Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181613 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 908(@200wpm)___ 726(@250wpm)___ 605(@300wpm)
“Please … Mavis, I can’t do this without you,” my mom murmurs, and the cries that follow go through marrow and bone.
Alistair, my mother’s other partner, crouches behind her and wraps his arms around her, holding her tight as she begins to wail. I know those sounds will stay with me forever.
We should never have come here.
“Cecelia,” Ares says. “What happened?”
“Mavis … fell. We don’t know how,” she mutters, clutching her hand close to her chest as we all watch my mother break down in front of us, right there on the very beach where Apollo dragged Mavis’s lifeless body to the shore.
Another car comes driving out of the woods, veering left and right before stopping abruptly where the beach meets the grass. The driver, Nathan Reed, peeks out the window, and a very hasty Lana Rivera steps out and waltzes right over to us.
Levi’s mom.
Another door opens up, and Kai, Levi’s dad, chases her.
“Levi!” Lana growls. “What the fuck? I get a call from Ares and learn you’re not even at the goddamn lake like we agreed?”
“Lana!” Kai warns, forcing her to focus.
She stops in her tracks the second she spots my mom cradling Mavis. “Penelope?” Lana mutters. “What happened?”
“Mavis is dead,” her dad, Felix, growls.
“What?” Lana mutters in disbelief.
Felix turns around and looks at his sister Lana. “Because they came here to camp, and you didn’t fucking know.”
“I told Levi not to bring the camping trip here. We agreed on Lake Verity.” She glares at Levi, who keeps backing up until he walks into his father’s chest.
Kai places a hand on his shoulder, his one icy eye with the scar in stark contrast to the other green one. A testament to the rivalry he and my dad fought out with knives. “Levi. Tell me what happened.”
“Mavis died,” Levi mutters, as though he can’t even believe it himself. “We were at the cliff together. She fell.”
“What were you even doing here?” Lana berates him.
“We were cliff diving,” Talon explains. “We were calculating our jumps. We’ve been doing it all day with no issue.”
“Cliff diving?!” Lana raises her brow. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“So you were all here to show off?” Ares states, his face contorting as he glares at his son Apollo.
“Well, it wasn’t my idea.” Apollo shrugs.
“Who fucking cares!” my mother shouts, alerting us all. “Mavis is dead.” She shows everyone the bloodied wound on the back of Mavis’s head, and the gasps that follow make me want to die inside.
Lana taps her finger against Levi’s chest, pushing him further into his dad. “I told you not to come here for a reason! You knew how dangerous this place is. Look at what happened because you didn’t listen to me. Because of you, someone died.”
Levi seems distraught. Completely out of it, in fact.
“Mavis would never do this. Who made her jump?” Mom asks.
No one wants to say a word.
“I heard … Levi say sorry,” Cecelia mutters.
There’s a shift in the air as though the current has changed.
The silence is deafening.
“Cecelia, go back to the car,” Ares says all of a sudden.
Guess I’m not the only one who felt it.
“Talon, Océane, you too,” Ares adds. “I’ll drop you two off. Please don’t speak with anyone about tonight.”
They both nod and follow Cecelia.
Lana turns around and roars out loud in anger before heading over to my mom, who immediately holds up a hand. “Don’t.”
“Pen …” Lana mutters. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t. Don’t come closer. Don’t even say anything at all.” My mother’s eyes lift with a scornful gaze that could burn down the entire forest behind us if she’d let it take over. “Take him and go.”
“Let me help,” Lana says. “Please.”
“There is nothing you or your family can do,” my mother grits. “Except kill.”
Oh God.
My hand flies to my mouth before I realize it.
Felix turns to glare at Lana, his own sister, like she’s the enemy. “Leave. Now.”
Lana takes a few more glances at both of them before Kai drags her along with Levi away from the scene.
And I can’t help but step away from my dad and hold out a hand. “Wait. Levi?”
But the Levi I know no longer exists.
He’s a broken shell of a man torn asunder.
My feet instinctively step forward, trying to keep the distance from growing. But his eyes are no longer focused on me.
And mine find something else in the dark.
A set of ghost-like eyes flashing behind the trees, disappearing the second I blink.
Grey
I stare at my phone, barely able to believe my own damn eyes.
I press the red button and stop the recording.
My heart beats so fast I can barely keep my hand steady.
Every detail.
Every second.
Every flash of horror.
I have it all recorded.
A smile slowly forms on my face.
This is perfect. Just fucking perfect.
Morbid …
But perfect.
Because this … this is how I’m going to steal her heart.