Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 61

Eve~

Lia left for the day, and I saw her off. I closed the door behind me and rested against it for a moment. I appreciated her help, and though I did feel a bit lighter after each session, I still felt like I was being drowned under a torrent of negative emotions.

My phone call with my mom just a day ago still had me spiraling. She had been my mother for a moment—her soft voice, her warm tone, her loving cadence—but it had all melted away in a single second, right after my father interrupted. The kindness hadn’t seemed rehearsed the way her coldness had. It was almost as though she were playing a role.

The implications filled me with both hope and dread, a strange mix that left me nauseous.

Just then, my phone rang, and a lump formed in my throat. I looked around the room, not sure what I was searching for. Was it a coincidence? Was I being watched?

My gaze shifted back to the bedside drawer where my phone was ringing. I made my way to it, picked it up, and, seeing the caller ID, felt my heart stutter to a stop.

Sister.

My heart began to race, the world coming to a standstill. The ringing continued, incessant and jarring. In no time, I was shaking.

Sister.

I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t losing the last bits of sanity I had left.

My quivering finger found the response button, and I answered the call, putting the phone to my ear with trepidation.

"Hello?" I said breathlessly, all the air stolen from my lungs.

Ellen’s voice sent a horrifying chill down my spine. "Time’s up, sister."

Everything happened at once. The door slammed open, and Hades’s panicked voice cut through my shock and horror. "Red!"

I turned to him, and he moved so quickly that I didn’t quite see it happen.

He was in front of me in a heartbeat, slapping the phone painfully out of my hand and shielding me.

The next moments felt like a blur. I watched in slow motion as my phone hit the floor, a shiver of dread creeping up my spine. Then, in a deafening crack, it exploded. The impact threw me backward, searing heat brushing against my skin as shards scattered like tiny knives. My ears rang violently, muffling everything around me. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think—the only thing echoing in my mind was Ellen’s final, chilling word: "Time’s up."

The world around me was fragmented, sounds distant and warped. My body shook involuntarily, each beat of my heart struggling to find rhythm amidst the chaos. I registered faint shouts, though their meaning slipped through the static filling my mind.

And then, arms—solid and warm—wrapped around me, pulling me against a steady chest. A hand rested at the back of my head, fingers gently stroking my hair. The touch anchored me, grounding me in the swirling storm of fear and confusion. I breathed in deeply, the familiar scent somehow cutting through the smoke and the ringing in my ears.

Gradually, the fog lifted enough to let in pieces of reality. Hades was holding me, his face tense with worry, his voice soft but urgent as he murmured something I couldn’t yet understand. The shattered remnants of the phone lay scattered on the floor, twisted and smoking.

I wanted to say something—to ask if he was okay or to explain the terror that Ellen’s voice had unleashed in me—but my voice wouldn’t come. Instead, I gripped his shirt tightly, needing the reassurance of his presence, of his strength to hold back the terror that threatened to consume me whole.