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Nope, not happening.
“How? I just learned the use of my power.” I try to reach the bottom of my dress and slowly start pulling it up, but when he notices, I act like I have an itch and let the gown fall.
“Not to worry.”
I don’t like the sound of that, I should probably start panicking.
“This book is going to help you open it.” He opens his paw—er claws, and the black shadow hovers over it and drops a book in his hand.
He offers me the book, and I take it with shaking hands. The book’s cover is violet and the pages are a lighter shade. It isn’t thick at all, maybe only about twenty pages. I try to read the script, but I have no clue what the words say.
I flip through the pages and stop at a particular one that has the image of a very familiar blade running across a person’s neck.
“That’s the one we need.” My heart stops in fear, nearly dropping the book.
I look back at him again. “You need a sacrifice to open and close the portal?”
I look over at the only two council members left, and I notice that the hunters holding them down are the same men we thought had been killed. They were working for Theo all along.
Wanting to stall for a chance to grab my weapon, I ask, “What’s the difference between a witch and me? Why couldn’t Krissy open this?”
“This portal is unlike any other world. It’s been closed off even before I was born. This portal houses a different breed of supernaturals.” He smiles coyly before going on. “You know who else lives on the other side of this portal, Kat?” I swallow through a thick lump in my throat. I already know the answer to his question, but he voices it out loud anyway. “Your kind, the violet voyagers. The first time the portal opened was in Nicaragua, that’s why there were so many of your kind living there. The ones that managed to escape to the other side made this place their home.”
Theo turns his attention to the black shadow as if he’s speaking with it, and I know this is my only chance to make a move while he’s distracted.
I drop the book on the floor and reach beneath my gown for my weapon. As the black shadow has temporarily taken on a solid form, I run toward it with my fist clenching The Kiss of Death tightly.
Before Theo can react, I stab the black shadow with my weapon. The shadow turns misty again, swallowing my weapon whole. I try calling for it in my mind the way I did the night I killed Krissy, but nothing happens.
What the fuck? My mouth hangs open in surprise, what the hell do I do now?
“My patience is running thin, Kat,” Theo growls, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid. “Read the book, now!” he roars, and I can feel the ground vibrate as he spits out those words.
He shoves the book at me again.
“I won’t do it, Theo. I won’t open it. I was chosen to guard the portal and keep it closed, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” I stand my ground. I’m not letting him bully me again, not anymore. I’m not the same woman cowering at the kitchen table under his judgmental stare. I’m a fucking warrior.
Theo looks at the shadow and nods toward Ava, and my entire stomach flips in pure panic as it immediately pursues our daughter. Images of the council members disappearing into the smoke bring a sharp cry from the back of my throat. “Theo, No!”
“I can make it so you’ll never see Ava again,” he taunts.
What choice do I have? This is the only way he can get me to open the portal and he knows it. I’d do anything for my kids.
He shoves Aisling toward me, she crouches on the floor with fear in her eyes and tape over her mouth. She’s being held down by two people so she can’t move. Just earlier she was looking at me like dirt and now her eyes are filled with terror.
I look at the last two members of the council rooted in place by Theo’s dark magic, and they struggle against their invisible binds, unable to speak or scream. They will die tonight just as the others did, of that I’m sure.
Theo hands me a blade and shoves the woman to her knees in front of me. “I’m sorry,” I whisper as tears stream down my face. It’s an impossible decision, but I won’t risk my daughter’s life.
I do as I saw in the picture. With one swipe, blood gushes from the wound in her throat, and her mouth opens and closes in shock. Theo quickly takes the knife, replacing it with the book.
“Form a circle around Kat with the blood,” he directs, and the hunters do as he says.
There’s no time to freak out. I look down at the book, and the words are foreign to my eyes, but as I read, there’s something so familiar about them that it almost scares me. Theo is onto something about this book belonging to my people.
A hole appears out of thin air, growing bigger and bigger the closer I get to the end of the passage. Once my words stop, a thick cloud of darkness settles around me like smoke. I drop the book, there’s screaming and shouting, and I realize it’s coming from me.
“Ava! Ava!” I shout, but the shadows are too thick to see anything, just like the night Krissy died.
