Soul of Darkness (14 page)

“What is it, Persephone?” Malcolm urged me to go on, “What did you see?”

“I…,” I began but couldn’t finish the sentence.

For, I’d forgotten what I’d wanted to tell him.

“Persephone?” Malcolm pressed.

“I’m sorry,” I replied, “I don’t remember.”

Malcolm said nothing. Instead, he stood gazing at me with an expression on his face that, now that I was reconnected with my body, actually
did
make the hair on my neck stand up.

What’s going on? What the hell am I missing?
my thoughts echoed around the otherwise completely blank space that currently was my mind.

Malcolm seemed to catch himself and stopped staring at me. He must have felt my distress.

“Persephone,” he finally addressed me again, “have you not yet started what you had set out to do?”

I thought hard about what he’d just asked me, but his words didn’t make sense. I’d set out to do something? I honestly couldn’t recall.

“What do you mean?” I asked in return.

“Persephone, do you not recall my just telling you that you will crush us all if you do not find a way to fight the curse’s magic?”

It was clear to me that Malcolm thought I should know what he was referring to. Yet his words seemed completely unfamiliar to me…like something I’d never in the slightest heard mentioned before…I had absolutely no recollection of it…did I?

While I let his words replay over and over in my mind, straining to remember, strands of gold spun before my eyes, abruptly making me recall the situation we were in.

Somehow, I hadn’t even given any thought to my surroundings while I’d struggled to remember what it was that I needed to tell Malcolm. I hadn’t noticed the wind, nor had I been conscious of the multitude of golden strands of light enveloping Aaron, Aidan, and me, even though the strange coils had practically been staring me in the face.

Now that I’d once again become fully aware of what was happening around me, I started to recall our previous conversatio
n―
if you could call ‘shouting at each other to be heard above the wind’ a conversation.

Suddenly I remembered: I had entered the sphere of my power and envisioned the curse’s magic withdrawing. Obviously, that had never actually happened, or we would not still be enclosed by the golden cocoon.

Which meant: I had failed.

But far worse than the notion of not having succeeded, was that my first memory after having stepped back out of the light was that of Malcolm urging me to let him know what I’d apparently started out to tell him.

But what had happened in-between? And why couldn’t I remember?

The thought of missing time and the fact that I was being suffocated by the magical force around Aaron, Aidan, and me, soon had me so unsettled that I started to panic.

“Persephone!” Malcolm shouted, his voice sharp and layered with warning.

I knew what he was telling me without having to hear more words. I could feel it inside, could feel my gut getting ready to rectify the situation, to free me from the suffocating effect of the curse’s magic.

Any moment now, my power would radiate outward and crush everyone I loved…and Malcolm. I had to do something. And since anything would be better than being crushed to deat
h―
at least I hoped I was righ
t―
I decided there was no other way out than…out.

After a split-second decision, I therefore summoned all the strength I had and yanked my body through the opening in the rock, thus pulling Aaron and Aidan with me, as we were all tied together by magic.

There we stood: out in the open for every one of our enemies to see. But I found I’d had no choice. The alternative would have killed Aaron and Aidan on the spot. At least this way, with some luck…or some greater power on our side, we would have a chance to survive.

What the hell am I thinking?
 
What greater power? Have I gone nuts? 
I scolded myself, the hopeful part of my nature.

In all honesty, there really was nothing to be optimistic about. There was no greater power on our side. The only power rooting for us was our own.

And I feared it would not be enough!

“Persephone,” Malcolm called out to me. Turning around, I saw him lingering in the opening to the small cave. He seemed unwilling to be left behind, yet just as reluctant to join us.

That was because Malcolm knew what I was about to do. He knew I wouldn’t let the curse’s magic smother me…he knew I was about to break free.

And he was wise enough to stay out of the line of fire.

I locked eyes with him. There was fear in them, fear for the life of his sons.

I gave him a little smile and a nod I hoped to pass off as reassuring, trying to convey that everything would be oka
y―
for I couldn’t have gotten the words out if I’d tried.

Who really knew if things would turn out to be okay? It was just a hollow phrase one threw at others or oneself in order to find the courage to go on. No one really knew.

But I hoped…and that was all I could give him.

After nodding in return, Malcolm stepped back inside, though he continued to gaze out through the opening in order to keep a close eye on the situation.

While we’d been busy struggling with the curse’s magic, it seemed the menacing-looking men had started to head in our direction. They’d already made it three-quarters of the way, and it wouldn’t take long for them to finally reach us.

I could feel the power inside of me build up and start to pulsate. Aaron and Aidan stood to either side of me, as still as though chiseled from stone. Not one of them had uttered a single word after the curse had begun to spin its web around us.

I wasn’t at all sure what would happen to them after I unleashed my power. All I knew was that I couldn’t have held back any longer. And whatever happened now, I was certain I would not hurt them as much as I would have if we’d stayed inside the cramped hiding space. They would surely recover from the blow.

I could feel my magical instincts getting ready to take control long before the men arrived. The timing was off. If there was one chance for us to get away from these men, I had to take it. I had to use my magical outburst to knock these men out cold so that we could flee.

