My stomach flips as I take the first efforts to open my eyes. The rain is so heavy now it’s almost deafening as it slams to Earth. My neck is stiff and my head spins as I keep trying to blink everything back into focus after my sudden and inexplicable need to sleep.
It’s cold. I’m soaked and shivering and as I lift my head, I find a face full of matted hair stuck to my cheek. Clara is still here, clinging to me and shivering twice as violently as I am. I raise my hand and rest it on the back of her head.
‘You’re okay,’ I tell her, rubbing my lips together to try and get some moisture into my tongue. My mouth is so dry and my words slur a little. ‘It’s okay,’ I say. ‘I’ve still got you.’
It strikes me, as I lift my head further and gradually recover my senses, that the cage is now empty. Only Clara and I remain huddled in the corner. Not only that, but the courtyard seems just as vacant. I look around, blinking the rain from my eyes, and struggle to stop everything hurtling wildly around me. Everything keeps fading in and out of focus as my ears ring. It kicks my sense of nausea into overdrive and it takes everything I have not to hurl. When I see that the cage door is wide open, I attempt to get myself up on my feet. Clara is as stiff as a rock and no matter how hard I try, I simply can’t get up with her on me like this.
‘Clara,’ I say gently in her ear, stroking her back. ‘Sweetie? Do you know what happened?’ I continue looking around. ‘Where is everyone?’ She doesn’t answer. I give myself a hard pinch, just to make sure that I’m not asleep or god forbid, stuck back in my mental prison. It all feels real, but then, it did before. What if I have lost my fight for control again? What if a white-haired, lilac-eyed monster now walks freely and I’m trapped in hell once more? I do the only thing I can, and act as if I am still in the cage. Still in peril. Still holding a little girl that needs saving.
‘I need to stand. I need you to let me go, just for a second.’
Her head shakes fervently from side to side.
‘I promise you, I will not leave you, okay? But I have to stand. We need to get out of here.’
I gently take hold of her hands and start prising them away from me. When I manage to get her face in view, I show her the best reassuring smile I can manage.
‘I’m right here, okay? You see the door to the cage?’ I guide her face to its direction. ‘It’s open. Which means we can leave. Would you like to leave?’
She nods and her body becomes less rigid. Using the bars as leverage, I pull myself up.
My eyes instantly settle on the platform up ahead, which is nothing more to me right now than a blur that shifts left to right through thick rainfall. Behind that, the central part of the castle is ablaze. The flames flicker high in the sky, ravenous and roaring with ferocity.
No matter how hard I blink, I can’t get myself right. It’s all blurry colours and shapes.
I push myself from the bars, get Clara to her feet and lead her out of the cage. It’s a welcomed relief to feel the soft mud on the soles of my feet instead of the metal. I look to the doors leading out of the courtyard and away from the castle. They’re ajar with blurred figures rushing past the gap. Sounds start to filter through my confusion, and it’s clear to me now that there’s a fight going on. Yelling and gunfire are muffled by the weather conditions and my own discombobulation, but I can definitely make it out. The ground trembles as explosions shake the very earth and dirt flies up over the stone walls like heavy and filthy rain. I take a few steps forwards before my feet meet with something solid. Looking down, I see a body. Beyond that, I see dozens more. Maybe hundreds. Blood, limbs and innards litter the ground. Clara pins herself to my hip and buries her face in my side. I scoop up a gun left beside the body of a Hunter and cock it, trying to decide where’s best to go. The castle is engulfed in fire. The exit is currently a battleground. I’m standing in a graveyard, without the luxury of the dead being buried, and despite knowing that I need to move, that I need to get this child out of here and find safety for us both, all I can focus on is that platform up ahead.
To our right, a loud crash draws our attention. I raise the gun and step between Clara and the door that has just been kicked off its hinges. The same door that we were herded out of not so long ago. Six men charge out and stop, making way for a group of prisoners in grey smocks to flee the smoke-filled corridor. They cough and gasp, thanking the men who have freed them. One of the men glances at us and takes a double look.
