Page 116 of Creatures of Chaos

“That’s where you are wrong. When the dagger crosses into the human world, its powers will be unleashed. It won’t need to be activated. It won’t be bonded to any one being. I can do with it what I please.”

“You’re foolish if you think you can control Shadow Striker,” Talon speaks up.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Kerrim snaps.

“The dagger isn’t meant for that world. It’s too powerful there,” Talon tries again, but his protests fall on deaf ears.

“Now that you know the facts,” Kerrim says, completely ignoring Talon, “the time has come.” He lifts the blade, holding it out to me. “Take the dagger, Locklyn.”

I quickly back away. “I’m nottouchingthat thing.”

Kerrim’s lips purse. “I’ve spent almost an entire lifetime orchestrating this moment. Let me assure you, before this night is out youwillactivate this dagger.”

I shake my head. “I won’t.”

“We’ll see about that.”

There’s an ominous note to his voice that adds to my unease. Kerrim takes out his phone, taps the screen a few times, and then hands it over to me. “I didn’t want it to come to this, but you’ve left me no choice.”

I reluctantly take it from him, and then put a few feet of distance between us before looking at it. What’s on the screen makes my heart sink. It’s a video feed of my parents sleeping in their bed.

“How do you have this, and why are you showing it to me?” With a sinking feeling, I remember when he came over to help my parents install a new security system. Did he plant cameras in our apartment at the same time? He’s obviously skilled with electronics. All the trials except one have been broadcasted, and from what I can tell, he’s not working with anyone else. And what else might he have done in our apartment while he was there? It’s not as if my parents wouldn’t have left him alone. He’s an old friend.

“I’ve had a long time to prepare. Take the dagger, Locklyn, or I’ll release a gas into your home that will kill both of your parents.”

Fury rises up inside. I trusted him. My parents trusted him, and now he’s threatening their lives?

“Or rather, your adoptive parents,” he adds with a smirk.

It doesn’t matter if what he said about me being a human rather than a creature is true or not. My mom and dad are my parents.Period. Losing them would kill me. I’d never recover from it, especially if there were something I could have done to prevent it.

Kerrim holds the dagger out again. “Activate the dagger so I can leave this world and you can go back to your life. It won’t cost you anything.”

“Freckles, don’t do this,” Talon says, and when I look over at him the grave look on his face makes my stomach roil. “You don’t know everything.”

“Shut up,” Kerrim snaps, but Talon ignores him, his gaze never wavering from mine.

“I’m bonded to Shadow Striker. If you activate the dagger, it will kill me.”

Shock vibrates throughout me, and I freeze. My body goes hot, then cold, then numb.

This whole time Talon has been bonded to Shadow Striker? How did I not know?

As the shock fades, it’s replaced by clarity, and as if a veil has been lifted, everything about Talon starts to make a sick sort of sense. How his magic never seemed to fit into a specific creature species. The real reason he was always so secretive. Why he’s been almost desperate to win Chaos.

The truth has been staring me in the face since the beginning, but I was just too blind to see it.

“Kill you?”

Talon nods. “Shadow Striker can only be tethered to a single being at once. If the bond is severed because it’s been activated by someone else, it will kill the other creature. If you take that dagger its magic will transfer from me to you, and I won’t survive.”

I stare back at Talon, desperate for him to tell me he’s lying, because now I’m faced with an impossible choice: kill Talon or let my parents die.

I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do.

“I’m sorry,” he says, and I can see the apology shining from his blue-gray eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Don’t you trust me?”

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