Page 228 of The Blairville Legacies

“No...” I said shakily and pulled my hands back into my robe so that no one else could see.

As soon as my hands were no longer in the air, the ash shot in all directions, and finally it slowly rained down on us, making the temple look more peaceful than the situation was.

Vivienna dodged behind a pillar.

I stared motionlessly at the altar. My whole body was shaking, and I couldn’t tell whether it was because of the cold around my heart or because of what was about to happen.

With a growing emptiness inside, I stood in the rain of ashes.

“Vivienna, I want you to go.”

A moment later I heard Vivi’s footsteps, then a door sliding loudly across the stone floor until it had closed.

Gloria was still standing behind me without saying a word. She must be seething inside, but if anyone could control her emotions, it was her. As long as she wanted to...

I tried not to focus on her, but on my trembling hands. I wanted to preventanything worsefrom happening.

Very briefly, I had felt what I had felt last week. The feeling that something had to break out of me without me having any control over it.

I felt a hand on my shoulders and flinched as Gloria forced me to turn around. A thousand images flashed through my head.

“Hold still, stupid girl!”

I squinted my eyes. It didn’t help, I still saw him with his ugly skull tattoo on his neck, the fake smile, the pain.

My stomach tightened.

“Should I tell Mommy you’re crying again?”

“No!”I sobbed.

He came closer and put his hand on my chest.

I felt sick.

“What’s wrong with you, Julie Blair?!”

Gloria snapped me back to the present. Her hands clawed lightly into my upper arm and I suppressed the rising pain. It wasn’t half as bad as what was going on in my head, eating me up,devouringme.

Gloria grabbed me and dragged me to the huge temple entrance. With a swift movement of her hand, the two massive doors opened, and she pulled me through the hallway into the room to the right: Her office. There she pushed me down on the leather-upholstered chair and closed the door which made the candles flicker. Then she fetched a glass vial of white cloudy liquid and poured it into a glass. She pushed it toward me.

“No...” I shook my head.

“Drink it!” she said tensely. But I refused. “Drink it,Julie Blair, or he’ll have control over you!”

I looked up at her, startled. Memories flooded my head.

She’s standing in the doorway, handing him money.

“You have your duty to fulfill, and anything that prevents you from doing so must be eliminated!”

Little did she know that this wasn’t helping, that it hadn’t been helping for a while and that she couldn’t make me function anymore.

I was broken and all she was trying to do was cover it up.

She only had the prophecy in mind, the fact that Grace was the chosen one and that I, as an Air Quatura, existed to protect her. I had no more value than that.

She didn’t know how much I would love to just forget everything, but this timeeverything...forever.

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