by Allie Burton
“It’s true. I played you. Used you to get the oils.” As if each letter was a knife, the words I spoke shredded my heart. Shredded my hope.
“I was blind to Jeb and the Society and what they planned to do. I believed the Society when they told me I would rule the world, that I deserved Tut’s power. You opened my eyes.” Xander raised fisted hands. “But yours are still squeezed tightly closed. You don’t want to see what’s in front of you.”
Wooziness engulfed my head. My belly churned knowing what I had to do to him. To us.
“I see.” I saw how Fitch ruled the family with an iron fist. If he was disobeyed everyone in the family paid. I couldn’t do that to the other kids. And I couldn’t expose Xander.
“You might have super vision, but you don’t really see.” Xander pointed to his sad, dull eyes and then touched where his heart beat. “You don’t feel.”
“Isn’t this sweet?” Fitch wriggled his body, but kept his hands in his pockets. It was as if he wanted to strangle Xander and was trying to keep control.
“I do feel.” I wanted to scream but kept my voice low.
Boy, did I feel. My body ached with the pain of knowing what I had to do. The tattered pieces of my heart ripped into smaller bits. I had no choice. I had to push him away. For his own good.
I dragged in a shattered breath. “I was using you to find the oils.”
“I’ve been deceived and used my entire life. I thought you were different.” Deeper lines appeared on his tortured face. “Was I wrong?”
“Yes.”
The hurt reflected in Xander’s eyes cut into my heart with the precision of a sharp scalpel. The pain sliced and dread infused my bloodstream, carrying through my body a sense of loss and despair. Blackness invaded my soul.
And Tut’s soul, too. I felt his anxiety like a black shadow on a dark day.
“I’ll protect you. Won’t let you get hurt.” Xander’s earnest expression told me all I needed to know.
He’d die for me. And I couldn’t let him.
Now was the time to put whatever acting skills I had to use. Even though my heart cracked, I pushed my chest out. Even though my eyes burned with unshed tears, I refused to cry. Even though my mouth ached from forcing my lips up, I continued to smile.
“You’re an inexperienced, sheltered, sixteen-year-old boy.” I chose the words that would hurt him most. “Fitch is like a father to me.”
A father I didn’t like or trust.
Xander flinched. His prominent cheekbones fell. His eyelids drooped. His brow wrinkled with confusion. “But…we agreed on what needed to be done. Thought we wanted to work together. Be toge—”
“You thought wrong.” I couldn’t let him complete his sentence. Couldn’t hear what I so wanted to.
His face chiseled like it was made of stone. “Are you choosing Fitch over me?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
My heart screamed. Not only did I want Xander with me on this quest, but I wanted Xander with me forever. Wanted his support and caring. Wanted his intelligence and strength. Wanted his protection and love.
But what I wanted most of all was for Xander to survive. And to do that I had to force him to leave.
“Yes.” The raw word scraped out of my sore throat. The blackness covered all of my internal hope and light. A shadow would live in my heart forever.
“You heard her, boy.” Fitch pounded a foot forward. “Olivia, we have some place to be.”
Interesting that he didn’t touch me. Didn’t try to force me to move on.
“Say it.” Xander barely moved his lips to speak.
He was shutting down. Shutting me out. Which was good. Forcing him to leave, to hate me, had to be done. To save him.
“Say it!” His terse voice ripped through my soul.
I quivered inside, but held steady on the outside. “I’m choosing Fitch over you.” Like the slice of a dull knife, I cut myself deeply.
Xander slammed the backpack on the ground and took a single, solitary step. I felt like my right arm had been ripped from its socket.
“Where are you going?” Maybe I could find him when this was over, once I knew he’d be safe. If I lived.
“What does it matter to you?” He turned his back. His dark hair glinted in the dull moonlight. He threw his shoulders back in a stiff, soldier-like stance. Then he walked, his long legs striding away at a fast clip.
It matters. But I couldn’t say it out loud. Couldn’t show him any hope of us being together because if I did he wouldn’t leave and Fitch would figure out my plan.
