Chapter 246: Chapter 246 Walking On Water
Phoebe’s POV
I was drowning.
Not in water—in something thicker, darker. Every breath felt like swallowing liquid lead. My lungs screamed for air that wouldn’t come.
But through the suffocating darkness, I heard him.
Perry’s voice cut through the void like a lifeline thrown to a drowning woman. He kept saying my name, over and over, each repetition laced with raw desperation that made my heart clench.
"Phoebe... please... wake up..."
His anguish was worse than my own pain. Whatever was happening to me, it was destroying him. I had to get back. I had to reach him.
The comfortable darkness whispered seductive promises of rest, of peace, of an end to all struggle. But Perry’s broken voice anchored me to consciousness. I couldn’t abandon him. Not when he sounded so lost.
I forced my eyes open.
Water surrounded me completely—crystal clear but impossibly deep. Above, brilliant sunlight pierced the liquid darkness in shimmering golden columns. That light was my salvation. I had to reach it.
I kicked upward with desperate strength.
The surface should have been close, but with each stroke, it seemed to retreat further. My lungs should have been burning, yet somehow I could breathe in this strange realm.
I swam harder, panic driving me forward.
Dark clouds suddenly swallowed the sun above. The golden light vanished, plunging everything into absolute blackness.
I couldn’t see my own hands stretched out before me.
The water disappeared. I found myself floating in empty void—no up, no down, no direction at all. I spun helplessly, searching for any landmark, any hint of escape.
Perry’s voice had vanished too.
Silence pressed against my eardrums like a physical weight. The emptiness was complete, hungry, waiting to devour what little remained of me.
Terror clawed at my chest, but I fought to stay rational. Panic would only make things worse.
Time meant nothing in this nightmare realm. I might have drifted for seconds or centuries before my feet finally touched solid ground.
The oppressive darkness lifted slightly. I sat on soft grass in a ring of towering trees. To my left stretched a pristine lake, its surface like polished obsidian.
On the far shore stood a magnificent white wolf.
Recognition hit me like a physical blow. I’d seen this place before—in dreams that always faded upon waking. But now every detail remained sharp, vivid, terrifyingly real.
The wolf lowered its muzzle to drink, then raised its head when it sensed my stare. Our eyes locked across the dark water.
Something twisted in my stomach. Those eyes... they were familiar in a way that made no sense.
I approached the lake’s edge and gazed down at my reflection.
Nothing stared back.
No image at all—just empty water where my face should have been.
My blood turned to ice. I looked across at the white wolf, and somehow, impossibly, my own face looked back from its reflection.
"That’s not possible..."
I stumbled backward, but the image persisted. My reflection lived in the wolf’s body while my own yielded nothing.
I had to reach that creature. I had to understand what was happening to me.
I studied the lake’s perimeter, but both ends vanished into impenetrable darkness that seemed to pulse with malevolent hunger. Whatever lurked in those shadows, I wasn’t brave enough to discover.
The lake itself offered the only path forward.
But how deep was it? What creatures might be hiding in those black depths, waiting for something foolish enough to enter their domain?
I chewed my lip, paralyzed by impossible choices.
The white wolf stepped forward and walked directly onto the water’s surface—not swimming, but moving across the lake as if it were solid glass.
"What the hell..."
The trees around me vanished without warning, leaving only me, the lake, and the impossible creature approaching across liquid that defied every law of nature.
My knees buckled. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but where could I go? This realm followed no rules I understood.
The wolf stopped in the lake’s center and settled onto its haunches, watching me with predatory patience.
In its reflection, I saw myself moving in perfect synchronization—but my reflection-self looked different. Cold. Empty. Waiting for something terrible.
"You want me to come to you?" My voice cracked with fear.
The wolf didn’t respond, but its stillness felt like a challenge. Or a trap.
With no other options, I placed one trembling foot on the lake’s surface.
The water held my weight like solid crystal.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I took another step. I couldn’t see my own reflection below, but I kept moving toward the wolf—toward whatever fate awaited me in this impossible place.
When only an arm’s length separated us, I stopped.
The wolf was even more magnificent up close—pristine white fur that seemed to glow with inner light, intelligent eyes that held secrets I desperately needed to understand.
But those eyes also held something else.
Hunger.
I reached out slowly, my fingers trembling as they moved toward the creature’s beautiful, dangerous head.
The moment my skin made contact with its fur, the world exploded into blinding white light.