Holding on with everything I had, I could feel it still wouldn’t be enough to hold off until the men had reached us. And without actually thinking of what I was doing, I instinctively turned to the only sources of power outside of my own.

Through our linked hands, I siphoned off Aaron’s and Aidan’s powers and used them to stabilize myself until the men had caught up with us.

For a moment, the scene appeared to be frozen in time: thirty men unitedly facing two men and a woman…not a single soul stirring…all waiting with bated breaths…until suddenly all hell broke loose.

As the first few rows of men abruptly surged toward us, swords and axes in hand and a wild battle-like roar sounding from their throats, I waited until they were but a few meters away.

And then I let go.

The golden threads binding us burst open, and Aaron’s and Aidan’s hands were torn from my own as their bodies were thrown aside by the surge of magic radiating from me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw each of them stirring and knew they’d be okay. But even if I hadn’t and had wanted to glance their way to make sure they were unhurt, I wouldn’t have been able to…because I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the appalling and devastating scene before me.

At first, it appeared as though the bright blue rays of power escaping me had vanished before reaching any of the men. I’d been about to turn and run, thinking I’d failed in my attempt to take them out by magic, when the men started to drop one by one.

Silent and deadly, and now invisible to the eye, my power seemed to have changed in essence before relentlessly making its way through the rows of the enemy.

I watched in horror as the men collapsed in front of me, their throats cut, their lifeblood pooling at my feet…accusation burning in their dying eyes.

And they were right to accuse me.

For I had killed them.

Chapter 10 * Bodies

A
aron picked himself up off the ground and slowly rose to his feet, his knees only shakily holding him up. Thirty cold and bloodstained bodies paved the road before him.

They
  had done this.

He couldn’t lay the blame solely at Persephone’s feet. She’d drawn on both Aidan’s and his own magical energy, and the two of them had been unable to stop her. Though they hadn’t wanted to harm anyone, their powers had cost thirty men their lives. Since their magic was jointly responsible…so were they.

Aaron had never before done anything to hurt another living being. Confronted with such a devastating scene whilst knowing he’d had a part in bringing it about, he was frozen in shock. What would happen next? They would undoubtedly pay for what the three of them had done.

No, Aaron corrected himself, they were already paying…at least he was. For having killed even a single person with his power, he’d already lost a part of himself…a part of his soul. For, he no longer was the innocent, untainted man he’d been before.

And it was all because of her.

He knew she’d been swept up in events beyond her control…and had probably been manipulated by Darkness. At least, he sincerely hoped she hadn’t actually meant to harm the men.

But even if she hadn’t, it wouldn’t change a thing. It wouldn’t change the fact that it had happened.

And it wouldn’t diminish the resentment he felt toward he
r―
a resentment that had been steadily growing ever since he’d found out exactly how she’d saved Aidan’s life.

He would have liked to be the better man, be able to get over the anger and betrayal he felt, be capable of forgivenes
s―
but he couldn’t. His anger had taken on a life of its own.

And he realized it wasn’t fair to her, that after everything they’d been through together, he owed her loyalty, owed it to her to believe that there was still good inside of her and
―
at the very leas
t―
owed her friendship.

But these were debts he was unable to pay.

Turning around, Aaron saw his father standing in the opening of the rock, positioned in a way that suggested he’d been in the process of leaving the hiding place when the men’s throats had been cut.

He seemed as frozen in shock as Aaron had been. Obviously, whatever Malcolm had expected Persephone to do…it had been far from what had occurred instead.

To Aaron’s left, the haunted look on Aidan’s face mirrored his own. Undoubtedly, Aidan shared his feeling of guilt at what they had done.

Persephone’s expression on the other hand remained a mystery, as she stood facing away from Aaron. Once he turned her around to face him, would he glimpse remorse…or the monster in her eyes? Had she meant to kill, or had the men’s deaths been an accident…the devastating consequence of a power raging out of control?

Aaron needed to know.

For her sake, he hoped she would show regret.

Perhaps then, she could yet be saved.

Carefully approaching her as she stood gazing at the scene of carnage, he was about to face her when she suddenly collapsed.

Perhaps she’d crumbled under the weight of a guilty conscience. Why else would she faint, if not from shock and guilt? Was there hope for her, after all? Or was she merely pretending?

Aaron would have liked to believe that she felt repentance, but the voice of doubt was always there in the back of his mind, second-guessing everything.

“We need to take her and go,” Malcolm’s low, whispering voice interrupted the oppressing silence that had settled over the landscape like a blanket after the last violent aftershock
―
as if to soothe the maltreated earth or cover and hush up an unspeakable deed.

As if the comforting absence of sound could somehow render what had happened undone.

But sound was not of relevance.

For, no sound was needed to convey the horror…no screams to make it real. It lay before them…the blood, the pain, visible to all who dared look. And no amount of silence could erase the traces of the deafening screams of agony that had been etched into the men’s lifeless eyes at the moment of their deaths.