“Let’s go, Olivia.” With Fitch’s normal impatience, he would’ve grabbed me and shoved me in the direction he wanted me to go, but he didn’t.
Maybe, somewhere in his misguided heart, he understood the pain I was going through.
Each step Xander took pounded on the pavement like a gong in my head. It announced the end of our partnership, of our relationship, of our more-than-friends-ship.
I got one last look at his proud back. I wanted to sink down onto the bridge. It was better this way. Better for him. And that was mattered.
He didn’t understand my sacrifice, and probably never would, but what I’d done had been right. He’d be free to live his own life. He’d be out of danger. He wouldn’t have to worry about being zapped. Just like Tina and Doug would be better off without me if I couldn’t end this curse.
And if I ended this curse and survived, I was going to insist Fitch turn Tina and Doug over to the foster care system. It hadn’t worked for me, but it would be better for the twins not to grow up with a man like Fitch.
I knew I couldn’t go back to Xander. I’d cut him loose and he’d never forgive me. My shoulders trembled. Heaping sobs escaped my chest, but I didn’t cry.
And if my heart broke in the process, did it matter? If I didn’t die, I’d be back at Fitch’s and demanding a better life for all the younger kids. I’d meet new people, maybe even a new special guy.
My soul ached with loss. My heart echoed the pain. My brain already knew the answer.
I’d never find anyone like Xander again. He was my soulmate. And I’d forced him to hate me.
I had to believe Fitch would help. At this point, I didn’t have any other choice. Sure, he disappeared from the museum, but he’d sent the entire family looking for me. Although the kids had started looking for me after I’d agreed to call Fitch when my task was complete. And he’d lied about me telling him to meet here tonight. My thoughts wavered like a barge on the Nile.
“Let’s go, missy.” Fitch’s tone blasted my thoughts
With Fitch I would hopefully end this curse.
Not with Xander.
“You got the final vessel, right?” Fitch’s voice sounded dark and untrustworthy as we started walking north toward Marin County.
In the opposite direction of Xander.
“Yes.” I clutched the strap of the backpack that hung on my right shoulder. Only six vessels lay inside.
Why was I suspicious of everything about Fitch? He walked beside me making no move to take the backpack. He didn’t ask about the amulet. My discomfort grew with the tension. The waves rushing below magnified our silence. An urge to run overwhelmed me.
“We didn’t get the oil from Coit Tower. It was gone.”
“No worries.” Fitch shoved his hands further into his coat pockets.
Which concerned me more. My gut feeling or instincts were completely whacked out. Emotional over Xander. Distrusting the only man I’d ever counted on. Nothing made sense.
He rustled his hand in his pocket again. A flash of gold caught my attention. All the air left my chest. My aching heart sunk. My limbs weakened. I couldn’t believe it. It was like being stabbed in the back with a golden dagger.
Fitch wore a gold mesh glove.
With widening eyes, I backed up in small steps. My knees gave way, but I stopped myself from falling.
How did he know how to touch me?
“W-why do you need those
?” My voice trembled, but inside I rocked. My entire world rocked and jolted and shattered. “I said I’d call you.”
“X suggested the gold mesh would be useful.”
The single-lettered name was like a bullet between my eyes. My head scorched with pain. My brain blasted. My mind wrapped around the information. “Do you know who X is?”
Maybe he didn’t understand the situation. X was bad. I was good. Well, not angel-like good but I wouldn’t abuse the powers, wouldn’t try to control the world.
A gleam of sinister glee lit Fitch’s dark eyes. His gaze traced a path over my taut body. A slight tug of one side of his mouth twisted into a gruesome smile of ultimate victory. Victory over me. “X is our client.”
My heart dropped to the bottom of my burning ribcage, like it was the center of my own personal inferno. I grabbed onto the red rail to keep from falling. “What?”
“X commissioned the theft of the amulet.” Fitch’s smile took on a wicked life. “And he needed a sixteen-year-old to host King Tut. I was supposed to ensure you got the amulet before the Society showed up.”
