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Kallos watches the darkness take hold in my eyes and his frown deepens. He knows what I’ve decided to do, and he nods grimly.
But who do I dare place this curse upon?
48
Edgar
Arthur stops by to inform me that I am still expected to participate in the Blood Crowns exam. I am to achieve the same goals as the others, alone, as punishment for trying to pass through my portal early.
I’m so tired and hollow that his words barely reach me. I move through the motions of leaving the infirmary and heading back to the Nova House to get dressed.
I zone out the terrified gasps and the way the other students give me a wide berth.
A monster. I am a monster.
Sully lingers ever so close in the back of my consciousness, scratching a long nail across my brain and waiting for me to let him in. It’s all but broken the casts. It claws relentlessly through them, and the more despair I have, the stronger Sully becomes. The two casts that remain are brittle, and I know I can make it disappear without much effort.
The homeroom is empty and I’m grateful for it. Ash, Raine, and Terra are probably preparing for the exam. I slip into my room and avoid the mirror as I pull off my ragged pants and bandages. Surely my reflection will be even worse than what I’ve already seen of myself.
Slowly, I glance up, bracing myself for my new identity.
It takes everything I have not to look away.
I am a monster. I look undead. A walking and breathing corpse. A permanent reminder of what I’ve done.
My bones glisten in the warm glow of the room. Everything below my nose and cheeks consists of bone, teeth, and tendon. It’s as if I’m wearing a mask.
My eyes trail down to my ribs. The center of my chest is flayed with a deep cut, charred black and maroon. A thin veil of sinew holds my organs; that veil flutters with my heartbeats and each breath I take.
Vomit lingers in the back of my throat but I swallow it down, turning sharply away from the mirror and toward the wardrobe. I carefully get into my tactical gear. Though my wounds appear painful, they aren’t. It’s impossible, yet here I am.
“Did you keep me alive?” I ask Sully. My voice isn’t as eerie sounding as it was when I first awoke, but it’s still hushed and damaged. I’m not sure someone with wounds like mine can ever talk properly again.
Sully snakes through my body. With major parts of myself missing, I find that I can feel it more vividly on the bare bones.
Sully responds, sounding like a voice behind a shut door, Of course, I’ve learned hard lessons since losing the last one. If not for the cast that was placed on you, we could have saved all your friends. Now you’re alone. As monstrous as me. It’s their fault. Its voice is as vile as the words it speaks.
I lower my eyes to my body again. With the tactical vest and gloves, it’s hard to tell anything is wrong with my body. But my face is a different story.
“I have my sister,” I say, though I don’t sound so sure. I don’t even know why I’m speaking with Sully. I know it has nothing but dreadful things to say and yet?—
And yet she didn’t tell you that the professors were planning on placing the casts, Sully says with a curt laugh. Its claws scratch the figurative door in my head and the sound gives me goosebumps.
She knew? My body stiffens and my stomach curls as tears sting my eyes.
Sully laughs again. It’s annoying that it can read my thoughts so clearly. If you let me sink fully into your heart, I’ll help you destroy them. All of them.
I look around the room for my boots and shove them on, tying them while I think about what it said.
“Everyone?” I murmur absently.
Everyone, Sully says vehemently. As if all humans are meant to perish. Don't you want to see your friends again? Merge with me completely and you’ll never be alone again.
I was filled with so much rage before we stepped through that portal, but now I only have despair and pain. Self-loathing.
As I walk across the bridge I notice students splitting into different groups in the courtyard below.
Arthur is sitting casually in one of the windowsills when I reach the bottom of the stairs. He looks unbothered and holds a dark notebook in his hand. He lowers it as he notices me.
