Page 80 of Zero Happily Ever Afters

It reminded me of how the chimera collected branches, hoarding them like a dragon. Amara did the same, devilish in her own right, and she had dropped Milo into an ocean.

“I must clean up this mess now.” Her voice carried disgust for Theodore’s carnage, yet the bone staff’s magics flickered and extended the range and ferocity of Oceanic Collapse. “Because of you, I have to contend with this crowd. I’ll likely need to clear away the entire city since you chose to throw a tantrum.”

“No,” Theodore hissed. “You can’t do that.”

He held contempt for Amara’s threat. Not at the idea of her slaughtering the nearly three million people who called Chicago their home. No. It offended Theodore how she dared to take away his goal, his dream, his vision of a burning city. It was his destiny to destroy it. To stand in the rubble, to kick the ashes of corpses, to smile down at his dying father after besting him in his own home.

And with one slam of the staff, The True Witch cast a ripple across the entire campus. Water raged into the minds of everyone.

Gladiatrix and Enchanter Diaz rose to the top, fighting the currents the hardest before tidal waves swept them away.

Chanelle’s mind called out, a beacon of friendship, as she swam through the torrents of despair.

Every staff, student, and audience member’s mind crashed into each other, trapped so closely in this sea of sorrow, but utterly alone in the depths of water so powerful no mind could escape.

Even Theodore’s unconscious crew had their thoughts struck by the dark waters.

The True Witch’s branch offered mercy to none, preparing to wash away the lives of every person in Chicago after she finished off those who dwelled at Gemini Academy.

One by one, I found my students’ minds, wishing I could help them. Carter Howe. Jennifer Jung. Yaritza Vargas. Layla Smythe. Caleb…

I stopped looking for them. I’d already failed them. I couldn’t continue… I couldn’t bear watching my homeroom coven gasp and drown while trapped inside their own heads.

With Milo dying…

With everything falling apart…

With The Sisters Three tearing apart my mind…

I had nothing to offer the world, nothing but more failure. Unable to witness another second, I collapsed into the depths of my own subconscious, desperate to become lost in the abyss of darkness where maybe I’d forget everything, and all these deaths wouldn’t haunt me.

“This is where you choose to hide,” the light lilted voice asked, diving into my subconscious.

“He’s so tragic,” the raspy-voiced sister added.

Both carried a white radiance from their forms, illuminating the shadows of my hidden depths.

“Please.” I fought back tears. “Please just kill me.”

I wanted to die first. I knew this was the end, that this was the worst possible outcome to a future that even Milo hadn’t seen coming. There was no victory here. There was no breaking the hold of thousands trapped under the heavy weight of OceanicCollapse. There was no resisting The Sisters Three who’d outmaneuvered me. But if I died first… I wouldn’t have to hear everyone else’s demise. I wouldn’t have to carry that sadness.

“But you should carry it,” the stern-voiced sister spat her words. “Perhaps we should carry you with us.”

What?

“Ooooh, his form is cute,” the light lilted voiced sister squealed.

“He looks like he requires a lot of upkeep,” the raspy-voiced sister turned up her nose at the idea of possessing me.

Wait.I heard her thoughts.

They’d spent so much time professing their superiority, easily overwhelming me and keeping their minds secured from my telepathy. Yet now… Now, the raspy sister’s thoughts rang loudly against my magic.

Her name was Lachesis, one of many names she held but a personal favorite she’d had over the course of history. She didn’t want to abandon her current host, having finally organized the mind exactly to her liking, and she found my head disgraceful for a supposed psychic. But she knew her sister, Atropos, had a familiar glint in her gaze, a vengeful stare. Guess that was why her voice always sounded stern and aggressive. Atropos considered any slight an absolute offense and would demand recompense.

I’d offended her?

Because I had the audacity to ask for a merciful death, she’d keep me locked inside my head for the next century just to spite me.

---