by Jennise K
“Nah, Kimber let me sleep for an hour or two sometime around three. Don’t worry. I’m all right.”
Hesitantly I nodded, giving in. “Alright.”
We began going over all the footage the police department had provided me one by one, focusing on the times River was in the frame. This went on for two hours. During these two hours, I realised that Michael hadn’t had his breakfast yet, so I slipped in orders for a lunch set, saying that I was hungry. That persuaded the boy enough.
“So that friend of yours that you’re looking for, is he mentally ill?”
“What do you mean?” I frowned, looking into the screen closely.
“He keeps acting like he’s there with someone when he is clearly alone.” Michael pointed out casually. “There! See there? He’s turning his head and his lips are moving. It’s like he’s talking to someone, but there’s no one there.”
I focused my eyes on the screen, moving my face closer to it. My eyes widened. Michael was right. River’s lips did seem to move. Suddenly, he was smiling in the screen, and I felt my jaw slack. Just who was River dating?
“He wasn’t mentally ill,” I mumbled out, still in a daze when I noticed the same pattern in another CCTV footage from another restaurant. It was weird. None of the people around him seemed to think anything was wrong, which meant they saw his girlfriend, too. Only the cameras couldn’t.
“Was? Past tense?” Michael’s eyes widened, and he turned towards me looking truly shocked.
I frowned. “Didn’t Sophia tell you? This friend of mine, River, has passed away.” I frowned at the boy. I guess they didn’t gossip about work at home.
Michael stopped. “Wait…who’s Sophia?”
Huh? Red lights began blaring in my mind. A million possibilities began flashing in my system.
“Your sister? Sophia? The one you said who works at the castle?”
“Olivia…my sister’s name is Mary. I don’t know any Sophia.”
“You’re kidding me, right? Remember when I fainted in here last time and you took me to the castle? She was there! She sat at the foot of my bed and then followed you out of the room when you left!”
This was getting messy. Very messy.
“I remember her, but Olivia, that wasn’t my sister. Mary has been on maternity vacation for the past few months ever since you arrived.”
I blinked. “So…that girl in that room isn’t your sister?”
“No. I’ve never seen her in my life before that day.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Just who is Sophia?
“Oh,” I mumbled out slowly. “I must have been mistaken then.”
For a second, Michael looked like he wasn’t going to let it go. But then he slowly smiled. “Yeah. You must have. By the way, have you finished that book?”
My eyes snapped to the black leather journal. “Not yet.”
Michael tilted his head to the side, bringing his glass of juice to his lips to take a sip. “Aren’t you curious about how it ends?”
He’s right! I’ll know more if I finish it. Why didn’t I think about it that way?
“I’m planning on completing it today.” I nodded determinedly.
“Here?” Michael asked, looking sceptical.
“I guess.” I smiled.
“Well, I’ll leave you be then.” Michael grinned, sliding out of the seat. “I have to be home by two in the evening.”
“Alright.” I smiled back, waving at the boy. “I’ll see you soon.”
Michael nodded. “Take care of yourself, Olivia. Call me if you need me, okay?”
I couldn’t help but grin at the boy. “Yes, sir.”
Soon, Michael left, and I found myself looking at the black diary in front of me.
“Will you help me?” I asked the thing dumbly, knowing completely that it wouldn’t answer me.
Instead, she appeared on the seat in front of me. The hairs on my arms began to stand at the sudden coldness in the air, and I froze. Her lips remained unmoving, but I could clearly hear her.
“Yes.”
“Miss Olivia, do you want a refill for the hot cocoa? Wow it sure is cold in this corner!” the pretty, tall, blonde girl asked me, her pale pink lipstick slightly sparkling in the light of this hour she smiled at me.
My eyes snapped from Edika to the girl, and I blinked. “Yes, please.”
“Great.” She grinned as she took my cup and cleared up the table and began moving towards her work station. Immediately, my eyes snapped back to where Edika sat. I sighed. She was gone.
