Page 27 of Splitting Secrets
I know because I can feel it, too. She’s opened the floodgates of her emotions, pouring them into me until I’m completely overcome by them. My muscles shake with fury, ears pounding to the beat of my racing heart.
“You stupid bitch,” the smaller man seethes when she kicks her foot out and it connects with his shin.
“Just fucking do it!” the other yells as she flails around in his arms. He tightens his hold, wrapping his meaty muscles across her whole chest until she can hardly move.
My blood boils at the sight, and I know the heightened emotion is from her siphoning her anger and betrayal toward me. I have to shut her out before she completely burns me out.
The smaller man raises his arm, and I notice the glint of metal shining off his headlamp.
It’s a knife.
“Stop!” I command uselessly.
“Are you watching, red?” he calls over his shoulder with a chuckle. “Wouldn’t want you to miss the show. It’s in your honor, after all,” he teases.
Matilda has begun humming some sort of chant. In the low lamplight, I can see that her eyes have darkened, her expression growing tighter.
As the man steps forward with the blade, her voice becomes louder, and I realize she’s speaking a completely different language.
I understand then that it’s not a chant, it’s a curse.
The man frowns in confusion, his steps faltering. The bigger one mumbles something, jostling Matilda enough that she stops speaking altogether. The small one takes another step forward, but just as his hand raises and the other man moves his arm out of the way to avoid being cut, Matilda screams.
“Tell your leaders their reckoning has finally arrived. The real Supreme has come to claim what’s hers. No one will be spared!”
The knife is swiped across her neck in one blink, and she instantly falls limp in the other man’s arms.
“No!” I screech, slamming my palms against the cool steel, as if it will melt away by sheer will.
Silence falls around us like a weighted blanket, but my ears are still ringing with Matilda’s rage. It festers inside me, desperately trying to settle and make a new home. Ava, Beatrix, and Jonah gawk at me with widened stares and slackened jaws as the shock of what happened settles in.
But I don’t give them more than a second of attention before my eyes are swinging back to the messy scene across from me. Blood spurts out of Matilda’s neck and dribbles down the front of her dress. The larger man releases his hold and tosses her to the ground, where she falls like a heavy sack of potatoes. His nose scrunches in disgust as he looks down at his chest, and his headlamp shines on the crimson stains across his button-down shirt.
“Get your shit together and grab her arms,” the other one directs. His hands are already wrapped around Matilda’s ankles, lifting them into the air.
Rage consumes me once again, crashing through my entire being like tidal waves lapping against one another. The ringing in my ears grows so loud, I smack my palms against the side of my head to try to muffle it, but even that doesn’t help. Squeezing my eyes shut, I twist my head and rock back and forth on the balls of my feet to release some of the energy building up inside of me.
I need to get it out. It’s going to consume me if I don’t.
Someone has started screaming.
The sound is echoing off the cavernous walls and bouncing back toward me. It grows louder with each passing second, though I can hardly make out the source.
I open my eyes to find the two men watching me with horrified expressions. The sconces mounted on the walls begin to flicker in and out, exposing the gory scene in greater detail. Their headlamps shine directly into my eyes, blinding me each time the lighting flicks off and darkness envelopes my cell.
“Fuck this,” the bigger guy mumbles, dropping Matilda. Her dead weight collapses to the ground once again, and another fit of rage bubbles in my chest.
They can’t treat her this way. She deserves more respect than this.
All of us do.
The two men practically sprint out of Matilda’s cell, their terror feeding the angry beast inside of me. It’s not until their forms disappear down the long, stone corridor that I feel myself settle. The flames blink out until we’re covered with that familiar, suffocating darkness. The ringing in my ears fades out, and I collapse onto the ground.
16
Raze
Brody and Niles failed to mention that the Syndicate had called an emergency meeting for all available active members. I walked into the hall expecting to only find the Supremes seated at their benches before an empty hall, and was shocked that nearly half the seats were filled with pinched faces.
