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PROLOGUE
FLORA AGE TWELVE
THE DAY MY LIFE ENDED
Ijerk awake and as soon as my eyes open, I’m aware something’s wrong.
With a start, I sit up; the sheet falling from my shoulders, my eyes adjusting to the darkness informing me it’s not morning at least.
I listen keenly but only register my own frantic breathing, making me wonder if I woke from a nightmare. I only wish I had because the nightmare is not of my dreams. It’s standing by the window waiting for me.
The moonlight illuminates the shadow and for a second, I wonder if it’s human at all. In hindsight, I was right because this person has never been human and probably never will be.
“Diana?” My voice is whispered, almost fearful and as she turns, even from the distance, the excitement in her eyes is the first thing I notice.
“Listen.” she whispers in a voice laden with glee. It’s as if something so magnificent is happening, like a kid discovering Santa is real.
I do as she says and strain to hear whatever is causing her joy and at that moment, I am rewarded with a bloodcurdling scream.
“What is it?” I’m so afraid and wish like hell I hadn’t woken up and was still blissfully unaware, content in my dreams.
“Judgment day.”
Her whispered response is laden with joyful ecstasy and her excited giggle is followed by another scream of the damned.
Before I can ask more questions that I really don’t want the answers to, footsteps approach from the hallway outside.
Diana turns toward the door as it flies open, and my breath catches when I see the anger on my father’s face.
“Follow me.” His command leaves no room for discussion and grabbing my dressing gown, I fasten it quickly around me and slip on my shoes, wondering what can be so dreadful to pull us from our beds at night.
Diana rushes to catch up with him, leaving me running behind them, fearful of what happens next.
The darkened hallway offers no explanation and the sound of shouting and slamming doors adds drama to a situation that definitely doesn’t need any.
My father ushers us down the back staircase, and as we spill out into the night, I’m grateful for the dressing gown I grabbed in haste.
Diana is still in the sheerest nightdress. The moonlight acting as a torch as it illuminates her naked body beneath the thin fabric. Her long blonde wavy hair flows to the small of her back and her bright blue eyes are lit with an excitement I will never understand. She’s always been the same. She craves danger, is almost intoxicated with it and there is no doubt in my mind at all that danger has knocked on our door tonight and whatever time we had in this museum of horror has now expired.
My father opens the door of one of the usual black SUVs that we have become accustomed to and urges us inside with a haste that tells me not to question him.
Just before he closes the door on his two daughters waiting for an explanation, I note the weariness mingled with pain in his eyes as he demonstrates rare emotion.
“I’m sorry.” He appears defeated, broken and nothing like the strong man we have grown up with and feared to an extent.
“Daddy…” I make to speak but he slams the door shut and thumps on the roof of the car, causing whoever is driving it to screech from the place we called home with an urgency that doesn’t escape me.
I am so fearful and shiver in my seat, hoping my sister can offer me an explanation. Diana always knows everything. She must know what’s happening now, but as I turn to ask the question, my words stick in my throat because the power flashing in her eyes unsettles me a little.
She turns to look at me and if anything, I don’t recognize her as she says in a voice straight from Hades itself, “It’s just you and me now, kiddo.”
“What do you mean? Where’s mom?”
I am so fearful for her answer because I know my sister and she thrives on drama, especially one of her own creation, and her low laugh confuses me as she hisses. “Dead.”
“No!” My hand flies to my mouth as she shrugs, apparently unconcerned.
“It was inevitable.”