Just who is this Sophia? Why did she lie to me? And Rose? Who is Rose?
Even as I asked myself these questions, I knew the answer. Rose was innocent. She had always been innocent. So was Edika. Sophia…was shady. Very shady.
Frowning, I flipped the diary open. The only way I’d get answers was if I searched for it. I was going to avenge my friend and stop any future mess, and to do that, I need to get rid of her—whoever this person is—as soon as possible.
Winter is withering down to pools of icy water.
The birds are tweeting again.
I’m restless still. My child in my arms is where he is in most danger. I must send him away before her fingers touch his skin.
Sometimes I feel like I am the cause of all this misfortune.
My husband’s wife—there can only be one.
She is here. So, I must leave.
I am the cause. I am a mistake.
I should have never even looked his way.
This golden band on my finger belongs to her.
The husband I lay in bed with at night belongs to her.
The life that I am now living belongs to her.
I have nothing. Nothing but my child.
If I were to disappear, then she would let my child live
My sweet child, Sebastian, I apologise.
Mama must leave for you to live,
And for you to live, Mama’s shadow must cease to exist.
Only then will Mama be able to protect you, my child, and with your shadow, mine will always exist.
Mama loves you, my dear boy.
– EL
~
10:55 pm
Saturday night
Olivia A. Fredson
The sound of the front door closing echoed into living room, and I smiled when I finally saw who had arrived.
“Hey, Rose.”
The slightly taller than me, brown-haired girl walked into the room with hesitant steps. Her pink lips moved up into a smile when she saw me.
“Hello.”
“Going to bed now?” I asked, seeing the rosy flush on her cheeks. She must have had a good time, I thought. Her eyes were sparkling.
“Yeah.” Rose’s smile brightened as she stopped in front of me.
“I think we should all go to bed now.” Dominic smiled. “It has been a rough week, after all.”
“Cut me some slack! It’s Saturday! We can’t afford to lose tonight.” Grayson turned towards Dominic with a bewildered expression.
Suddenly, I realised something, and my eyes snapped towards Rose again. “Rose, are you and Sophia sleeping together in the same room?”
Rose nodded. “Yes we are. Why?”
Oh no. That’s dangerous!
Beside me, I felt Romanov stiffen.
“You’ve figured it out?” he whispered into my ear, and immediately, the rest of the three people visibly stiffened too. Ah, he read my mind again.
“Oh fuck,” Grayson hissed. “We’ve been found out. She must be here somewhere.”
“Not when I’m here. Don’t worry. She can’t come close or hear us in her spirit form when I’m here. Not unless I want her to,” Rose said, moving closer as she looked at me with concerned eyes.
“Dominic was right,” Grayson said incredulously, turning to me. “You are very bright.”
I blinked. “I’m sorry. Is there something going on that I don’t know about?”
“Oh, we have much to—”
> My eyes glanced around the room, and suddenly, I felt my breath hitch. My grip on Romanov’s hand tightened as my eyes stayed frozen on the large circular mirror that hung on the wall. In its reflection, I could clearly see a girl standing on the edge of the hallway, her dark hair falling against her face as she just stood there, silent.
I could feel my blood run cold as I just watched her while she stood there, obviously trying to listen in on us.
Ever since I had found out about my link with the curse, I had always thought I was fighting against a faceless monster—a wind-like spirit that I couldn’t see as it approached me with a knife in its hands. Now I knew my death had a face. I had talked to my death. I had laughed with my death, shared my fears with my death. I had touched my death and even cared for it.
A part of me was regretful of even befriending my death. A part of me was regretful for it happening like this. Still, death was death, and no matter how sweet death’s smile was, in the end it would do just what it was meant to…kill me.
So, I took a deep breath and leaned back, returning to a position I hoped would look convincing. “Why are you hiding there? Don’t worry Romanov won’t get upset! Come out. It’s all right!”
It wasn’t all right. Because instantly both Dominic and Grayson moved in to sit beside me and even Rose moved in closer.
