Lily couldn't stop wringing her hands together. A flutter ran through her body as she followed her grandmother to the end of Niall's road. She couldn't stop reminiscing her snow-kissed dance with Niall, and the kisses that followed.

"Are you coming?" Nerida called back, turning to check her granddaughter was still walking in her steps. "Did you leave your feet at the Guthrie household? Why are you so slow?"

Lily swallowed her sharper words. "Coming, Granny." She called, forcing her weak-knees to strengthen and follow her family.

She'd been kissing Niall again when Nerida had begun applauding at the side of Niall's home. They'd both jumped away in surprise, both of them blushing furiously, but Niall hadn't stopped smiling.

The smile only wavered when Nerida asked for Lily, demanding she come with her to show her something. Lily had gently squeezed Niall's hand before following her grandmother, knowing she was owed answers even if instinct pulled her to remain by his side tonight.

Her grandmother had been silent for eight years, not in Lily's life at all. Lily was a patient and shy person, she knew that, but if Nerida thought she was as naive as she was at ten, her grandmother was stuck in the past.

"Where are we going?" Lily called when they approached the same trail leading to the waterfall. Nerida didn't respond, instead walking into the darkness. Lily hesitated but a sharp look from her grandmother forced her legs to move again, even as her stomach began to churn. The flutter from her time with Niall was slowly turning into a static in her chest - something wasn't adding up.

As they walked down the trail, Nerida took a fork in the path Lily hadn't noticed before, leading up the mountain instead of down to the waterfall. When they climbed the steep steps, Lily clinging to trees to help her - her shoulder was still numb to move - they both stopped at the cave mouth that cut into the mountain like a knife wound.

"The cave system has been closed for six years." Nerida said, her dark eyes shadowed staring into the abyss. "I want to show you why."

Lily looked at her grandmother carefully. "Does it show me what creatures we are?"

Nerida scowled. "Stop searching for an identity, girl. Being anonymous is true freedom so stop seeking chains."

Lily pursed her lips as Nerida walked into the cave. Lily hesitantly looked around them, absentmindedly searching for a sign to not walk into the darkness. She clenched her fist watching the clouds gather over Mount Tyrill. Lily glimpsed the quiet glow of the bonfire amongst the gently swaying trees tickled by the wind. After a deep breath to steady the anxious weight against her chest, Lily followed her grandmother into the shadows.

As she delved deeper into the cave, glimpsing her grandmother walking ahead, Lily focused on the rolling stones beneath her feet. The walls were dry but the deeper they walked the damper they became. Both were counting how long they were in the cave for; one timing casually, one counting down.

"Granny?" Lily called out when Nerida rounded a corner and she lost sight of her. "N-Nerida?"

"I'm here." Nerida said as Lily followed her steps. She gasped seeing the large cavern before them, a cathedral of stalagmites like stepping stones. The stalactites drooping from the ceiling were the organ pipes playing a symphony of gentle water drops and echoes of their steps. Lily could hear her heart racing, and the rush of a river somewhere.

"Welcome to the Sky's Cathedral." Nerida explained, walking to the rickety banister that held people back from walking through. "You used to be able to walk through here years ago before a fierce storm slammed into Tyrill six years ago. One of the stones rolled and blocked the way for the river to flow out and it flooded the cathedral."

Lily walked next to her grandmother, glimpsing glowworms hiding in the shadows above them. She waited for Nerida to continue the story but she was hypnotised by the small river trickling at the end of the cathedral cave. Lily saw a large boulder fractured down the middle near the river mouth leading out, one side on either bank.

"Almost two weeks ago," Nerida suddenly spoke, "a massive surge of water snapped the boulder in two, and the water drained out. The Sky's Cathedral opened up again and the river returned to normal."

Lily frowned. "This cave can hold tonnes and tonnes of water - where does the river lead?"

A shadow of a smile crinkled Nerida's face. "The system leads down to Trawalla, right near Nova High actually. I found the cave exit when I was a kid - it made a great slide."

Lily snapped her head to the river in shock. "This...this leads near Nova High?"

