Chapter 11
Seph
I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. Instead I found myself sitting on my desk just doodling, the rose lying in front of me.
At first I tried to sketch it, but my skills were lacking.
If I had my craft kit, I could have made a beaded image of it.
I fingered the bracelet on my wrist and remembered all the hours I had sat working on bracelets for Kieran and Sable, as if I could possibly ever give them something – anything – of myself.
It seemed so stupid now.
God, Kieran.
He was here. And it was like my heart had been ripped open all over again.
All I could think of was how much I used to love him. How I would live for those moments he could give me each day.
And how little it even meant to him.
I had made him a bracelet once. I had been so proud of it. I had managed to make a beaded lightning bolt. It had taken me days.
And then I had walked in to give to him. To surprise him.
Only to find him with Sable.
What a joke.
I couldn’t even be mad about it. It made sense. They were both so beautiful. They looked good together.
It’s not like he ever knew. I didn’t tell them.
I was just a stupid kid who thought he hung the moon.
I thought he cared about me.
And now, I just felt tired.
I picked up the pen and wrote my name.
Persephone Harrin
Persephone Quinn
Seph
I dropped the pen and rubbed my eyes.
I heard a clatter.
The pen lifted again, as if by the air itself. And slowly—like it was guided by the hands of a child—the pen formed a scraggly letter E.
I sat back, breathing hard.
“Hello?” I whispered.
But the pen remained still.
I wasn’t scared, which was odd.
Instead, I felt… warm.
Like a soft breath against my cheek, like a mother saying goodnight.
I closed my eyes and let it wash over me.
“Can you talk to me?” I asked again.
The pen twitched—
—but before it could answer, a scream tore through the night.
Jess.
I launched to my feet and sprinted into her room.
Jess was writhing on her bed, her body jerking like something inside her was trying to tear its way out. She moaned, cried—guttural, raw—and the sheets beneath her were beginning to smoke.
“Fuck.”
My gloves were off.
I grabbed a sheet and wrapped it around my hands as I shook her.
“Jess! You’re okay, it’s not real—Jess, wake up!”
A small flame erupted under her shoulder.
Then another.
And then fire crawled up her skin like living veins of orange and gold.
She was burning alive in her sleep.
My body moved before I could think.
I dropped the sheet.
And pressed my bare hands flat against her.
Heat slammed into me—wild, bright, violent—
—and then her magic poured into my body like liquid fire.
I absorbed it all. Every drop. It burned under my skin like molten metal.
Jess jerked awake, screaming. She grabbed my arms, nails digging into my flesh.
“Kyra I’m coming!” she yelled.
I held her shoulders down until her eyes finally cleared. “You’re okay! Everything’s okay!”
“Seph?” she breathed, fully waking. “What the fuck are you doing?”
I let her go and stumbled back, forcing the power thrashing inside me to stay buried. “I heard you screaming. I was trying to help—you were going to burn the whole place down.”
Jess stared at her scorched sheets. “Did I do that?”
I nodded. My stomach twisted violently.
I needed air. I needed out.
“You’re good now, okay? I’ll—I'll just—”
“You woke me when I was on fire?” she whispered.
I forced a watery smile. “Just trying to save both our lives.”
Jess looked at me like she wasn’t sure whether to thank me or fear me.
“I’m— I’m sorry.”
“It’s all good. I’m gonna—”
I bolted.
I sprinted out of the room, down the hall, through the corridor that led outside. I didn’t stop, didn’t breathe, just kept running—past hedges, past old garden beds, toward the lake I’d seen earlier through a window.
I hit the shoreline and dropped to my knees.
Shoved my hands into the water—
—and released all the fire I’d stolen.
It hissed beneath the surface, the lake boiling violently for a heartbeat before going still.
And then the nausea hit.
I doubled over and vomited.
Afterwards, my body trembling and aching, I lay back on the soft earth next to the lake and I looked up.
Above me, I could see the stars shining brighter than in the city.
It was amazing there could be such beauty in a place like this.
I sat up and pulled my arms around my legs, and I started to sob.
Painful, mournful sobs.
My body shook with them.
I don’t know how long I was there, before I realised I wasn’t alone.
It was just a sound, like an inhale. I looked up and saw a few hundred metres from me a dark figure, the small spark in front that of a cigarette.
It was a male, from what I could see in the dim light. He was sitting on a bench.
He wasn’t looking at me, but I could feel him.
For a moment I wondered if he could feel me too.
I stood up on shaking legs and wiped my face. I brushed myself off. And I watched the water.
“I’m sorry,” I said finally.
For what, I didn’t know. For crying? For intruding?
For existing.
Then I turned and walked away.