Page 367 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

Chapter 52

Jinx

GUARDIAN

Rebirth—Day 58, hour 3

One week earlier

The clock struck 3:00 a.m.

It was the morning of the final showcase.

Today I’d be competing.

I lay rigid on top of the bed.

Warren the ferret nuzzled his face against my cheek to try to comfort me. He was wrapped around my neck like a scarf, the position he always took when he was trying to offer support.

I didn’t pet him.

“Arabella Alis Egan must earn her wings today,” the Angel Consciousness said loudly in my head. “The council has been impressed with her performance, but she needs to sacrifice more. They are still worried that she is too much like her mother.”

I rolled my eyes and thought back, I know.

People annoyed me, but the voice in my head—that had been bothering me since I’d agreed to be Aran’s guardian—made me downright homicidal.

The bed bounced underneath me from the force of my tremors.

In thirteen years of life, I’d never slept.

I’d never known a single night of peace.

How could I?

Invisible metal cuffs were cold and heavy on my wrists. Layered with dark enchantments that emitted electric shocks, the hardware kept me in perpetual pain. Every. Single. Night.

The only consolation was they failed to fully serve their purpose.

The cuffs were supposed to keep me docile.

I wasn’t.

I’d describe myself as truculent, ornery, and bumptious.

Never docile.

Unfortunately, my jailer recognized this.

When Dick had looked at me across the arena a few weeks ago, he must have seen something in my carefully crafted expression that he didn’t like.

The pain at night was getting worse.

He’d turned up the voltage.

Now I convulsed on the bed. Twitched. Trembled in silence.

If my jaw weren’t aching from electric pulses, I would have grinned.

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