Page 144 of Stone Temptation

Disappointing, was I? To him. To my parents. Probably to Finn. And to myself.

Roll up, roll up! Check out the embodiment of disappointment right here. But don’t feed the beast. Keep away from the bars. He might bite.

“Luke…” Asher tried.

A violent tide, an awakened ocean storm ready to take everything.

“I hate this,” I whispered, rage ebbing once again. “I hate all this hurting. Why can’t it go? Why can’t it drown? I’m ready for it to drown.”

“Luke, calm down,” Asher said. “Please calm down.”

But my next words exploded from the depths. “You saved the wrong brother!”

I had no idea where it came from, or why I even said it. But the leak was unstoppable, the pain a rapid in full flow.

Finn.

I want my Finn.

My heart shattered like a vase dropped onto marble floors, memories spinning, grief’s roots choking the hope out of me again and again.

“You saved the wrong fucking brother!” I screamed from the diaphragm, hunching over to expel every drop of anguish.

“Luke!” Asher cried.

The thunderous boom of waves crashing into shore, the stormy swell of angry seas, water everywhere, drowning my eyesight, my soul, my life.

Claiming me. Waking me up.

Breaking it free.

THIRTY-THREE

Asher

Luke collapsed on all fours. Milky liquid pooled beneath his palms, spreading quickly across the floor. I crouched beside him, his body cold, rigid as stone.

“What’s happening?”

Seth squatted on the other side of him. “I can fix this.”

“Fix what?”

More of the weird liquid leaked from Luke’s mouth, his eyes, even his ears in rapid rivulets.

“By the gods…”

“He’s breaking,” Seth hissed.

“Breaking what?”

He didn’t elaborate.

“What the fuck is happening?”

A vial of milky white-and-green liquid appeared in Seth’s hand, as if by magic. “Get him on his back.” He shook it, mixing the two parts together.

“What for? What’s that?”

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