Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Something happens here because everything in front of me—on all sides of me—narrows down into a dark tunnel of empty blackness with just a little bit of light in the center allowing me to see. Like I’m looking at life through a telescope.
Maybe like I’m seeing it for the first time.
Is this true? Were my children damned?
I can’t speak, so I don’t ask. But I don’t need to ask. I know he’s telling the truth. I was made. Produced. Bred. I was never a man, ever. I have always been the monster.
And maybe I didn’t always know this, but I felt it. That’s probably why I was such a fucking church boy. That’s probably why I was compelled to be good.
I was born evil. I am evil. I am one of them now.
No, Ryet. I huff out a little air. You have always been one of them. And if you were one of them, then all your children were too.
It’s true. Burning them was the best possible outcome.
Wow. I huff out a little laugh, shaking my head. I am a gullible fool if I believe this. I am making excuses for my… abuser? Not quite the right word. Captor? Doesn’t really fit either. Master?
There we go. Master. As in, I am a slave. And this master just told me that he killed my entire family—burned them alive in a fire—to save their souls.
The problem is, it kinda makes sense. Now that I have a few more details about who and what I am. About where I come from. And even in the human world, genetics is passed through blood. It’s a little more complicated than that—germ cells, and chromosomes, and heritable traits and all that science bullshit. But it’s not a far-fetched theory to conclude that because my children had my blood that they were also part of the dark world just below the surface.
I take in a breath. I let out a breath. And with that breath I let my family go again. It’s done. Jane made that very clear. She is saved and I am damned and if this fire did burn the evil out of my children and save their souls, well… Paul’s right. It truly was the best possible outcome.
“Would you like to know where Josep fits in?”
The tunnel vision fades when I turn my head to look at Paul. “What?”
“Would you like to know what’s happening? Or do you need a little more time?”
I don’t answer that question. Instead, I ask one of my own. “Where are you?”
“I’m right here, as you can see.”
“Where is this place? Where are you?”
“Do you have an urge to come save me?”
“Do you need saving?”
He hesitates for a moment. “Perhaps.” He hesitates again. “But don’t bother coming to find me. It needs to be Syrsee, Ryet. It’s her spell. She’s the one who needs to break it. If you come…”
Another hesitation. So he’s either lying or unsure of himself. I don’t like either of these possibilities. If he’s lying, well, that would be very Paul of him. Which is bad, because untangling his lies would confuse me further, waste time, and put Syrsee in more danger. But if he’s hesitating because he’s unsure… I dunno. I think that’s probably worse. Because I’ve always counted on Paul to be my… leader. To be in charge of making sure things turned out—well, not OK. Nothing is OK—but making sure things turned out the way they should.
“If I come… what? What were you gonna say?” I’m looking at him now. Straight in the eyes.
“If you come any further into the Darkness, it’ll get you, Ryet.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“You belong to the Darkness. You understand that, don’t you? You’re made of it. Just like me, just like Josep, just like Syrsee. And once you meet it, you can’t go back from that. Of course, there’s no way to stop this meeting. It is going to happen, but it needs to happen a specific way. I was selfish, earlier. When I was provoking you to come find me. I just wanted to know that you needed me. Now that I know you do”—his smile is big now. He’s very satisfied with himself—“well, I can let it go. I will see you soon enough. We will be together again and I don’t want to jeopardize our chance.”
“Our chance at what?”
He smiles here, and it’s not a smarmy one. It’s… diabolical. “At revenge, of course. What else is there?” These words come out low, and mean, and absolutely evil. Sending a chill down my spine that reverberates all the way out to the tips of my wings.
I just stare at him for a few moments, unable to speak.
He breaks the building silence. “I’m going to send you back now. You found the medicine I left for you?”