Page 19 of Villainous Greed

I let Odin lead me away while I said to August. “Don’t forget those movies, okay?”

August gripped my wrist and tried pulling me to him. “Nova.” The plea in his voice made my throat burn and my eyes water. “Just let me take the bands off.”

“Please, August.” Cloud smacked August’s grip on me. “I don’t want Nova to get in trouble. We will come again tomorrow.”

Cloud’s panic only seemed to make August worse. With a hiss, August let go of me and pulled at his hair before punching the tree beside him. I couldn’t understand his frightening behavior, but I didn’t think he was targeting us.I didn’t fear him. Given the many times I’d killed him, he’d never once—Oh, Hades.My vision blurred from tears when the realization hit me. I was the destructive one. August had hurt none of us, but I kept hurting him. Attacking others was all I knew.

Swallowing the disgust in my throat, I whispered. “Give me time.”To take the risk, and to trust you,were the things I left unsaid. “I’m scared,” I admitted as the first tear slid down my cheek.

He nodded vehemently as he followed behind us. “I know, Nova, I know you are. But Ineedyou to be safe. Are you going to be okay? Just don’t go, Nova. I can find you guys a protected home. I’ve been dying each day to see you for a couple of minutes. What’s dying again to take off those bands and keep you safe forever?” he asked.

Wiping my face with the hand Odin wasn’t pulling, I turned away from August.

I was terrified to trust someone other than myself. But there was an equal pain in August’s gaze as he begged me not to go, and it looked an awful lot like fear.As if the thought of something bad happening to me was devastating to him. But that couldn’t be right. August didn’t know me, and I hardly understood why he kept coming there, facing my wrath.

Why did August keep returning to someone like me?

____

“Where have you been?” Derrick stepped out of his cottage. I tensed as he neared, my body naturally bracing itself for a hit that never came.

“We were at the river,” I said.

Good thing our clothes were still damp.

Derrick’s gaze swept over me before softening. When he placed his hand at the nape of my neck, bile rose in my throat. “I need you to drop whatever you’re doing when I command you to me. Someone broke through my barrier today.”

My stomach lurched at his words. Did August follow us?

“It was Harvest,” Derick said, scowling. “The one who seeks you. Now, more than ever, I need you to be a good girl and behave. No one can destroy him, and I know what he is after. I won’t allow him to kill you.”

When Derrick placed his lips against mine, I shoved him away.

“Why would someone I’ve never met want to kill me?” I asked, wiping my mouth before I could think better of it.

Jaws tightening, Derrick grabbed me by the hair hard enough that Odin yelled for him to stop.

“Shut up. Iwill kill you without hesitation.” Derrick warned Odin while he petted my hair, then pressed his nose against my neck. I shuddered as fear crawled up my spine. “You’ve worn your hair down the last few days. It’s nice.” I closed my lids and squeezed my hands into fists. When I tried to call my magic forth, to use against him, it failed me. He would never allow me to hurt him with it, after all. He heldallthe power over me. “Harvest wants you, my sweet child, because you’re the key to the apocalypse.”

Chapter Eight

August

I walked through the woods that night. My fears kept me from leaving. It wasn’t until Grim faded and brought me home before I left. But it was only for a few hours. Long enough for my parents to fall asleep. I went back to that awful place. The protection ward in that foul place wouldn’t let me reach Nova and the others. Like Nova said, I tried following them, but lost them within minutes. One second, they were in front of me, then the next, they were gone. It drove me insane. I couldn’t sleep. All I could do was yell and kick my frustration out on that stupid tree I’d marked to keep up with where I’d been hours ago. No matter how much I ventured into the woods, I kept ending up in the same spot.

I didn’t know if they were okay because I couldn’t get to them. I never knew an irrationality like that. A mindless terror that kept me from doing anything but wait for Nova’s return.

Something had changed between Nova and me. I didn’t know what it was exactly. I just knew she was the one thing in life I needed. If she’d let me free her… Greed would let everything else go. I knew it in my heart. The quietness that existed there.The only beats my heart and curse gave were their desire to take Nova.

While resting, I heard them approaching as I leaned against the tree. Jumping up, I checked my clothes for dirt stains, then wondered why I bothered. Nova probably didn’t know how handsome I was. Despite her worn raggedy dress, beauty would never draw her in, even though she embodied the very definition of it. Being filthy didn’t hide the lovely tone of her skin and the unique pink spots that covered one of her eyes and parts of hand and neck that I could see. It was impossible to disguise beauty like that, no matter what covered it.

When I popped around the tree, all five of them were there. Nova’s curls were already down and frizzy. The tension I’d had through the night drained out of my shoulders as I walked toward them. Nova’s gaze roamed over me. “Did you not leave?” she asked. I wasn’t aware Nova paid attention to me enough to know I wore the same clothes.

“Are you okay?” I asked instead. Her face dropped and she tensed.

I couldn’t help but notice the odd way Odin and the others tensed at my question. “What is it?”

“Someone broke through the barrier searching for me,” Nova said.

---