She was poisoning them . . .
A surge of anger filled me, suddenly so vivid that I felt like punching a tree, and I cried out in pain.
“Darkness!” I shouted. “Come here and face me alone! Leave my friends out of this!” Silence answered me, but I thought I heard laughter dancing on the wind.
“Do you hear me?” I shouted to the silence. “Come face me alone!”
I stood still, but no one answered me. I started to run again, hoping that she would notice I was fleeing and pursue me. But then I realized that she might send my friends to hurt me, and I ran away even faster.
I sprinted endlessly, not caring about the bitter cold of the wind as it cut into my skin, or the menacing shadows that seemed to be swallowing up everything. The cold didn’t bother me, at least not until I felt a stab of pain . . .
I stopped running immediately, finding it difficult to breathe, see, run . . .
I couldn’t move . . .
I felt horror spread through me as the ice-cold feeling traveled up my spine, freezing my neck and shoulders, taking control of my muscles and locking them in place. My mind tried to pull an image to my eyes, but they couldn’t see. Fear seized me as the feelings spread throughout my body, paralyzing me slowly from the inside . . .
My vision went black, but just as I slipped away into oblivion, I saw what I had yearned, yet feared to see: a glow of sapphire blue.
Keeper of Secrets
When I opened my eyes I expected to wake up from my horrible nightmare and find myself sleeping in my room with the heater pumping warmth all over me. But sadly, what I awoke to was far from that.
When I opened my eyes I felt my stomach drop. I was suspended in midair, my legs bound together by some sort of dark material. It was black and hard, wrapping around my legs like a spider’s web, and restrained my legs from making any movement. My arms were spread out in crucifix formation, also tied to some strange poles that were standing up behind me. My body hung useless from the web, and my hair fell into my face, shielding my view of the room.
“Glad you finally decided to wake up,” said a caustic voice. It took little to no thought at all to discern its owner: Skylar.
I scowled at him and his answering chuckle sent chills down my spine. He was standing about ten feet away from me, his arms pushed out in front of him below his waist, one hand resting on the hilt of Haikai. The blade was radiating immense heat, so intense that I could feel my skin burning slightly even at a distance.
“You have no idea how boring it gets staring at you while you sleep,” he added in a vitriolic tone. “Honestly, you’ve kept her waiting long enough.”
I tried to keep my eyes open against the force pulling my body down.
“She’s been extremely impatient,” said a female voice from behind him. My eyes widened in fear and my stomach dropped even lower toward the floor as I was forced to look into her black eyes. Pa stared at me loathingly from behind Skylar, her one hand clutching his.
I felt like screaming . . .
“She won’t take out her anger on you,” Skylar purred into her ear. The look he gave her made my stomach flip over, and she returned the gaze with an evilly beautiful smile.
“She’ll take it out on her,” another voice said. The sound of this voice made me want to cry . . .
I couldn’t fight the tears as they flowed in a waterfall down my cheeks as I saw Ricky walking toward me, his brown eyes shining brightly through the black sclera.
“Where is she anyway?” he added, not reacting in the least to the position Pa and Skylar were in.
“It doesn’t matter,” Skylar retorted. “I’m sure whatever she’s doing is relevant to our goal, so shut up and leave it alone.”
Surprisingly, Ricky just nodded and walked away, not even jealous that Skylar’s arm was intertwined with Pa’s and that their fingers were clutching at each other for dear life.
What the hell was going on?
I moaned quietly as the weight of gravity pushed down on me even more, causing my back to arch toward the floor where Skylar and the others were watching me.
His red eyes gazed up at me with a malicious smile, and the hilt of his sword continued to radiate blazing heat in my direction.
“What do you think she’ll do to her?” Pa asked curiously, her eyes lighting up with excitement. I glared down at them, and Skylar erupted into laughter again.
“I’m not sure, but whatever she’s got planned must be worth waiting for. This was all we needed. Now that we’ve got her here, we can finish what she started.”
The webs constricting my muscles were starting to harden into place, making it even more difficult to move around, and my muscles were gradually becoming weaker and weaker—something that worried me if I wanted to make it out of here alive.
“What do you want with me?” I asked finally, speaking for the first time since I had opened my eyes to my worst nightmare.
Skylar looked toward me, surprised I actually had the strength to speak.
“Why have you brought me here? And why am I tied up in this stuff?” I asked.
He chuckled. “That ‘stuff’ you’re wrapped up in is a genuine fiber of shadows, created by none other than Darkness herself. The webbing grows stronger as it feeds off the life force of its prey. So, the longer we have you in there, the weaker you’ll become.”
I snarled at him and tried to rip my arm free of the webbing, but it detected my struggling and tightened even more, causing me to close my eyes in pain and cry out.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I heard Ricky yell over from where he was sitting on the ground. “She’ll be really pissed if her prisoner is dead before she can finish her.”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” Skylar retorted, and Ricky fell silent, not even protesting at all. Pa walked up to Skylar and wrapped her arms around him, letting her long, flowing hair fall all over his face.
“Calm yourself, Skylar,” she advised softly, and I thought I could detect a bit of the old Pa in her voice. “You don’t want to cause harm to yourself.”
