Chapter 28 #2
The memory is cloudy, buried beneath months of torment I tried to lock away for good. But when the smoke clears and the fog lifts, it plays for me in perfect focus. And I hate that he’s right. Shadows consume him, and he just…vanishes. “You knew what I meant.”
“Doesn’t matter. Even then, a part of me knew we would find each other again. And that small moment in time, a play on words, is all I needed to know there was still hope.”
Hope. He says it like it’s just a word. But to me it holds the pain of a thousand slashes across my soul.
I’m trapped in this necrotic end game, strategically shifting pieces in a chess match I didn’t want to play.
My mind is like a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, and all the jagged edges are scattered everywhere.
A mess of memories, loss, and confusion I can’t put back together.
“I don’t trust you.”
“Never asked you to.”
“Can you not interrupt me?” I shoot back. He holds both his hands up in surrender. “If—and that’s a very big if—I decide to help you, which I’m not saying I am, what would that entail?”
“It’s not just helping me. This is about saving the realm. It’s so much bigger than you or me.” He takes a pause before continuing. “We’re fighting the same battle.”
“And you’re on the opposing side!” I exclaim.
“I’m on yours, Kallie.”
“Not from where I’m standing.” He stares at me like he doesn’t even know me. And I guess that’s the case. I don’t know him either. Granted, I’m not sure I ever did.
Suddenly, he falls to his knees, quickly grabbing his upper arm with a pained expression. “We’re running out of time.”
“What’s going on?” My feet start to carry me toward him, but I stop them, needing to keep the space between us empty.
“I guess he’s resorted to dosing me in my sleep.”
“What does this mean? I don’t understand.”
I look up as the dream state he built for me fades, transforming as if the world was spinning this whole time, and day turned to night.
Lightning strikes overhead, the puffy white clouds long gone and replaced by dark-gray ones that hold promises of rainfall.
“It means…” he pushes through clenched teeth, dropping his head.
And when he brings his eyes back to meet mine, it isn’t Callum looking at me.
His eyes glaze over in obsidian, just like when his powers take over, and a grin screaming run slowly spreads over his lips. “It means you’re out of time.”
Rocks shift beneath me, digging into my legs as I sit upright and gasp for air.
Sweat skates down my forehead, dripping down and stinging my wide-open eyes.
My heart pounds against my rib cage, begging to be set free.
I push my hand against my chest, grounding myself to the present while blinking repeatedly, and try to get my bearings.
Odeyssa stirs a bit but doesn’t wake. I bite my lower lip, contemplating waking her up to discuss, but then I catch sight of Voraxis’s bright violet eyes trained on me.
He stares at me intently. What’s wrong?
Nothing, I lie. He tilts his head to the side, because we both know I’m full of shit. Letting out a long, weighted sigh, I send one name down our bond. Callum.
Instantly, he pulls his lips back in a sneer.
Elaborate. Scooting back until my back rests against the cave’s rock wall, I pull my knees up toward my chest and wrap both arms around them, seeking comfort.
I don’t know how he got to me. Truly. But I guess the wall slipped.
Voraxis starts to rise, shaking the ground, but I shoot a warning look his way.
Odeyssa turns over, mumbling something incoherent, but remains sleeping.
Grateful, but surprised. The force of his talons pounding on the ground was enough to make the discarded pebbles jump.
She could sleep through the entire war and wake up without a clue in the world. Part of me envies that.
Don’t wake her.
What happened in there?
I take a moment to collect my thoughts, trying to separate all the pieces and decipher the bigger picture. I’m just not sure what that is anymore.
It didn’t start off like there was anything nefarious.
It was just me, in a field on a warm summer day.
The weather didn’t shift. Instead, it stayed serene, like somewhere I could relax for a while.
And then it changed. I remember the instant fear I harbored when his voice sounded in my sanctuary.
Instinctively, my hands run the length of my shins like a soothing mechanism.
Obviously, my defenses were at an all-time high. However, he manipulated it so I couldn’t use my powers.
Coward, Voraxis remarks, eliciting a slight chuckle from me.
He couldn’t use his either, giving the impression that he meant no harm or whatever. Anyway, long story short, he needs our help.
The silence is deafening.
You’re joking.
Funny, that’s what I told him.
How dare he even think he could ask you such a thing. When I don’t immediately reply, he follows with, You didn’t tell him yes, did you?
That’s the thing. I didn’t get a chance to figure out the details. He sits there, studying me pointedly. He seemed so normal, like the person I knew before it all went to shit.
So he just asked for your help and let you go? No explanation?
Not exactly. Before we could really get into it, something changed. He changed, I admit. Honestly, for sure I thought I was gonna have to fight my way out of there. Which is barbaric to think, but in some capacity, that’s what I did.
Going over the dream—turned nightmare—over and over again, I almost miss it. But as I stood there, watching Callum turn into the person I’d been running from, something flipped inside me, like it was snaking to the surface from feeling the imposing threat.
My elbows rest on my knees as I push my palms into my temples. I’m not sure who is the true master of disguise—him or me.
There was a blip between the Callum who tortured me and the one who trained me to protect myself.
Funny that he’s the one I ended up needing to protect myself from.
That was the moment, though. That crack in the matrix is what I have to believe is the real Callum. He tore the imaginary world apart at the seams and flung me back to reality.
My eyes swing to Voraxis, who’s watching me curiously. I think I believe him.
What’s there to believe? All he told you was what you already knew.
That’s not true. I didn’t know about the compulsion. The tubes, the vials, the creatures, all of that is a part of something else. Something bigger. My mind races with the new realization. This is all about control. This is about building an army.