"Yes," Nerida waved a hand to the cathedral before them, subtly checking her watch. "I haven't been to Trawalla in eight years so I don't know what the lack of water did, but now the Sky's Cathedral can open to the public again - Cody was overjoyed when I told her."

Lily swallowed her realisation, something holding her tongue. She remembered the day before her kidnapping when she had Witch Agriculture with Jack, and Mrs Khan explaining why one half of the field was barren and the other green with life. She'd mentioned a cave system in the north, in the mountain range Lily stood within now, and the blockage from a storm years ago.

Lily remembered feeling a weight lift in her stomach that same afternoon, almost two weeks ago.

"How'd you know the cave was empty," Lily asked instead. "Especially if no one could enter if it was flooded?"

Nerida sharply looked to Lily. "I used my eyes."

Lily clenched her jaw, struggling to hold her words back. Some instinct was pulling her out the cave like she was a boulder in a river with a current screaming at her to move.

"Come little Lily," Nerida said, stepping over the rickety fence. "Let's explore the cathedral."

Lily didn't move, watching her nimble grandmother move to the other side, and with the barricade between them the lock on her voice evaporated. "Why are we really here?" She asked.

"What are you talking about? I'm showing you the cathedral-"

Lily tuned her out when a breeze brushed her ankles. She looked back the way they'd come, seeing the rocks shift at the wind that had followed them. Only a powerful gust would reach them this far below the earth. Lily slowly walked to the entrance of the Sky's Cathedral.

"-and how the boulder has moved from the river, Lily where are you going? Don't turn your back on me, I'm your grandmother-"

"No." Lily held up a hand, halting her grandmother's speech. "You're hiding from me, you're lying to me. Something's wrong and you're not telling me anything."

She heard Nerida scramble back over the fence but Lily was already racing out the cave. She knew it wasn't smart to run in such a tight environment, she could easily injure herself, but that current of instinct pulled her faster when she met the resistance of the wild wind the closer she came to the surface.

"Lily!" Nerida yelled behind her. "Lily, wait! You can't go back yet!"

Lily ignored her as light sliced through her vision. The cave opening gleamed ahead of her and Lily rushed to the entrance, skidding to a halt when the gale ripped into her dress, chilling her bones. She looked over Tyrill in horror as a new dome of vines stood by the bonfire where smoke rose and was lost in the wind.

Niall. Jack. Haidan. Lily thought in horror as Nerida clamped a hand on her paralysed shoulder. "Lily, you can't go down there-"

Lily wrenched her arm out her grip as thunder cracked around them. Lily stared at her grandmother with the unspoken words glimmering beneath the surface of her dark eyes. She turned and began running back down the trail, leaping over the rocks and roots like water over a riverbed.

Her grandmother kept calling her name but Lily, fueled on adrenaline and the clamping fear in her chest, pushed on. She raced over the road of the Guthrie house and turned straight down the alleyway, the wind pushing her back, but it only rose the adrenaline racing in Lily's body.

Lily skidded to a halt seeing the large dome of vines in front of her standing on a bed of charred earth, like a giant tea cosy, except this one hid the residents of Tyrill. She saw their wide eyes between the vines. "Jack!" Lily called, slamming her hands against it.

Nerida ran in after her, seeing her granddaughter slapping the large vines and running around the dome, calling for Andromeda's descendant. Nerida's eyes widened seeing the vines frost beneath Lily's touch but she was too focused on the vines suddenly moving, revealling the witch.

"Lily!" Jack wrapped her in a tight hug, Lily clinging to her tightly. "Thank bloody everything you're okay!"

"What happened?" Lily's tone wavered seeing Haidan and Cody emerge, the Guthrie family trailing behind with a member she noticed missing immediately. "Where's Niall?"

Jack paled, pulling away from Lily and holding her at arms length. "He's... He's not with you still?"

Lily shook her head, sensing her grandmother walk up behind her. "Nerida took me aside a while ago," she said, seeing Cody and Nerida exchange an all-knowing look. "What happened here? Why's everything singed?"

Haidan cleared his throat. "The singeing was my doing - rogues ambushed the bonfire."

