Page 39 of Hellfire to Come
And I didn’t know how to do that. Not yet.
So, I walked. I had no choice.
Every step echoed with strange whispers, little chants in a language I didn’t know but understood anyway. The words felt like needles. Ancient. Accusing. Familiar.
“Unworthy.”
“Weak.”
“Replaceable.”
“She’ll leave you next.”
Brooklyn’s name flared in my chest, a warmth amid the chill. That anchor. That tether. That one true goddamn thing. I clung to the feeling of her hand in mine. Not real, but real enough. If this place was trying to strip me of everything, it would have to pry that bond from my cold dead fingers.
And they were cold.
My fingers.
My arms.
My heart.
I stopped in front of a mirror. It stretched ceiling to floor, framed in black veins. My reflection smiled at me before I did.
“Oh no,” I whispered. “No, no, no.”
She was beautiful, the girl in the mirror. Too smooth. Too poised. Not me. Her eyes were molten gold, not brown. Her grin was all teeth and promise. Her voice was mine, but cracked open.
“You’re unraveling,” she said, tilting her head. “Finally.”
I shook mine. “No. This isn’t…”
“Real?” she offered. “It is. It’s the only thing that is. The rest is borrowed time. You’re a house built on someone else’s blueprints. But me? I’m the foundation. The root. The truth. You just haven’t let go yet.”
She reached for me, palm to mirror, like she wanted to climb out.
I backed away, breath catching.
Magic coiled in my gut again, this time surging like it wanted to answer her call. I choked. It hurt. My knees gave way and I crumpled to the ground, hands fisting the illusion of carpet.
“Why are you fighting?” she asked, kneeling in the mirror now, eyes soft. “Wouldn’t it be easier to stop and become what you were meant to be?”
Because of Brooklyn.
Because of Dominic.
Because of all of them.
I wanted to scream it, but no voice came out when I opened my mouth.
I was more than a vessel. More than a crack to be filled.
“No,” I whispered. “You don’t get to take my life from me. Not after everything.”
The girl in the mirror frowned. “Then I’ll have to burn it out.”
The walls caught fire.
