Page 6 of Unraveled
I never expected a warm welcome from my sister. We are far from a loving duo, but still... “What are you saying?” I straighten where I stand and let the mask of indifference fall over my face. It’s better than glaring at both of them like I want to.
“You’re supposed to be the sensible one, Mia, but with every passing day, you become more reckless.”
I stiffen as pain blooms in my chest. It takes extreme self-control to resist reaching for my amulet. I crave the calm it provides me. “I saw the beast heading this way and wanted to make sure you were alright...”
Irene’s eyes soften, but the tightening in her lips warns me she’s about to say something I won’t like. “You shouldn’t be out during the blood moon when a beast is on the prowl. Have you thought about what would happen to me if it hurt you?” She shakes her head, wiping her shiny forehead with her forearm.“You can’t stop a beast so powerful with your trickery and illusions.”
My cheeks warm and my gaze flashes back to Skylar, and to his growing smirk. Thankfully, my ire dampens whatever sadness lingers inside me.
“Can you blame me?” I whisper, hoping only she can hear. “We lost our father a year ago to a beast right outside.”
The building shakes again, and the faint sound of screaming in the distance pierces the weird silence around us.
“That’s hardly an excuse,” Irene says as she glances apologetically at Skylar. “I’ll get her into my room and be right back.”
I pull away from her. “I can help you strengthen your wards to buy you enough time to leave this building before it collapses. That’s why I came here.”
“You think we would let the veil fall?” Skylar scoffs, already moving toward the screaming. “I keep telling the mayor the librarian program is useless, a waste of our city’s resources. This proves my point.”
Irene reaches for my arm again and tries to pull me in the other direction, but I don’t move. I’m not hiding in a room waiting for the beast to take her away, even if she treats me like I’m a blight on her life.
“Mia, I can’t deal with you right now. I won’t let the beast tear down the veil or everyone will die,” Irene says past tight lips. But then she pauses, looking at me with something akin to hope shining behind her eyes. “Unless... you can use one of those new spells you’ve been learning to stop it?”
Skylar freezes mid-stride and slowly turns to face me.
Oh. I shouldn’t have told her about the grimoires when we met for dinner last month.
I take one long step away. “No.”
“You can, can’t you?” She shortens the distance between us, and her previously closed expression lights up. “You told me you were learning them to defend us in an emergency, Mia. This is it! I need you.”
“No,” I repeat, and my skin crawls under the cotton layers of my dress. It’s true I’m learning from the forbidden texts in case I need a powerful enchantment to protecther. But somehow, this doesn’t feel like my choice, more like being pressured to attack rather than defend.
“I can’t use those spells out in the open, or to harm any living creature. Only in a self-defense situation. I never said I would attack a beast.”
“You can wield such a spell?” Skylar drawls, suddenly back to where he’d been standing before.
Golden magic weaves around us, thicker now, and invisible to their eyes.
Panic grips me tighter, but I force my gaze away from the walls. “Even if I can, I won’t. Not unless it’s in self-defense.”
“The beasts that took Father will be upon us tonight if you don’t, Mia,” Irene says, those big brown eyes I can’t say no to wide. “The one flying above us is breaking our only defense against them. There’s no extra energy we can tap to rebuild the veil. If he breaks it, it will stay broken until the blood moon passes.”
I swallow and plead with her without words, but the walls of my resolve are crumbling brick by brick.
“The Wild Hunt is coming. Imagine all the families that will lose it all, like we did. These are people onlyyoucan help.”
I shake my head, but I know deep inside, she already won. Hate now flows in my veins, even as memories of my father’s smile, how it brought crinkles to the corners of his eyes, warm my insides. The morning before the beast took him from us, he’dpromised me a game of scribbles that night. He was smart, like my sister, and also worked in this building.
The scientists protect the city, while I foolishly guard the ancient spells of long-forgotten races. My vision blurs, and I take a sharp breath to calm myself.
My job in this city is worthless, I’ve been worthless, but tonight I can be different...
“Doesn’t Father deserve justice?” Irene reaches for my hand, and I wipe rogue tears from my face with the other, still holding my amulet.
“Yes, he does.” And there it is, the real reason I borrowed forbidden writings. I almost forgot it in my panic. He deserves my vengeance.
Tonight, I will break my vows and use a forbidden spell to stop him.