Them being closer made me feel safer. I sighed, thankful.
“It’s okay! Come out! Sophia!”
~
“I was about to fucking pass out last night,” Grayson groaned as he sunk into the seat opposite mine. Beside him, Matthew and Alpha King Alexander sat, looking too large on the long seat.
I let out a groan of my own. “Took the words right out of my mouth, man.”
“You all seem like you’ve not slept at all,” King Alexander commented, his eyes on me as he sipped the coffee he had ordered.
I took a sip of my tea and nodded. “I couldn’t sleep all night, alright.”
“Kept me up as well,” Romanov muttered, and I grinned at the grumpy lycan. He couldn’t sleep last night out of fear that Sophia would try to kill me.
I couldn’t sleep at all last night because of all of the thoughts and questions that were running in my head—about the past, about what was happening right now, about how the future would be like. Would we be able to get past this?
Dominic coughed awkwardly and said, “I had matters to attend to.” I eyed him suspiciously.
“What? Spying on Issy’s Instagram again?”
Dominic shrivelled under my stare, and I sighed. “You accidentally liked a picture she had posted weeks ago. Did you not notice?”
Instantly, Dominic blushed beside me, and I sighed again. There was no fixing this one.
“I had matters to attend to as well.” Grayson winked at me, bringing a half-eaten muffin up to his lips and shoving it into his mouth.
“What? Sexting your latest?” Dominic eyed his friend with a smirk on his face.
“Oh God! Too much information, people!” I shot out instantly, my face heating up in embarrassment of the newfound topic. Ignoring all the men grinning at me, I turned towards Romanov and scrunched my nose. “Stoooppp.”
“Actually, I was on a call with a detective I hired to trace Isabelle’s whereabouts.” Grayson stopped, his eyes moved to me, and I glared at him with no restrain. He coughed, clearly alarmed now. “Since Dominic won’t do it because of his inflated ego, I did it instead! They are mates for God’s sakes! Who does that to his mate?”
“Grayson,” Dominic blurted out, his suddenly dark eyes throwing out all the warning signs my way. Immediately, I began thinking of ways how to defuse this situation. Then Dominic stood up from my side and, walking over to Grayson, pulled him up into a hug. “Thanks, man!” Dominic grinned, and I almost threw myself out of the window as the tension quickly left the air. There was no fixing the both of them!
“I thought they were about to have a fistfight,” Matthew confessed, scratching the back of his neck.
“Yeah, me too,” both Romanov and Alexander replied at the same time.
“I’ve been thinking,” I blurted out suddenly, cutting off all of the idiotic, distracted men at the table. “So, all of a sudden River started going out with a girlfriend that none of us had ever had the opportunity to meet. In the surveillance videos that I went over again, he kept acting like he was with someone, but there was no one there. Was River dating Sophia? Did Sophia kill River when he figured out something about her?”
“Quite likely.” Alexander nodded, taking another sip of his coffee.
“I thought that too, to be quite honest.” Dominic nodded, taking a bite of his banana pancake soaked in maple syrup.
“I’ve been wondering what’s your great grandma’s name, again, Romanov?” Grayson asked, looking quite inquisitive.
Romanov frowned. “Yvette Wynbrook.”
I froze.
“Yvette Wyn-brook…Brook-Wyn. Yvette Brookwyn. Oh my God. It was right in front of us. How could we have not seen this? We could have…we could have —”
“Oh shit,” Grayson hissed, the revelation hitting him in the head. “The kid was dating your great grandmother!”
“Stop, Olivia. We couldn’t stop whatever had to happen,” Matthew spoke up, his comfortingly soft tone making me look at him with wide, vulnerable eyes. The other two men beside him shifted in their seats as well, clearly uncomfortable with the melancholic expression I must have on my face right now.
Slowly, Romanov’s hand found mine under the table, and I felt myself relax. Shuffling closer to him, I nodded. “I can’t help but feel so guilty.”
