Chapter 57
FIFTY-SEVEN
Z
I was in a pit. Dirt surrounded me from all directions, except above, where a pitch-black, starless sky expanded.
What…? Where…? How did I get here?
Panic burrowed its way beneath my skin, sinking its jagged claws into me and leaving behind deep scratches. My breathing was embarrassingly shallow.
Everything was dark. So, so dark. I knew where I was, but I couldn’t see a single thing. When I reached forward, dirt and loose pebbles crumbled beneath my palms.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” I blinked repeatedly, waiting for my eyes to adjust, for the blackness to turn to gray.
It never happened.
“Can someone help me up, please?” I asked.
Silence.
It was an unnatural type of silence, one I wasn’t sure existed in real life. There were no birds singing. No owls hooting. No scampering forest animals. No conversations or laughter or screams.
“Hello?” I asked again, some of my initial fear being eclipsed by anger.
A blistering wrath scalded me from the inside out.
Who the fuck would put me here? Were they still nearby? Why wasn’t anyone answering?
If no one would help me out of this pit, then I had no choice but to do it myself.
Anger heated my neck, but I used that rage to motivate me. With steely determination, I wiggled my feet into the sides of the pit and then reached upwards. I just needed to find some handholds. If I could get myself even a little bit higher, I could grab a hold of the edge and pull myself out.
But no matter what I did, I couldn’t find anything solid enough to grab onto. Rocks and dirt cascaded through my fingers and hit my feet.
My anxiety spiked, and a seed of panic took root.
Okay, I just had to think of another plan. There had to be a way out of the pit.
“Just give up,” an eerie, sibilant voice hissed from above me.
I whipped my head upwards, desperate to see the face of my attacker, but only darkness greeted me.
“Who’s there?” I demanded, reaching for my dagger.
My searching hands came up empty. Where were my weapons? I always kept them on me. Did someone take them?
“Surrender, Z. You belong here.”
Chills careened down my spine.
“Who are you?”
“Do you remember the day your human parents were killed?” the voice continued. “Do you remember how scared you were?”
Flashes barraged me.
A scream lodged in my throat as my mother placed her hands to her throat, which wept blood.
My father cried out, begging me to run.
All I could hear was the sound of my feet as I ran, ran, ran, ran ? —
“SHUT UP!” I screamed, placing my hand over my ears as if that could somehow stop the voice from speaking.
“Do you remember when you lost S the first time? What about the second time, when you killed him?”
A tight rubber band constricted around my chest, hellbent on suffocating me.
“Shut the fuck up!”
“You bring death wherever you go, Z. The world would be better off if you remained here. Stay with me. Stay in the darkness.”
My breathing turned thready. Panic jangled my nerves. What the voice alluded to… It wasn’t true, was it?
“Who are you?” I whispered, straining my neck to see out of the pit.
“You haven’t figured it out yet?” The figure shuffled forward.
Abruptly, like a giant spotlight flicking on, a cloud shifted in the sky and revealed the moon. It illuminated the figure’s smiling face.
My breath caught.
That blonde hair…
Those blue eyes…
That sensual smile…
It was me .