“I won’t,” Skylar replied, but he obeyed her, breathing deeply and clutching her hands in his. “Thank you, Paola,” he added with a smile.
I had to bite my lip so hard to stop from screaming aloud in anger that I ended up puncturing the skin. As I sucked blood back into my mouth, I grew exceedingly angry . . .
Pa leaned in toward him, her long hair serving as a curtain, a veil between her and Ricky, and she kissed Skylar on the mouth.
I finally exploded, unable to contain myself anymore. “What the hell has happened to all of you? Skylar, you’ve been a bastard since I’ve known you . . . but Pa? Pa, what’s happened to you? You . . . how could you kiss him after . . .? And Ricky . . . he loves you . . . How can you . . .?”
Skylar and Pa were laughing together now, holding hands as they turned their black eyes to gaze at me.
“I'm listening to my instincts,” Pa said simply. “Darkness showed me my true nature, and I'm thankful for that. She gave us a home, showed us how to properly use the gifts that had been given to us—”
“That’s bullshit!” I shouted back. “You know as well as I do that she’s a complete idiot! She knows nothing! She doesn’t know anything about love or friendship—”
“Oh, don’t I?”
The entire room fell silent the moment the voice had resonated through the large corridor. Her silhouette stood out against the light that projected from my body; her entire figure was shrouded in darkness.
Her voice sounded so familiar . . . the tone just like mine, only twisted with anger and malice . . .
“How do you know what I’m like?” she shot back at me angrily, walking closer to me, her face hidden within the shadows. “You haven’t been around long enough to care. So just shut your mouth and listen to me!”
I widened my eyes in surprise. The muscles in her neck flexed as she yelled at me, and a bright light was erupting from where her eyes would be.
She walked closer, her hands out in front of her like she was praying. She was drumming her fingertips together, creating a menacing rhythm that steadily accelerated as she drew closer to me.
“You have no idea of the agony I went through all these years,” she whispered angrily, and I thought I heard her voice break. The shine of a tear glimmering across space filled my mind, and she lashed out on me, her shadowy face irresistibly enrapturing.
“You have no idea how angry I’ve been these past 5,000 years . . . just waiting for the chance to finally take back what you stole from me! And now I have you right where I want you!”
I felt fear circulating through my body, and shivers sent me into uncomfortable convulsions. The webs tightened, straining my muscles as I fought against the horror that was seizing me from the inside. She could end my life right now if she really wanted to and there was no way I could stop her . . .
My life was going to end . . .
Hadn’t I accepted that long ago? Why, then, was it so difficult to accept now?
I looked down toward Darkness as her shadowy face stared straight up at me. I could only see the outlines of her nose and lips, but the shape of them reminded me eerily of someone.
“I want you to suffer as I suffered,” she said menacingly. “I want you to feel the pain of having everything you care about taken away from you . . . and I want you to know who it was that took it from you . . .”
She started laughing, and she was suddenly in front of me, floating like a ghost five feet off the ground.
“Dessa Madelyn Ambrose,” she said, touching one of her cold, dark fingers to my face. I tried to back away from her, but the dark webs pushed me closer to her. My will to fight was diminishing quickly . . . my life was over . . . “I’m the one who will steal from you everything you love.”
She touched my hand and the light that was surrounding me slowly crept into her, lighting up the countenance that I couldn’t look away from. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing . . .
Her bodice, so slim and beautiful, resembled a mirror-image of mine. She wore a flowing black dress that was slit at her right thigh, revealing the flawless skin of her legs. All along the black dress were golden ornaments, glowing beautifully and complimenting her light brown hair as it rippled down her back majestically. Her one hand cradled my chin, forcing me to look at her, while the other was gripping Yamikage, her long, deadly scythe.
Her fingernails dug into my cheeks and forced my head to look at her face.
This was impossible . . .
I stared into a mirror that wasn’t there, and looked into my eyes . . . only they weren’t mine. The sclera was blackened; dark with malice and anger, and the golden irises that belonged to me were shining brightly through her face.
“It can’t be . . .” I said almost inaudibly, watching as her smile grew wider.
“Do you understand now?” she asked in my voice. Hell, I could have been talking to myself . . .
Was I talking to myself?
“How can this be?” I asked again, staring into my own wicked face, wishing that I could just wake up from this dream.
She smiled maliciously and backed a little away from me. “Don’t you remember? I’m you, Dessa . . . or should I say . . . Desdemona.”
“What did you just call me?” I retorted in confusion. She chuckled.
“I called you by your true name,” she replied. “You were given the name Desdemona when you were conceived five thousand years ago, and you still have that name today. It never changed at all.”
“It’s a lie!” I screamed, watching as Ricky, Pa, and Skylar all flanked Desdemona and began floating magically in the air behind her.
“It’s not a lie,” she said somewhat calmly, looking right into my eyes. “You sealed me away all those years ago, afraid that I would hurt your friends. You wouldn’t let me near them . . . You were afraid I would hurt them! So you banished me, left me on my own. Then I found those Hunters, and they helped me, but then you locked me away where I would have no friends or loved ones at all! Damn you for what you did to me!”