Fitch knew about the transfer of King Tut’s soul. He knew about the power. He knew a sixteen-year-old needed to possess it.
“But how could X make the transfer occur?” The questions tossed in my mind. “The Society had to read from a scroll during the lunar eclipse.”
“X knew the ancient words that needed to be spoken. That’s why our timing was tight. You were supposed to get the amulet and get outside before the end of the eclipse.”
The shock of how much he did know stilled my furious thoughts. X, our client, had obviously told Fitch the tale. If I could convince him the tale was completely false I might have a chance to swing him back to my side.
My hand gripped the rail tighter. “Surely, you don’t believe all this mumbo jumbo.” I didn’t at first.
Fitch was a realist. He didn’t believe in prayer or any type of might power. Except for the power of money.
Fitch leaned his elbow against the rail and crossed his ankles. Like this was a normal conversation. “I didn’t believe at first, but what did it matter what X believed as long as he paid enough.”
Fitch’s nonchalant sale of me—the too casual words—cut my heart in two.
“I thought you cared.” I’d known he was hard hearted, but he’d taken me in, taught me a trade. I’d thought he’d cared about me a little. I’d trusted him at the most crucial moment of my life.
“I’d spent years training you to be a thief and all you wanted was to go to school. When you didn’t get your way you wanted to help the younger kids go to school. That would look like I’d gone soft.”
“You promised you’d let Tina and Doug get an education.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue. I should’ve gone to the authorities when Tina and Doug first arrived. When I’d threatened Fitch, he’d told me the authorities would split them apart. I couldn’t let that happen. So, Fitch kept them and trained them. And I’d taken care of them.
“Too much wasted time and talent.” Fitch had lied to me, deceived me, and sold me.
Like a common slave.
I am Pharaoh. Not a slave. Tut’s soul roared.
Fury ignited like a solar flare on the sun. The burning pulsed, spreading the anger like a wildfire. I cross-stepped in front of Fitch, forcing him against the bridge railing, thinking about zapping him.
“Enough discussion.” Fitch reached his gloved hand toward my arm. “We’re meeting X so I can collect my final fee.”
The imagined dagger twisted opening the gaping wound farther. The man I looked up to, who I’d trusted beyond anyone was truly vile. I’d given up Xander, pushed him away and Fitch had betrayed me.
Everything inside me plummeted. My heart and my hope. I’d done this to myself. That’s why Fitch had sent the entire family looking for me. Why he’d been so anxious when I called. It wasn’t because he cared about me. He cared about the power.
The power I now held.
Tut roared again. All his anger, all his power, exploded like a bomb. I didn’t think. Just reacted. Reacted to the hurt and the pain and the anger and the fury.
I shoved the palms of my hands against Fitch’s chest. The second I touched him, heat slammed through me like a rocket booster. Power poured through my veins and into my muscles.
But Fitch didn’t jerk or convulse. The gold mesh gloves saved him from my power. “Olivia, you will do what I say.”
“I’m tired of doing what you say.” The power ignited my words. “What you say is wrong. What you do is wrong. What you have me and the other kids do is wrong.” Fire burst from between my lips. Heat seared my face.
I’d forgotten about my fire-breathing power. Guess I hadn’t been angry enough.
Hurt, sad, heartbroken—yes. But not furious, like now.
“Olivia, don’t be rash.” Fitch’s smooth trying-to-convince tone didn’t fool me. “Let’s talk about what you want.”
“I want you to promise Tina and Doug will go to school. I want you to contact the Society to make a deal to help me get rid of this curse.” With each phrase, flames burst from my mouth.
“Okay, I can do that.” He grabbed the railing climbed onto one of the bridge supports trying to get away from my flame. Trying to get higher.
Fitch had given in too easily.
“Liar.” The flame leapt out of my mouth.
Fitch’s bushy eyebrows singed. The expression of fear froze on his face. His eyes popped out of their sockets. He understood my anger. He realized I wasn’t as afraid of him. That I’d changed. He leaned back, holding onto the rail, wavering hundreds of feet over the frigid bay waters.
