Page 102 of Ashes

“What the fuck is even happening?” Sin muttered.

“Good things,” I said, smiling. “Finally. Good things.”

SIRENA

Ifelt so weird inside my head. Inside my own body. It was like a prison I couldn’t escape. In the darkness, I could hear Seth calling me to me. Reminding me. Begging me.

And Stitches.

He’d been lost in the dark too.

He’d made me feel good once he’d found me. He’d made me want to wake up. He’d hurt me though. All of the watchers had. If I woke up, I’d just be hurt again.

“Rinny, come on,” Seth begged through the blackness I surrounded myself in.

I had no idea if it was day or night. I just knew I didn’t want another shot. I didn’t want to feel the way the evil wizard had made me feel.

“You have to come back. We’re running out of time. We’re a fucking experiment. I may be destined to be a lab rat, but you’re not. Come on, Rinny! It’ll be scary, but I promise we’ll be OK. Just. . . trust me, OK?”

Trust him. Seth.

“You can trust me,” he called out.

The pressure on my hand moved to my face. He was cradling my face.

I wanted to pull away as much as I wanted to lean into him.

I missed him.

My best friend.

“Let me save you. I owe this to you.” His warmth radiated through me as his body touched mine.

I retreated deeper into the darkness to a memory long forgotten. A light. Hope. Seth’s soft voice begging me fading as I embraced the old memory.

“I don’t want to play dolls.” Seth looked at me, his bottom lip jutted out, my doll in his hand. “Can’t we just play pirates?”

“Pirates aren’t pretty, silly.” I giggled, brushing my dolly’s hair with the brush Mommy had given me for her. Daisy. That was this one’s name.

Seth sighed and flopped down across from me on my bedroom floor. “Can I at least be a boy doll?”

“I don’t have a boy doll,” I said, blinking at him. I’d never thought to ask for one from Mommy and Daddy. Girl dollies were far prettier than boy dollies. Maybe I’d ask for one for my seventh birthday.

“Rinny, I don’t like playing pretend with dolls.” He pushed the doll away from him and frowned. “Can’t we please play pirates?”

I squinted my eyes at him, contemplating his request. Seth always did lots of nice things for me. This would make him happy.

“OK. But promise I can be a nice pirate?”

His face lit up as he got to his feet and held his hand out to me. “You can be a princess. I’ll be a pirate.”

“I can be a princess?”

I took his hand, and he pulled me to my feet. I wasted no time as I danced happily around him, making him laugh as our hands fell away from one another.

“I’ll kidnap you, Rinny. You’ll have an evil stepfather. He’ll hurt you.”

I stopped dancing and stared at Seth. “I will? What about Daddy?”

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