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A loud screech echoes through the hangar as the door slides to halt. I burn for one agonising moment longer, then it begins to slide shut again. The heat slowly recedes, leaving only blistered skin and weeping flesh. My right hand and arm are no longer recognizable as such, skewed and melted by the heat.
His steps are sharp and echo as he returns to his phone. My one working eye follows his figure, my brain labouring to remember who he is or why I’m here, consumed by the pain.
He picks up his phone, bringing the camera closer to my face. “Smile, sunshine!”
I let my head roll forward and try to breathe through my own whimpering sobs.
“Now,” he says after putting his phone away. “Let’s go for a drive, shall we?”
19. CELESTE
I’m alight with the burning of Ghostshade withdrawal, muscles weak and twitching, head buzzing with a dull ache. I take up three parks when I pull up mindlessly at an old pharmaceutical factory, not even bothering to lock the car. None of it matters, not in the face of Deni's screams.
I try to feel for sources of energy as I make my way up the patchy sidewalk and around the side of the building, struggling to sense them through the aching in my joints. But the physical pain is nothing compared to the feeling in my chest. Like I’m being crushed. I might as well be nineteen again, scared stupid by my boyfriend and scared even more of the world – going back to him even though his love hurts because I have nowhere else to go and nobody else to love me. Because I'm not strong enough. Because he always wins.
Why don't you ever learn?
I flick my wrist, drawing on the power of the half-moon, throwing open one of the doors to a hunched shed leaning against the main building. The effort to do so drains the little energy I have left dangerously low. Once inside, I straighten my back, holding my head up high even though my body is screaming at me to run, to protect myself. In my mind, I see Deni go up in flames, the visceral pain audible in the way she cries.
You knew he was coming for her from the moment you realized it was him running the trafficking ring, you selfish coward. Why didn’t you find her first?
Seeing him feels like someone has jammed their fist down my throat and is ripping my heart out. For nine years I thought myself safe – not that I did not still scream in my sleep or cry in the shower – because I thought he’d learned his lesson. His smug smile still looks exactly the same as it always has.
“Hey, babe.” He’s sitting on a rusty flight of stairs, his fingers spinning a lighter.
“Where is she?”
His eyes narrow. Jealousy – his favourite trait of mine. “How have you been? You look tired.”
I taste my own blood before I realise I'm biting my cheek. “I’m not playing this game with you. If you’re so desperate for my company, let the girl go.”
“I don't know. Maybe I like her company better than yours after all. She's awfully sweet.” He licks his lips. “And such a tight little cunt, don't you agree?”
The wave of nausea nearly knocks me off my balance. Before I know what I’m doing I’ve thrown him up against the wall with my power, the corrugated iron walls tearing to wrap themselves around him. Their sharp edges cut into his skin as they squeeze but I never even see it. Using my own body’s energy for my magic, the effort zaps me to the point of almost fainting. I stumble, the edges of my vision blurring. The rest of my vision falls victim to my rage.
When I get myself together I’m standing in front of him, hands balled into fists as the strips of metal squeeze him.I’ll kill him and I’ll make it hurt.
His grin hasn’t even faded one bit, though perhaps it's a little strained. “I’m kidding, Celeste, I’m kidding,” he chokes. “It’s a joke.”
My blood is boiling, though I’m faintly aware that my fury is only a hair’s width away from collapsing into utter desperation. “I’ll kill you.”
“You could do that. But then how will you find your little pet? Right now, I’ve got her tied up to a comfy little chair somewhere, lightly smouldering in the daylight.” He swallows as the metal digs into his flesh. “I’d say she has about three hours before the sun falls through the window at an angle that’ll kill her.”
Fuck.I step back, still shaking with anger, and unfurl the torn metal.
He drops to the ground with an irritating chuckle, ignoring the rips in his suit and the blood dripping from the cuts in his skin. “I forgot how feisty you could be!”
I have not an ounce of patience left in my body. “Just shut up and tell me what you want.”
He walks around to the back of the shed and opens a suitcase that he’s propped onto a dusty workbench. Stripped machinery parts stand around, their limbs torn off to expose loose cables. I have no clue what any of this does but none of it lends itself to magic, all cold steel and heartless rubber.
Not that it matters. He’s already won – I’ll do anything to get her as far away from him as possible.
He comes back holding a vial ofbindweed, its essence stubbornly refusing to cooperate with my powers. The thought of ingesting that makes me shudder.
He pulls the stop and holds it out for me to take. “Cheers,” he says with a wink.
I take a step back. “And how are you going to guarantee to me that she’s safe?”
