Chapter 80: pocket dimension

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: pocket dimension

Before Amelia could react. Something, or someone, moved so fast from the black space.

Kate dropped first. Then the twins. All three hit the floor without a sound beyond the soft collapse of their bodies.

The figure came straight for Amelia next.

She swung the metal rod hard in the direction of the approaching shape. The woman twisted aside effortlessly, the weapon cutting only empty air.

She straightened, and gave Amelia an almost approving look. "you got Good agility. Faster reaction than I expected."

Amelia’s eyes snapped to the unconscious girls on the floor.

"They’re fine," the woman said calmly. "You already know why I haven’t touched you."

Amelia’s grip tightened on the rod. "You’re here for me."

"Yes. I’ve been watching you from a distance for a while now. I think it’s time we talked." She tipped her head toward the dark opening behind the wolf. "Through there."

"I’m not going anywhere with you."

The woman’s gaze flicked briefly to the massive wolf still and the unconscious girls. The animal’s red eyes never left the three bodies on the floor, hunger barely restrained.

"Would you prefer we talk here while my pet keeps staring at your friends like that?"

Amelia’s instincts screamed against following a stranger into that darkness. At the same time, the alternative—leaving Kate and the twins exposed to the wolf—was worse. She searched the woman’s presence carefully.

There was no clear murderous intent directed at her. The wolf, on the other hand, radiated it without restraint.

She had no real choice.

Amelia lowered the rod and stepped toward the passage.

The darkness swallowed her in a few strides. When she emerged on the other side, the world had completely changed.

The place stretched a small, living town—narrow streets, low buildings, people moving about their day as if nothing about this place was strange. No one so much as glanced at them.

Amelia slowed, staring. "Where are we?"

The woman walked a few steps ahead before answering.

"My pocket dimension."

Amelia wasn’t nearly as stunned as she might once have been. After everything with Night Menace and the dream-like spaces she had already walked through, she wasn’t fazed.

The woman glanced back at her, a faint note of disappointment in her voice.

"You don’t look as surprised as I expected."

Behind them, the wolf that had followed them through the opening shivered once and shrank, body compressing until an ordinary-looking dog trotted freely at their heels, tail loose, completely unremarkable to anyone who might have cared to look.

Amelia kept her eyes on the woman. "What do you want to talk about?"

" Be patient amelia."

They kept walking until the narrow street opened onto a quiet restaurant front. The woman stepped inside without hesitation. The people seated at the tables continued eating and talking, paying them no attention at all. She chose a table near the window and sat. Amelia took the chair opposite her.

A waiter appeared almost immediately, setting down plates of food that looked and smelled real enough. The woman dismissed him with a small nod.

"It isn’t real," she said calmly. "He’s only doing his job inside this dimension."

Amelia’s gaze moved slowly around the room.

So none of them are real.

The woman rested her elbows lightly on the table.

"Since your powers started showing... have you been experiencing any other strange occurrences?"

Amelia’s expression cooled. "And why would I tell you that?"

"Because I want to help you."

Amelia let out a short, incredulous scoff. "Did I hear that wrong? Aren’t you the Underworld subjects causing havoc everywhere?"

The woman’s brows drew together. "It seems your partners fed you false information about us. What makes you so certain we’re the villains? Are you simply believing whatever others tell you?"

The name Night Menace rose to Amelia’s tongue and stopped there. Something instinctive warned her not to speak it aloud.

"You’re seeing this all wrong. We are not the ones in the wrong. Those three men are. Do you know anything about how they rose to power? The ruthless methods? The cruelty they used to carve out everything they have? The Underworld is only doing what is necessary to bring them down."

She studied Amelia’s face. "Have they ever told you why they are being targeted in the first place?"

Amelia’s silence was answer enough. They never had.

"Why?" she asked finally.

The woman’s voice dropped. "Because those men are the evil reincarnations of people who threatened the world more than once."

Amelia stared at her for a long moment, then let out a short, helpless breath.

"I don’t even know how to respond to that. And what does any of it have to do with me?"

The woman’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Yeah."

The woman studied her face more carefully this time. Whatever she saw there made her pause—Amelia wasn’t lying. She genuinely didn’t understand the weight of what was being offered.

"You need to get rid of the men."

Amelia laughed in disbelief.

"You’re talking to the wrong person. Not because I wouldn’t want them gone—plenty of people stronger than me have tried and failed. What makes you think I’d somehow succeed where they couldn’t?"

"That’s exactly why I said I would help you." The woman replied patiently. "I’ll help you uncover the rest of your abilities. Do you really believe weather manipulation is the only power you have?"

"As far as I can tell? Yes." 1

"It isn’t. You can read minds. You can create dimensions—different kinds of them. You can even trap people inside those dimensions. That is only a fraction of what you, the queen, are capable of."

Amelia’s brows drew together. "Queen?"

"If you agree to remove the brothers," the woman continued, "I will show you everything about your past lives. Haven’t you always wanted to be among? But you are far beyond those that mocked you for years. You can finally fill that empty place inside you—the one that has always felt like something was missing."