She reached out her hand and sliced her nail across my cheek. I didn’t scream, but felt nauseated as the warm wetness of my blood poured down my cheek and dripped into my hair.
“You ripped me out of you! You took the body we shared away from me, and you threw me away . . . So I decided to come back. I decided to claim a body of my own and take you down for what you did to me. You stole my precious friends from me . . . from us . . . your selfishness forced us all into the deepest sleep.”
I stared at her, knowing somehow that she was right.
“Skylar was my savior,” she said in my voice again. “He was so angry, so pitiful in his want for revenge against my dear brother, whom you also stole from me—”
“Wait,” I interjected. She stared back at me angrily. “You’re me. You have everything I have . . . I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t!” she shouted. “I’ve been sleeping, deep within the reaches of space where you banished me . . . I could hear Skylar’s pain, feel his anger, and it reminded me of you and how much I hated you.”
The loathing in her voice was unmistakable.
“He was near the mirror. Mirrors were my only way to see what was left of the world after I’d been cut away from it. I was sealed inside as simply your reflection, unable to reach out and take what rightfully should have been mine . . . Skylar was crying out for revenge. I wanted revenge. He was my ticket out of my reflected prison.”
She looked toward him gratefully and he swooped down into a low bow before her.
“My only purpose in this life is to serve you,” he replied subserviently, letting his eyes drift noticeably toward Pa where she was floating on his other side, her hand outstretched as though she was waiting for him to grasp it.
“So it is,” Desdemona retorted happily as Skylar bent forward to kiss her hand. “Skylar and I struck a bargain. If he could find the place where you had kept the awakening rituals buried and set me free of my prison, I’d give him what he truly desired. I’ve kept my promise, haven’t I? Unlike you.”
She pointed a delicate finger toward me, her golden eyes staring at me with an accusation I couldn’t deny. She was a part of me, a severed part of my soul. How could I argue with myself?
“Skylar and I kept our promises to each other, something true friends do. How can you call these spineless liars your friends?” she shot at me. “They’ve turned away from you, joined me instead . . . The better half of you. The strong part of you that you locked away!”
“Shut up!” I shouted, tears coming to my eyes. “I love them! They are my friends!”
“Do you want to test that statement?” she countered shrewdly. “I’m sure someone can show you the true answer.”
She snapped her fingers and Ricky, Pa, and Skylar all simultaneously looked back toward the doors where Desdemona had entered the room.
A tall, cloaked figure walked into the room. The hood obscured his face and the cloak hid most of his body. His hands were showing, holding onto a kind of sword . . . It seemed blurry and indistinct, with no definite shape to it, and as he carried it, the sword cradled its swerving blade carefully into his hand.
“Tell her,” Desdemona said in a beautifully evil rendition of my voice. “Tell her the truth.” The figure pulled back his hood, and the face I saw staring back at me made me want to die.
His beautiful cheekbones were rigid, frozen with hatred, and his lips were tinted a soft ice blue. Locks of ice-tipped hair accented his eyes, shining a bright sapphire amongst the darkness.
“Chris . . .” I murmured. His eyes widened when I spoke his name.
“How does she know me?” he asked Desdemona, who was standing beside him. I stared into his sapphire eyes earnestly.
“Chris, please . . .” I whispered. “You must remember . . . Remember all the times we’ve shared. Everything we’ve done—”
“Shut up!” Des
demona shouted. “He no longer remembers you. He’s forgotten about your naïve, stupid side, and remembered the part of you he truly fell in love with.”
He smiled at her and she smiled back. This connection between them was making me sick . . . Was this how I acted in front of my friends with him? Had I done this and never realized it?
How had I been so selfish? Was Desdemona telling the truth? Had I taken advantage of the relationships I had with my closest friends? I felt tears coming to my eyes as I realized that this wasn’t a dream . . .
“Prove it to her,” Desdemona said, almost as though she could hear the tormenting thoughts that were circulating through my mind.
Chris’ eyes opened wider, almost as though her words had provoked some sort of response from him. He looked at her with his spacious blue eyes and leaned closer, closing them ever so slightly. His arms wrapped themselves around her, and her hands touched his face, touched the skin that belonged to me.
I felt my heart fall apart when he touched his lips to hers and kissed her. The tears fell from my eyes now, realizing that I truly was alone.
“What did I do?” I asked, not realizing that Chris was now looking at me with a confused expression—he seemed puzzled about something, and his eyes looked troubled, almost like he knew something wasn’t right—and Desdemona was laughing evilly.
“You did everything,” she said angrily. “You ripped me out of you, banished me . . . And you thought I was the cruel side of you!” Her fist flew at my face with blinding speed and I heard the crack before I felt it. My jaw dislocated and I screamed, feeling the bones grind uncomfortably as my mouth opened and closed.
“You tore me apart from you, locked me away in a place of solitude where I would never again see your light shine . . .” she said in a broken voice. “Your hatred for me overshadowed the feelings you had for the others you cared about . . . . And now you’re going to pay the price for what you’ve done! I’ve stolen them from you. They’ve seen how cruel you truly are, and they’ve come to me of their own free will.”
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