Chapter 26
Brigid
"What are you doing in my room?” I shout, my voice shaking. “Get out!” I chance a glance at my bag, hoping the scroll isn’t poking out.
"Not until you tell me what you were doing in Dean Charlton’s office,” he says smoothly
So it was Lochan I heard talking outside in the hall.
“What are you hiding?” Lochan crosses the room in two strides and he’s on me before I know it.
I can feel my heart racing and I force myself not to back down.
We're in each other's faces now, chests heaving.
"I'm not hiding anything," I hiss.
"Bullshit. What did you do?" Lochan stalks around me. “I knew we couldn’t trust you.”
My anger and anxiety boil over. “You don't know anything!"
Suddenly, the room plunges into darkness. A massive raven shadow erupts from me, its wings spanning the walls. It screeches, a sound of pure rage that echoes my own.
Lochan stumbles back, eyes wide with shock.
The shadow dissipates as quickly as it appeared, leaving us in stunned silence.
"What... the fuck... was that?" Lochan asks.
I'm trembling, staring at my hands.
Lochan’s eyes narrow and he moves towards the door, his expression unreadable. "This isn't over."
He slams the door behind him.
I collapse onto my bed, the tears gathering in my eyes.
"Well, that was quite a display."
I jolt upright.
Marius leans against my desk, a wicked smile on his face.
Our eyes lock, and I spring to my feet. I have no idea how long he’s been there or why Lochan and I didn’t notice him.
"How the hell did you get in here?"
Marius laughs, and the sound hits every raw nerve I’ve got right now. "Oh, little bird. There's so much you don't know."
"Then enlighten me," I spit, taking a step closer. I’m so tired of all the questions and uncertainty. "What do you know about... this?" I gesture vaguely at myself, at the lingering shadows in the corners of the room.
He pushes off the desk, prowling towards me with predatory grace. "I know that you're special. That you have a— let's call it a destiny."
"Destiny? What destiny? What are you talking about?"
Marius circles me, his eyes never leaving mine. "The prophecy, little bird."
My peripheral blurs and my vision narrows. The scroll. The symbols. Marius knows. I feel like everyone here knows more about me than I do. I will myself to sound dismissive. “And what does this so-called prophecy say about me?"
He stops inches from my face. I can feel his cool breath on my skin. "That you're either our salvation... or our destruction."
I swallow hard, fighting the urge to step back. "That's insane. I'm nobody."
His eyes whip to mine. "You're far from nobody."
Images flash in my mind—ravens, blood, battlefields. I shake my head, trying to clear it.
Marius leans in, his lips brushing my ear. "You know what you are. You just have it locked away. Let it out, little bird.”
I shove him away, finding my voice. "Get out."
He doesn't move. "You can't run from this, Brigid. The power inside you will only grow. And there are those who will stop at nothing to control it. Or destroy it."
"What do you want from me?"
Marius smiles. "To help you, of course."
I laugh bitterly. "Right. Out of the goodness of your heart?"
His eyes darken. "Let's just say I have a vested interest."
He moves to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. "Think about it, Brigid. You're in over your head here. You need allies. You need me.”
As the door clicks shut behind him, I sink to the floor, my head in my hands. What am I going to do?
The shadows in the room seem to pulse with power. My power.
I need to understand what's happening to me, what this prophecy means. But every step I take feels like I'm walking further into a stormy sea of confusion.
I'm drowning here, surrounded by secrets and lies. And I have no fucking clue how to swim.