A car horn blared.
My heart jumped. I swung around to see.
A black SUV had screeched to a halt shocking me out of my intense bargain of words with…
Fitch.
I turned back around.
Fitch was gone.
I leaned over the edge of the rail where he’d just been standing.
Fitch’s body fell like an informant dropping names. He must’ve been startled by the car horn like me. He’d never survive the fall and the freezing waters and the dizzying currents.
His long, drawn-out scream burnt my ears and echoed in my head.
And would forever.
Fitch was dead.
I analyzed the emotions running through me. Pain, sadness, and an overwhelming sense of relief. I was free from the man who’d run my life since I was young. But what would be my new alternative?
Two men dressed in black jumped out of the car. The goons from Lombard Street.
I tried to take a breath, but couldn’t get air in my lungs. My brain went into full overload searching for an escape. There was nowhere to run. I was surrounded by the railing on one side with the churning ocean below and the two men in front of me.
Turning my head, I studied the driver of the SUV. His dark head nearly touched the ceiling of the over-sized vehicle. His golden-gloved hand held tight to the steering wheel. His sharp white smile flashed in the darkness.
X.
The goons used the gloves like pinchers to take hold of my arms. The gold mesh dug through my T-shirt and scraped at my skin. I tried to break free, kicking with my legs. Nothing worked.
I opened my mouth to scream. Fire burst from my mouth again. I was turning into a fire breathing Chimera.
The goons leaned away from me, but still held my arms like a vise. X jumped out of the car and pulled an orange box from his pocket, opened it and tossed a white powder.
My flames disappeared. The light inside me extinguished, too. I thought I’d had a fighting chance. I gathered my breath and my anger, ready to put on another light show.
X moved in closer. One of the goons yanked both my arms behind my back, pulling on the sockets. The other goon pried my mouth open. The sharp mesh tore the skin of my cheeks and chin.
X poured the white powder down my throat, bopping the bottom of the box to make sure
it went in my mouth.
I gagged and choked. The powder tasted like soft chalk. My saliva mixed with the whiteness leaving my throat feeling clumpy and clogged. “What is that?”
“Baking soda.” X grabbed the backpack and pulled it off my arm. “I’ll take this. Wouldn’t want to break anything.”
I wanted to break him.
The goons dragged, pulled and yanked me toward the SUV. I did my best to fight, but it was two against one and I couldn’t use my zapping or my flames. They shoved me into the back seat of the car.
The goons placed me in the middle. They got in on either side, blocking escape. The slamming of the car doors reverberated inside my hollow chest. One of the goons gave me an arrogantly lazy smile, a we-got-you-now smile.
My chest burned inside like I’d swallowed my own fire. My fury ran so strong and deep I swore the moon moved a little faster in the sky.
If you’re in there Tut, I could use some help. Or advice. Or even a friendly voice.
Silence greeted me.
The goons held me tight. Even so, I twisted and yanked. “Let me out.”
X screeched over the bridge. I didn’t know what their plan was or where they were taking me. Terror tore through my chest. Confusion rocked my mind. I had to get out, break free.
I clenched my fists holding back my temper. I could do nothing now. But later, when I got the chance, I’d escape. I had the power. I had Tut’s knowledge behind me. I had my own determination.
X faced forward as if what I’d done had been a passing misfortune. “You caused a lot of unnecessary trouble with that trick at the loading dock. Picking up a boy was not part of the plan.”
Xander’s words at the museum returned to haunt me. Your plan was doomed to fail.
Fresh pain assaulted my stupidity. Xander had tried to warn me, tried to help. I should’ve trusted his judgment and never called Fitch.
I was the street smart kid who’d learned every lesson Fitch had taught, except the one about not trusting the teacher. Xander had been cosseted and hidden from the world. All he knew were books, and yet I’d been the one fooled.
At least he wasn’t here to be captured. This confirmed I’d done the right thing. I loved him and didn’t want him hurt. My heart pounded trying to escape the jail of my ribcage. I did truly love him. Deep, true, forever love. I should’ve told him.