Page 102 of Twisted
“What?”I ask, shaking my head.Xavier’s hand lands on my shoulder and he ushers me across the street so we’re walking next to the cemetery.
The light gets brighter.
My breath comes out in ragged huffs and I stare at the stone in my hands, too scared to look up.It gets brighter the second we step foot on the cemetery grounds.
“Maybe…maybe they live behind the graveyard,” I rush out.“Or they’re caretakers and live on the grounds.”
“Maybe,” Xavier says.
I swallow hard and watch the light take on a reddish hue as we go row after row through the graves.
“No,” I whisper as the light changes from a soft yellow glow to blood red.“No.”My heart feels like it’s going to fall out of my chest but I shake my head in denial, braining running a million miles a minute with reasons why they could be here and be alive.
“Wren, wait.”Xavier’s hands go to my shoulders, trying to stop me.He can see in the dark and I can’t, and he sees it before I do.I keep going, watching the red light glow brighter and brighter.I jerk my head up, eyes madly trying to adjust.
The crystal falls out of my hand, and I think I might throw up when the names on the graves come into focus.
Felicity & David Blackwood: In memory of a life so beautifully lived, love so deeply shared, and spirit so deeply missed.
Francine Blackwood: Gone from this world but forever in our hearts.
And then the ground goes out from under me when I read the engraving on the tombstone at the end.It’s the biggest of the three, standing tall with intricate stars and moons engraved along it.
Florence Blackwood: If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.
“Wren,” Xavier breathes and I whirl around, staring at him with tears in my eyes.The crystal still glows red, casting an eerie light around us.
“The spell,” I start, but my voice dies in my throat.
“The spell worked,” he says, voice low.“But they’re gone.And I am sorry.”
Tears blur my vision and I turn, staring at the three gravestones in front of me, anger and sadness building and bubbling inside of me.I ball my hands into fists, nails digging into my palms.Everything I was desperately clinging to doesn’t just fall to the ground.It falls with a heavy thud, reverberating throughout the entire cemetery.
“No,” I whisper and tears roll down my cheeks.“No.No!”
Everything I was told has been a lie.I was ripped from my family and my parents and aunt were brutally murdered—for what?The Order couldn’t even replicate my powers because they can’t be replicated.I was born a witch.It’s not something you can choose to become or not become.
The truth had been told to me but I didn’t accept it because I didn’t want to.I didn’t want to accept that the people who raised me—who claimed to love me—could be this cruel.They used me with no guilt.They looked into my eyes every single fucking day and lied with ease.They never cared if I was happy or that I lived the life I wanted.All they cared about was what they could get from me.
They were never my family.
I drop to my knees, rage burning inside me.I let out a scream of frustration and betrayal, hands landing on the soft grass beneath me as I pitch forward.Something snaps inside of me as I scream, and I send a blast out of me, resonating from deep inside my chest.It rustles the leaves on the nearby trees and rumbles the ground beneath us.
The dew on the grass starts to vibrate and then rises into the air, glowing red from the light coming off the crystal.It looks like blood hanging in the air, pulsing along with each beat of my broken heart.I can feel Xavier behind me, giving me space but staying nearby.
I dig my nails into the ground, grabbing fistfuls of grass.Another sob escapes me, and I slump to the side.The dew falls like rain, pittering down in one gentle whoosh.And then suddenly, everything is wrong.I get to my feet and wipe my eyes, feeling like my chest is too tight and I can’t get in any air.The red glow is too much, shining on the graves like it’s laughing at me.
“I…I…” I clutch my chest and Xavier comes over.“I need a minute,” I rush out and start to stagger away, eyes brimming with more tears that I don’t try to hold back.The devastation gives way to rage with each step and I finally pause, a good hundred yards away, and perch on the top of a flat tombstone to catch my breath.
My phone vibrates in my sweater pocket, and I get it out, expecting to see a text from Xavier, telling me that I get five minutes before he comes to get me.But it’s not him; it’s my Antonio.I quickly open the text and am stunned by what I read.
Buck and Gavin’s bodies were just found
Holy shit.What happened?
Like you don’t know
What?Why would I know?I haven’t seen them since that night at Maria Elena’s
