Chapter 1 #2
“I was thinking,” she retorted, “that you’re out there all day risking your neck for me, while I sit at home like a useless baby, and I’m sick of it!” Her voice raised, and she shook with confrontation. “I’m seventeen years old, Prue. Let me help you. Please.”
Placing my hands on both her cheeks, I stroked her gently to calm her down, like I used to do when she was younger. “Who did you talk to?”
Her cheeks were wet with tears that I wiped away with a gentle thumb. Her face reddened.
“A royalist family a little up north. I sat on the bridge, drawing. They came up to me and asked for a portrait. They even offered me eight gold for it.” I noticed a little tuck at the ends of her mouth, pride shining in her teary eyes.
My heart pounded as I instinctively searched out her fingertips, if only to slow my heart rate a fraction. At least she wasn’t marked. Lili hadn’t shown any signs of our mother’s magic, and I was silently thanking Goddess Nyxe for it.
The moment I let go of her face and took a step back, my mind was flooded with memories of the little girl who’d barely reached my chin. The little girl with bright blue eyes, who’d clung to me as we ran to safety, away from everything we knew.
She wasn’t that little girl anymore, with her tall frame and vivid gaze that she’d inherited from our father.
But looking into those eyes now, I was transported back to the day I swore I’d protect her.
It pained me to know I couldn’t keep shielding her from the harm of the world anymore.
She was a young woman; I had no right to keep her here.
“If you let me do this, we’ll be able to get out of here faster. Start living our life as we want. Help them.” Her eyes watered again as she stepped closer to me. “Please, Prue. Drawing isn’t dangerous, and in a sea of artists on the bridge, no one will even notice me.”
I let out a deep sigh, trying to loosen the knot in my stomach. Looking into her pleading eyes, I couldn’t help but admire her determination.
“If you promise to stay out of trouble, and to keep away from the Defenders…” I hesitated, pulling the gloves off my hands. “And if you promise to contact me the moment you might be in danger.”
A suspicious look crossed her face. “How would I contact you?” she asked, folding her arms. She knew what I was about to do.
Our mother had bonded herself to one of our unassuming picture frames back home, so that we would always be able to contact her.
But that frame had burned up with the rest of our belongings a long time ago.
I considered for a moment using the necklace I’d bought from Tudor, but I thought better of it.
It would be too obvious. Instead, I pulled a little green calcite crystal from one of the dusty shelves.
I stole it a while ago and hadn’t managed to sell it yet.
Tudor didn’t buy useless rocks. And I hadn’t dared trying to sell it to anybody else.
“Prue, what are you…” The words died on her lips as the stone in my hand emitted a purple light.
I focused on the small pressure from the rock in my palm, willing my dark magic into it.
Power surged through my body like thunder, forcing my eyes closed.
I tightened my grip on the stone, the rough edges biting into my skin.
Strange voices hissed words of caution inside my head—then silence, like a deafening echo.
My knees hit the ground as Lili’s panicked voice screamed my name, as if she was far away. The stone pulsed in my fist, cold as ice. I released my tightened grip and glared down at it.
The crystal had darkened, with inky-black veins now swirling inside it. The darkness seemed alive, like the faint voices still tried to mutter their warnings. The crystal was now receptive; all I had to do was bind it to me, and she would be able to contact me with it.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, tearing my gaze from the spectacle in my hand. I glanced instead to my darkened fingertips, now even more prominent against my fair skin.
I pressed the calcite to my forearm.
Bind this crystal to my consciousness. When Liliana holds this stone in her hand, let her speak to me. Let her hear my answer.
“What are you doing?” Lili pressed on.
“I’m making sure that you can always reach me, wherever I am.”
Removing the crystal from my arm, I stared in shock at the symbol it left in its place. It was midnight blue, like my fingertips. A crescent moon adorned the lower part of my forearm—a four-pointed star hovering between the horns. Moonlight seemed to shine from the symbol.
I tried handing her the crystal with shaky fingers, but she hesitated to grab it. “If you ever need me, just say my name while you hold this in your hand.”
“Wouldn’t it be safer if you marked my arm as well?” she tried, tugging at her sleeve.
“No, it wouldn’t. I’m not marking you with dark magic,” I answered, shoving the stone into her hands when she didn’t take it. “You might not be cursed like me.”
I’d started pulling the shadows close around me when I was still a toddler.
Her determined eyes fixed on my worried ones, which I knew had turned from green to purple when I’d used my powers. Lili wanted to be a caster, even a dark one like our mother and me, if it meant she could do magic. I hoped with every fiber of my being that she wasn’t.
“Fine,” she mumbled, slipping the stone into the pouch tied to her waist.
As the stone left my hands, so did my energy, and an uncomfortable dizziness whirled inside me. “If you need to talk, we’ll do it tomorrow. But we should get some sleep while it’s still dark,” I said, getting up to blow out the candles that dotted the place with weak light.
We crawled onto the shabby mattress on the floor, and I just managed to give Lili a swift kiss on the top of her head before drifting off.
My heart pounded as I ran through the town, darting past the panic-stricken faces that watched their homes crumble to ash. The warmth burned my skin as I spun around, searching. A whip of light narrowly missed my face, and I shrieked, diving to take cover behind a carriage.
“You can’t hide forever, Caswell,” a deep, monstrous voice rang from everywhere around me. All I knew is that he wanted us, my mother and father, and he wouldn’t stop until we were in his possession. Or until we were dead…
A hand grabbed at me from behind, but I stifled the scream building in my throat.
Lili’s wet face stared up at me, her tiny hand clenching my shirtsleeve. “Come on,” I said in a ragged voice, clenching her hand tightly.
“But what about mom and dad,” she protested, struggling against my pull.
My heart dropped. She hadn’t seen what I had. The Defenders breaking into our home. Dad falling to the floor clutching his chest.
I couldn’t think about this now. I needed to get her away from him.
“We have to go now, Liliana.”
We crashed through the forest, twigs snapping under our feet and tangling in our cloaks.
“Don’t let go!” she screamed, and I tightened my grip.
Behind us, his taunts rang out once more.
“You can run now, but I will always find you. Are you willing to sacrifice your children, Caswell?” His voice was low and sinister this time, though it still carried to every corner of the small village.
“We already killed your husband. It’s about time you joined him, wouldn’t you say? ”
I risked a glance backwards to the sound but immediately wished I hadn’t. His frightening silhouette stood clear, even in the darkness, lit up by the massive bonfire behind him that used to be our home.
His smile was his most terrifying feature, overshadowing his golden-glowing eyes.
Lili whimpered behind me, breaking my trance. I had to get away, to keep her safe. The ear-splitting screams from the village erupted as flames lit up the sky.
Everything we’d known would be a pile of ashes in mere hours.
His laugh echoed around us, stealing my breath from my lungs as I pushed myself to keep running.
I jerked awake with the image of those ominous eyes still etched into my mind. I unstuck my shirt from my clammy back, then ran my hands through my hair, like that would magically ease the throbbing pain in my temples.
Lili was still fast asleep, so I slipped silently from the bed and pulled on my boots.