Chapter 496: Dead Ends

The council hall was already full.

Morning light poured in through the tall, narrow windows, laying pale bands across the long wooden table and the worn floorboards beneath it. Dust drifted lazily in the air, stirred by the quiet movement of bodies settling into their seats. The carvings on the high timber walls caught the light in shallow relief—old symbols, old stories, watching.

Orion sat at the head of the table.

Ronan sat on his right, leaning back in his chair in a way that looked careless but never truly was. Sophia sat on Orion’s left, close enough that the edge of her sleeve brushed his arm when she shifted.

Everyone was in their usual seats, and the only person not available was Tobias.

Orion exhaled slowly through his nose. He was glad that Tobias was the only one not present. That just meant he and Sophia wouldn’t have to explain things over and over again for everybody.

He had already told Sophia everything she needed to know, not leaving a single detail out. He had briefed her together with Ronan because he was very certain that Ronan would disrupt the meeting if he wasn’t up to date with what was happening.

He had called for Eldric, but Eldric had insisted that he needed to change and get himself back because it felt like he was in someone else’s body.

Orion and Sophia had laughed at that and just let Eldric be... Eldric.

The hall was silent, but then Caspian spoke.

He turned toward Sophia and offered a small, gentle smile.

"I’m glad you’re alright, child," he said. "Truly. Just being near Orion alone is a full-time burden. I imagine surviving the rest of this pack on top of that must be exhausting."

Sophia blinked.

Then she laughed softly, startled.

Orion shot Caspian a dry look just as Ronan snorted under his breath.

Daniel nodded, a short laugh escaping him as well. "That’s... actually true."

Then his expression shifted.

The humor drained from his face as quickly as it had appeared.

He turned fully toward Sophia.

"I’m sorry," he said quietly. "For what Holly did to you, it should—"

Sophia shook her head, stopping him.

"Don’t," she said gently.

"Please don’t take the blame for someone else," she said. "You didn’t make her choices. You didn’t put those words in her mouth. You didn’t hurt me. And you also didn’t send her to hurt me. She did everything all on her own."

Sophia went on quietly, "Holly is responsible for what she did. Not you. Not Orion. Not the pack."

The room went still.

Daniel lowered his gaze slowly and then nodded.

Caspian shifted in his seat.

His eyes softened, but something sharper flickered behind them as he studied her face.

"I heard," he said slowly, "that you were inside a Trihydra nest."

Eldric’s eyes widened in shock, but he didn’t say anything. He planned to observe in order to get information from this meeting, especially since he had missed when Orion was briefing those who were not aware.

Sophia inhaled.

Then exhaled.

"I don’t understand it," she said.

Every eye turned fully to her.

She lifted her hands slightly, fingers lacing together as if grounding herself.

"When I woke up after I lost consciousness," she said slowly, choosing each word with care, "I was already inside the nest."

She paused.

"It wasn’t small," she added quietly. "It was huge. Much larger than I imagined it would be."

Eldric’s head tilted a fraction.

Ronan leaned forward without realizing it.

Sophia went on.

"I kept thinking... maybe the two Trihydras dragged me in while I was unconscious. But the more I looked around, the less sense that made."

She shook her head faintly.

"There was an opening at the top. Far above the ground. I could see light coming in through it."

Her fingers tightened together.

"But there is no way," she said, her voice steady but strained, "that two full-grown Trihydras could crawl in through that opening."

Sophia glanced at Orion briefly before returning her attention to the others.

"And even if they somehow did," she continued, "the surface around it was too smooth. There were no scrape marks. No broken resin. No disturbed structure. Nothing that suggested something that large moved through it."

Brynhild tilted her head slightly toward Sophia’s voice, listening with full, unnerving focus.

Sophia swallowed.

"What confused me even more," she said quietly, "was that what I imagined a Trihydra nest to be... and what I was actually inside... were not the same."

Ronan lifted a brow.

"In what way?" he asked.

Sophia hesitated.

Then spoke.

"I expected tunnels. Paths. Something that showed movement. Something that showed entry and exit, but there was none."

"It was a single massive chamber," she said. "Curved walls. Hardened resin and debris layered so thick it felt more like stone than nest material. There were jagged areas, yes—but nothing usable. Nothing that looked like a passage."

Sophia continued, her voice growing quieter.

"There were bones on the ground. A lot of them. Some were human," she said softly. "Some weren’t."

Madam Tyler’s lips pressed together.

Sophia lifted her head.

"But the bones weren’t what unsettled me most."

The silence sharpened.

"What unsettled me," she said, "was that no matter where I looked... everything ended."

"I walked the perimeter," she said. "Again and again. I traced the walls. I checked the ground. I checked every shadow and every curve I could reach."

She drew in a slow breath.

"There were no side chambers. No collapsed tunnels. No blocked paths."

Sophia lifted her gaze to meet the others.

"It felt like a dead end," she said simply.

Orion sighed. "You remember what I told you about the Trihydra nest?" he asked her.

"You only told me if I see one, I should run."

Orion winced. "Yes, and I should have been more specific about how the nest looks. I described the eggs but not the nest itself, because I thought there was no way you would actually encounter one."

"What you were in," Brynhild added, "was exactly a Trihydra nest. That’s how they are built, Sophia."

"But if the hatchlings will make it out of the nest, how come there was nothing I could use to get out, no path?" Sophia asked her.

"Just as there are many ways into the heart of Nirvana, though you could get lost, there are many paths into the nest for a Trihydra—and numerous ways to get out too," Orion told her.