basement
Claire's body arched suddenly.
Not just a reflex.
Something pulled at her from the inside, as if an invisible thread was trying to tear her away from her own.
"Claire!" her mother cried, leaning toward the circle.
But the air around the girl's body felt saturated.
All the candles flickered at once.
Then the flames stretched.
Not upward.
Toward Claire.
As if drawn to her.
Her grandfather snapped the book shut.
"This isn't a normal reaction…"
Her grandmother's voice was trembling now, her incantations speeding up, almost blending together.
The black symbol on Claire's forehead darkened even further.
As if burning from within.
Her breathing changed.
Too slow.
Then too fast.
Then—nothing.
"She's not breathing!"
Her mother covered her mouth, shocked.
The necklace around Claire's neck lifted slightly, as if carried by a nonexistent breeze. The feather vibrated, emitting a high-pitched sound—almost inaudible… but painful to hear.
Her grandfather went pale.
"The bond isn't breaking…"
"Then what's happening?!"
"This is no longer a breaking ritual."
A crack split through the floor of the circle.
The white powder scattered as if blown by a silent explosion.
And suddenly—
Claire's eyes opened.
But not really.
White.
Completely.
No pupils.
No consciousness.
Then her body lifted into the air, as if pulled by an invisible thread.
Her mother turned toward the others.
"Stop everything… right now!" she shouted.
Claire's empty gaze fixed on the ceiling.
"But—" one of them began.
"Stop the ritual!" her grandmother screamed. "STOP!"
Her grandfather tried to step into the circle.
Impossible.
An invisible force threw him violently back against the wall.
Under everyone's stunned gaze—
Something had gone terribly wrong.
But what?
---
PS: I hope you like my story and for that reason I decided to reveal a picture of Claire in the comments.