Tying All Loose Ends

LUMINA The mouth of the cave yawned before us like a wound in the earth, dark and foreboding against the late afternoon sky. I stood between Lyn and Lynn, my hands clenched into fists at my sides as I stared into the shadows that held our greatest enemy. The weight of what we were about to do pressed down on my shoulders, but underneath the gravity of the moment, I felt something I hadn't experienced in years - a sense of righteous purpose that burned clean and bright in my chest. Andy was down there, chained and helpless, paying for crimes that had torn my family apart and traumatized my son beyond repair. The rational part of my mind whispered that this was wrong, that we were better than this, that justice should be left to proper authorities. But the mother in me, the part that had watched Riley flinch away from touch and speak in that eerily controlled voice, silenced those doubts with ruthless efficiency. "Is anyone having second thoughts about this?" I asked quietly, giving both