‘BABY GIRL?’ he cries out, sprinting towards us. ‘IS THAT YOU?’
‘DADDY!’ Clara screams hysterically, letting go of me and running as fast as she can towards the man. He’s calling her name and sprinting to meet her. He falls to his knees and pulls her into his arms, wailing with happiness and relief at having her back once more.
Billy Songer. The bastard.
Behind him, another man starts slowly walking towards us.
‘Lilly?’ Collins calls over, his hesitation and cautiousness clear. ‘Is… is that you?’
Collins tightens his hold on his pistol. I hadn’t noticed, but I still have mine raised and pointed straight at him. He’s remarkably pale and thin and I’m sure his hand is shaking.
‘You’re alive?’ he says. ‘H-how is that possible? Oh shit, you’re… are you Broken? Your hair and your left eye are-’
Another explosion shakes the ground and chunks of stone fly across the courtyard, rolling over the mud and slamming into the lifeless bodies.
‘Come with me!’ Collins calls over, heading closer. He stumbles over his feet and blinks rapidly. He looks drunk. ‘You need to get somewhere safe!’
‘What are you doing here?’ I shout back, standing straighter and keeping my weapon poised. He stops and holds up his hands. ‘Are you with Theo now? Or with Grayson?’
‘Grayson’s dead!’ he replies, glancing back as the others flee. Once they’re clear of the building and heading to the gate, he turns back to me. ‘We came to save the prisoners. To save Jensen and kill Theo. It’s a war zone, Lilly. Come with me!’
I turn to Clara and her dad. Billy Songer.
‘He can’t take her! He’s with Grayson!’ I point my weapon at the man who I watched obey Grayson and his deranged commands time and time again. Billy gets to his feet with her held fast in his arms. She clings to him, just as she clung to me.
‘Thank you, Lilly. For saving my girl.’
‘You’re with Grayson! You’re-’
‘He’s with us,’ Collins insists, stepping between us. ‘Put down the gun. Trust me.’
Clara’s weeping is heartbreaking and when another explosion rings out, I know that this is the last place she should be.
‘Get her out of here,’ I tell Billy. When he hesitates, I scream at him, ‘TAKE HER! GO! NOW!’
He nods and leaves, running like the devil is chasing him. All the while, he kisses the top of Clara’s head over and over.
They disappear through the gates. Then, slowly, I turn back to the platform.
‘Lilly,’ Collins tries once more, slurring his words a little. ‘We need to go!’
I lower the gun and start walking towards the platform, my feet dragging behind me. Collins has pulled out his phone and is frantically trying to call someone.
I don’t care.
My heart is hammering in my chest and a lead weight builds around my heart. Collins’ voice fades into the background, along with the chaos beyond the castle and the still falling rain.
I reach the bottom step of the platform and swallow as I look upwards.
I take the first step.
‘He’s not going to be there,’ I whisper.
I take the second step.
‘They got him out before they hurt him.’
I take the third step and see the floor of the platform and the legs of the table.
‘He’s looking for me.’
Another step and I can’t bring myself to look. I lower my gaze and watch my feet as I take another step.
‘He’s okay. He’s okay.’
I reach the platform and take a shaky breath before forcing my feet forwards, still failing to muster the courage to look up.
‘He’s okay.’
The wood is wet. Rain gathers in the uneven planks and creates little puddles.
‘He’s okay.’
My steps are small and each one is filled with dread.
‘He’s… He’s…’
My toes sink into a small puddle. The water that spills over them is red.
My breath gets stuck in my throat and my insides drop. I try to lift my head, but my body fails to co-operate. Instead, I just keep walking forwards. The next thing my toes meet is an arm.
A severed arm, lying on the floor just beside the leg of the table.
Now trembling and with fists clenched so tight I’ve pierced my skin with my fingernails, I lift my head.
As I let out a strangled sob, I instinctively raise my hands and cover my mouth and no matter how hard I try, I can’t look away.
Jensen. My dad.