Lily felt the clamp on her chest tighten, panic racing down her spine and settling in her belly like an anchor. "Is everyone okay? No one's hurt?" Her voice wavered.

Cody swallowed, shifting closer to her. "We're all okay, the rogues were scared off by...by the wind."

"The wind?" Lily asked, aware of the vicious gusts that swept around them. Rodger stepped forward and placed a calm hand on Cody's shoulder.

"Kids," he said. "Let's tell Lily inside please."

"Tell me what?" Lily said, digging her heels in. She wasn't going to be dragged around again without answers. "I'm not going anywhere until I'm told the truth. What happened?"

Cody stiffened under her tone - it had become cool and stern when moments before it was shaking. Now, only all their knees were, seeing Lily stand tall, stand her ground. Supernova, Cody thought briefly before licking her lips out of habit. "Lily, the rogues were after Jack but Haidan fought them off, but then the wind became vicious, a howl ran out, they left and the wind's still like this-"

"They took Niall, Lily." Haidan interrupted, cutting to the chase. "The rogues have Niall."

They all stepped back when Lily stilled, her dark eyes shadowing. She slowly looked around the bonfire, seeing the singed grass and upturned dirt from wolf tracks. The remnants of a fight she should have been here for - it wasn't anyone else's place to defend the supernatural. It was her role, her title.

Lily was the Supernova, no one else.

The rogues needed to be reminded of that - everyone needed to be reminded.

Her eyes burned silver as Lily turned, looking in the direction of the forest. The sky responded to the loss of the nymph, the wind twisting around Lily as she stretched out a hand, the current within her bones crackling - and sheet lightning snapped across the clouds. The storm brewed above them and grew eerily quietly, stretching beyond the mountains and down into the forest below.

The rogues hidden in the forest lifted their heads as the moon's light disappeared, shrouding them in complete darkness. Niall was semi-conscious, realising the bleeding across his forehead was probably a part of the throbbing he could feel, but before he fainted his eyes swirled pink.

She took a deep breath as high winds in the large forest pushed back against the storm. A dead spot in the storm formed like an eye of a cyclone, a beacon standing tall in her power, and Lily knew immediately as the eye moved further away into the forest the nymph moved with it.

Nerida stepped in her line of sight. "You need to calm down Lily, your emotions are leading your abilities."

Lily didn't move, and with her silver eyes pinned to her grandmother, lowered her hand. The storm stopped growing but the wild winds around them would not shift it, a permanent smudge hiding the starry sky. "I am perfectly calm." Lily said clearly, the storm rumbling quietly in response.

Jack pointed above them. "That doesn't look calm to me."

"Good." Lily said, turning to them as her eyes shifted back to brown. "If you fear it, then the rogues will too."

"Lily," Haidan said warily. "You can't take on a pack of rogues. Someone could get hurt."

"It wouldn't be the first time." Lily said, aware of her tingling arm with lightning scars, but Haidan was right. She didn't have just herself to think about - Niall was gone and in Yuric's grasp.

Rodger shifted his weight. "How about we all go inside and talk about the best way to get my nephew back?"

Lily led the way, the residents of Tyrill immediately finding other places to be - her presence emitted a static power daring anyone to challenge her, and no one there could, nor would. The dining room was clear in an instant and Lily turned to her grandmother sharply.

"What do you know?" Lily said, interrupting again when Nerida opened her mouth. "And don't lead me on with tales of your wild youth, or tell me to stop searching for my identity, or anything else useless to me right now. You've been hiding for eight years - you're not hiding anymore."

Nerida's jaw clenched. She loathed the lack of control she had when Lily looked at her - Nerida may have been hiding for years but she was not blind to the power simmering in her granddaughter's eyes.

But her freedom wasn't Lily's to take. Her control over her own self wasn't Lily's to remove. Not yet. Nerida reached into her pocket and slid her unlocked phone across the table to her. Without speaking, Lily grabbed it and stared at the messages on display.