“We all do,” Romanov mumbled as he pulled me closer. “But we have to focus on how we can put a stop to this now, to bring justice to River and everyone around us.”
“Bring justice to yourself too,” Matthew added, smiling.
“Right.” Romanov grinned back at his best friend.
“How did you figure it out, though?” Dominic asked me. His question seemed quite sudden. Like he had contemplated whether to ask me or not.
“I was viewing the videos with Michael when he asked me if River was a bit mental. That’s when I noticed how he was behaving in the footages. Like he had company. But there was no one there quite obviously. Michael hadn’t seemed to know that River has…you know. So, I changed the topic. I asked Michael if Sophia hadn’t told him. He clearly refused to know a Sophia at all. I thought Sophia was his sister. I’d even asked her when he had mentioned his sister works at the castle and is mute. He doesn’t know Sophia at all.”
“What if he’s lying?” Grayson shrugged, looking around at all of us at the table.
I shook my head. “He showed me his family photographs. And his sister has been on maternity leave for a few months now.”
“Who, Mary?” Grayson asked, his eyebrows arching up in surprise. “Ah! That could have been my kid.” He shuddered. “Thank God!”
I couldn’t help but gape at the man in contempt. “For a while there I’d forgotten what a vagina predator you are. Thanks for reminding me of how we first met.”
“Wait, how’d you first meet?” Romanov suddenly demanded, and everyone at the table, except for Alexander, straightened in their seats.
“Ah! He was kissing a girl, and I bumped into him,” I said, nervously chuckling as I waved my hands in front of me dismissively. “So! It has been established who Sophia is. But how is she able to materialise a body? Is Sophia really just Yvette, or is Yvette’s spirit taking advantage of Sophia’s body?”
“So basically, you’re asking if Sophia is a human being possessed? Or if Sophia is a ghost demon with superior materialising skills?” Grayson said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“She’s possessed. Viktoria said she has been possessed for a very long time. She and Yvette have been one for almost as long as the girl has lived. Yvette won’t be able to get separated from the Sophia now. If we try, the girl will die,” Dominic explained quietly, his serious
voice, now quite low.
“Oh my God, that’s so sad!” I gasped, shifting uncomfortably in my seat as I thought of how to get rid of Yvette. We had a clear villain now. We could now see who it was we were fighting. We could actually win now.
“Wait.” I stopped. “Who’s Viktoria?”
Everybody froze in their seats, remaining silent for a second before Alexander smiled. “That would be Luna Viktoria, Alpha Lyam’s mate.”
My eyes widened. “Alpha Lyam has a mate? And she’s gifted with this as well? Wow, what a well-matched pair.”
Alexander’s smile turned into a grin. “I think so, too.”
“Now for the most important question,” I said and cleared my throat. “What do we do?”
“Didn’t your sweet Edika tell you something to help us out?” Grayson sighed, almost dropping his hand onto the table.
I sneered at the man. “Shut up. She doesn’t speak much, and when she does, it’s hard to understand her.”
“Stop irritating her, Gray,” Romanov said sternly as he patted my hand sweetly.
“We’re getting nowhere,” I groaned, running my fingers through my hair frustratingly.
Dominic straightened in his seat. “Okay, okay! So, the plan goes a bit like this…”
~
I had a dream last night.
In it, I was smiling.
There were palm trees swaying behind me, and
When I woke up, the taste of the sea was on my tongue and it still lingered.
I was smiling.
That feels like such a distant memory.
These days I am barely aware of my own actions.
My consciousness comes, and it goes
Whenever she is here, I disappear.
I disappear to…somewhere else. Somewhere where there is nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I fear as she continues to use me as a vessel,
I will slowly deteriorate.
My husband refuses to listen, after she leaves (which is so rare these days) he seems to dislike my own personality more and more.
Sometimes I wish for death to take me.
Sometimes I wish to disappear and never come back.
But my child, however, I cannot leave.
Her using me as a vessel is not normal.
To her mate she is herself but her soul recognises no one else