He’s lying on his back with wide, lifeless eyes and an open mouth filled with blood and rainwater. His arm has been severed and now lies by my feet. His other arm has an axe still embedded in the shoulder. His stomach has been torn open, and his innards lie on his chest.
My body is still acting on its own. I start walking around the table, taking in the sight of the mutilated corpse of my father.
It’s his face that shocks me the most. The way it still holds his final moments of agony. I feel that his screams are still in the wind, howling around my ears.
Because I know this was done to him while he was still alive.
I stop at his side and slowly pull my hands away from my mouth. I reach out to him, brushing his long grey hair clear from his ghostly white face.
My dad.
Gone.
Taken.
He died, listening to the cheers and taunts of the Hunters that surrounded him.
He suffered. His whole life, he suffered. And his death was long, drawn-out, agonising and terrifying.
All he wanted was his family.
All I wanted was my family.
Gabriel. Did he die like this?
The man in grey, he’s taken my dad and my husband from me.
Theo.
He’s taken everything from all of us.
I grip the edge of the table. The wood groans beneath my grasp as I start to shake violently. My teeth are clenched so hard it hurts. Adrenaline courses through every inch of me and my blood pounds in my ears. All the pain and all the weakness in my body has gone, replaced now with a need for vengeance. A desire to see blood. To feel the life of my enemies leave their eyes and for my wrath to be the last thing they see.
‘Lilly?’ A familiar voice calls.
I flick up my eyes and see Tobias standing at the top of the stairs. When he sees me, he staggers back a little. His focus shifts from my one lilac eye to the ashen ends of my hair. He’s bloody and bruised with a gun in one hand and his black and white flames burning on his other. He’s aghast, looking at me like he sees a ghost.
‘How? I- I thought… we all thought… you’re alive?’ His hair is still dark brown, his eyes his natural shade, and as he looks from me to the mangled mess of my dad, he lets out a most human whimper. ‘Oh Lilly… Oh god! I’m so sorry. I thought… We tried to get here in time, I swear.’
Behind him, Collins lingers, looking anxiously between my dad and me.
‘Where. Is. Theo?’ I snarl.
‘Lilly. I know that you must be-’
‘WHERE?!’ I scream, making Tobias jump and stagger back.
‘We’re fighting him, Lilly. But our mission is to get these people to safety. He’s too strong to fight. There are too many Hunters protecting him!’ He takes a tentative step towards me, his hand still raised. ‘Let me get you out of here. We can figure this all out when we’re somewhere safe, and your emotions have settled.’
‘My emotions?’ I laugh, ignoring the tears as they join the rain in sliding down my face. ‘My emotions are exactly where they need to be. And luckily, so are you.’
When the sky behind him lights up with green light, my eyes narrow and I fill with intent.
‘Theo…’ I whisper darkly. ‘I bet the Grey-Cloak is with him too.’
“Do it,’ my dark voice whispers. ‘Do it, Lilly. You must!”
‘Shit… Lilly! If you let yourself be consumed by rage, the Break will retake you!’ Tobias beseeches. ‘I see it has a hold on you. You’re teetering on the very edge. I know you are hurting. I can only imagine the pain you are in but letting it claim your soul will only make the suffering harder!’
‘You think you know… how I’m feeling?’ I shake my head and start walking around the table. ‘Your father is responsible for killing my father. For killing my husband. Your father is responsible for destroying my entire fucking life! Do you have my Bloodstone?’
‘N-no. You don’t have it?’
Another streak of green light has my heart hammering harder as I hungrily watch it flash in the distance.
‘If you have no Bloodstone, you have no power,’ he reasons. ‘And you can’t face Theo and the Grey-Cloak without magic!’
I charge across the platform straight towards him. Before he can get away, I’ve grabbed his hand and instantly feel his magic humming from his skin.
‘Who says I’m alone and without power?’ I lean in close. ‘I’ve got you.’
‘Don’t do this!’ he pleads. ‘You can’t win against them!’
I speak the words, and his magic becomes mine. Power over the elements. That will do.
‘We’ll see about that,’ I reply.