"You've been talking to Freida Slater?" Lily asked, looking up at her shrugging grandmother. "Why didn't you say anything if you knew the rogues were coming? You had a whole day - we had a whole day to prepare!"

Nerida didn't respond, staring with a gleam in her eyes at Lily. Lily was about to speak again, everyone around the table was - Jack was about to stand on the chairs and shout 'I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!' when the phone began vibrating in Lily's hand.

Freida Slater is calling.

Lily immediately answered and put her on speaker, resting the phone on the table. Rodger quickly ushered himself and Annie out of the room, unable to move Nick and Cay from where they stood near Cody. Jack crossed her arms tightly when she heard her mother's voice.

"The rogues needed a lure to get you off Tyrill and back in their clutches." Freida said, skipping the pleasantries. "Yuric will trade you, for the lure."

Jack snarled. "You mean Yuric will hand over Niall when Lily is dead?"

The phone was silent for a heartbeat. "They went for the nymph..."

"What do you mean 'they went for the nymph'?" Haidan said, his hands spread on the table. "What other option was there?"

Freida ignored him. "Yuric wants to meet Lily in Marlin's Bay." Both Lily and Nerida flinched at their old hometown's name. They remembered the crisp smell of salt in the air, the gentle tides heard from open windows, even the bakery that made the most delicious cinnamon rolls on the corner of their street was still a sharp memory for them both. "There's a field near, a park-"

"I know it." Lily interrupted.

"He'll have Niall Patrick Guthrie there." Freida's breathing grew heavy through the speaker. They had no idea Jacob stood behind Freida and was listening to every word, trembling in rage. "And all of his rogues."

"Even the ones Lily broke two weeks ago?" Jack said coldly, her eyes cracked like crystals. She hated werewolves, she hated rogues, and she hated Yuric - but she understood her hatred enough to know she was really completely terrified. Yuric had Niall in his claws.

"They'll all be there at full strength." Freida whispered.

"Werewolves can't heal that quickly, they need a fairy for that." Jack frowned, but Freida ignored her too.

"Yuric wants to meet you at dawn, when the tides going out." The psychic witch said. "Lily remember what's beneath you." It was the last thing the old supernova said before she hung up.

Lily's hands were shaking when she brought them up to cover her mouth. The strength she had before wavered as she realised just how real this was - Niall was kidnapped by the same rogue who shredded her body and scarred her arm. She was lucky. Lily didn't know how lucky Niall was, only this wouldn't have happened to him if they'd never met.

"We'll get him back." Haidan said with such fierce conviction almost everyone believed him. "We're getting Niall back and no one is going to sacrifice themselves."

Nerida scoffed, watching Lily's shaking form. "There'll be over two hundred rogues in Trawalla's forest, all under Yuric's powerful influence. He'd have reinforcements after Lily's last interaction with him. Don't underestimate the wolves - they will outnumber you fifty-to-one."

"We have our abilities-" Haidan argued.

"You will be mauled if you try to take on that many," Nerida hissed. "A stag with mighty antlers can still fall to a pack of wolves."

"We are not stags-" Jack tried to add but Nerida thundered over her as well.

"Look, kids, you don't understand. As soon as they see us going to save Niall, Yuric's rogues will pin you all down and make you watch while he tears him apart. His rogues will kill you before you can fire up a spark or sprout a dandelion - none of you are fast enough to defend against him, none of you are strong enough to protect yourselves let alone Niall."

Nerida slammed her hand on the table, her deviously dark eyes gleaming. "Let's be realistic, he's probably been beaten up so badly he'll be no help to any of you against Yuric and his rogues, or he's already dead! All you're walking into then are your own graves-"

"That's enough." Lily's voice struck silence. Her eyes didn't need to change a shade to show Nerida she wasn't in control here, and her subtle manipulations were never going to work again. "We will save Niall - I'm not listening to any other alternative, so stop trying to coax one out of us."

Nerida clenched her jaw, her devious gleam powering down as Lily sat at the head of the dining table. Jack and Haidan sat on either side of her, followed by Cay, Nick, and Cody. Nerida begrudgingly took the seat next to Cody, leaving the seat at the other head of the table empty.