027 ※ Hybrid, Soulbonds, and Gates of Death: Just Another Day in My Supernatural Identity Crisis

But it felt like it was my only chance.

"So, he was a hybrid?" I asked Samantha, my voice barely more than a whisper, my mind still trying to digest everything she had just told me. It felt like a fog had settled in my thoughts, making it hard to focus on anything but the questions tumbling over each other in my head.

"He was indeed a hybrid of fae and witch!" she replied, her voice unwavering, filled with a sense of certainty that almost felt foreign. But it wasn't the certainty that threw me. No, it was the next part of what she said, the words that came after, that really knocked me off balance. "And powerful. Hybrids are always powerful, but he was incredibly powerful. His mother was a pure witch, but not just any witch—she was a high-ranked one. That made her very powerful. And because of that, Avain is so unique, so unlike anyone else you've ever met."

"I knew it!" Kai exclaimed, his voice almost... happy? It was a bizarre reaction. The revelation should have been a shock to him, something that would leave him just as stunned as I was, yet his words were filled with a strange sense of satisfaction, as if he'd been waiting for this confirmation. Was this all planned, or was I the only one who was completely blindsided?

But the more I tried to piece it all together, the more questions kept rising in my mind, each one more confusing than the last. I couldn't understand any of it. I shook my head in disbelief. "This doesn't make sense," I muttered, frustration lacing my voice. "If Dad was a hybrid of fae and witch, then he should have pointy ears, right? And... and if I'm his daughter, I should have pointy ears too. This doesn't add up!"

"As I've said before, they must have used some kind of spell on him—and on you," she spoke with a casualness that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Her tone was eerily calm, as if casting spells was the most natural thing in the world. But this? This wasn't normal. Spells, hybrids, magic—it was all so far outside anything I had ever imagined. It didn't feel real. It felt like something from a storybook.

"They wouldn't do that with me!" I yelled, the words bursting from my chest without thinking. Anger was rising like a storm inside of me. I didn't know why, but the idea that someone would tamper with me like that—spell or no spell—infuriated me. I felt violated, like my very existence had been manipulated.

"Oh, girl, they would if it was to protect you," she replied, her voice soft but firm. She said it like it was an obvious fact, something that needed no further explanation. "Remember that you lived in Kakoi's kingdom, right? And what does he hate more than witches?" Her eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that almost made me shrink back. "Yes, hybrids like him. And you, Ava, you're kind of a hybrid too. Not a pure hybrid, not entirely, but if you get what I mean, you're like one-third fae and two-thirds witch."

I swallowed hard, her words sinking into my chest with a heaviness I couldn't shake. "Wait, wait, wait," I stammered, struggling to process what she had just said. "I'm… I'm what? One-third fae and two-thirds witch?" The thought of it, hearing it aloud, made my entire body feel heavy, as if I had just been burdened with a weight I wasn't ready to carry. I repeated the words like saying them again would somehow make sense of the chaos in my mind. But it didn't. It only made it worse.

"Can we do something to break this spell?" I asked, the desperation in my voice impossible to mask. The thought of being trapped in something I didn't understand, something that could control me without my knowledge, made my stomach twist. I wanted answers, a solution, something—anything that would make me feel like I wasn't completely helpless in this situation. I turned to her, hoping that she could provide the answer, the key to all of this. But instead, she glanced over at Kai.

Kai's face changed the moment he saw her look at him. His expression darkened in an instant, a flicker of alarm crossing his features. "She could cross the gate," Maelli said, her voice light, almost casual—but I felt a cold chill run down my spine as the words registered in my brain. "What gate?" I asked, my voice laced with confusion. What gate was she talking about? I had never heard of anything like this before.

"Are you crazy?" Kai's voice erupted, sharp and full of concern, mingled with something I couldn't quite place. "She isn't strong enough to cross the gate. And she doesn't have a bond to hold her soul in her body. It would be the same as sending her to her death."

His words struck me hard, like a punch to the gut. Death? The gate? What did any of this mean? My head was spinning now, faster and faster, as everything I thought I knew about myself, about my life, was suddenly in question. Was this all some twisted test, some game I had no part in? "What gate?" I repeated, my voice trembling with panic. "And what bond?" The questions were tumbling out of me now, each one more frantic than the last.

"Come on, Golden boy. You could…" Maelli started, her voice teasing, but she was cut off by Kai's harsh interruption.

"Don't!" he snapped, the rawness of his tone sending a sharp jolt through my chest. I looked between them both, my mind racing to catch up with what was happening. Why was this gate so important? What did it have to do with me? Why was it so dangerous for me to cross it?

"What is it?" I demanded, my voice shaking now. I was on the edge, strung out and desperate to understand. "If crossing this gate could break the spell, I'll do it. I don't care what it takes. I'll do it!" My eyes were wide, filled with a frantic kind of pleading. I needed an answer, something to hold onto, because the uncertainty was tearing me apart. I turned to Kai, trying to read the fear in his eyes, but I could barely make sense of it.

"You can't, sweetheart!" Kai's voice was softer now, but it still carried the weight of something I couldn't quite identify. "At least not yet. And like I said, you don't have a bond."

"What bond? What is this?" My voice cracked, the panic evident in every syllable. This was too much. I couldn't keep up. Every answer led to more questions, and nothing was making any sense.

"He's talking about a soulbond, Ava," Maelli said, her voice calm, almost patient, as if this were something I should have already known. It was as if I had missed a chapter in this strange, twisted book that was my life.

"A soulbond?" I repeated, trying to wrap my mind around the term. "You mean that unbreakable and strong, rare thing between couples or something like that?" My voice was hesitant, unsure if I was even phrasing the question right, but it was the only way I could think to put it.

"How could you refer to it with such casualness?" Boyd interjected, his voice a little laugh escaping him. It felt off, almost patronizing, but I couldn't focus on that. My mind was too tangled in the mess of new information to care about Boyd's attitude.

"The soulbond is something that almost everyone dreams of having, Ava," Koji said, his voice soft and wistful, as though the very concept of it was something sacred, something beautiful. "It's when destiny purposefully crosses your path with someone else's. It's when you meet the person who completes you, the one who understands you in ways no one else could. An unbreakable bond that crosses the limits of time, a connection that is impossible to escape."

His words were laced with a kind of reverence, as though he was talking about something so perfect, so pure, that it could never be anything less than extraordinary. It sounded like the kind of love you only hear about in fairy tales, the kind of bond that everyone dreams about but never thinks they'll actually find.

I swallowed hard, feeling the weight of it all pressing down on me. Was this bond the key to everything? Could it really break the spell that had been placed on me? My mind was racing, and I couldn't catch up.