Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
She nods. “Time slips when you’re not really alive. I killed you, Echo. Decades back. I gave you the blood, and you drank it, and time just… slipped.”
Of course I knew I was dead. I mean, I remember the way Josep carved me up. I remember the halfbreeds feeding on me and tearing me to shreds. I even remember the part where Josep brought me back down here and walked into the pool, holding me in his arms until I was healed.
I remember all of that.
But for some reason, it is the knowledge that I already died decades ago that shakes me to my core.
“That’s what a halfbreed is, Echo. Something in between. Not in between human and vampire—you’re nothing like a vampire. Something in between Heaven and Hell, for lack of a better example. But this stage, like all stages, will end.”
“And then what?” I’m afraid to ask, but feel compelled to at the same time.
“Then?” She shrugs up her shoulders. “That’s up to you.”
“Up to me, how?”
Her small smile is sad now. “You’re doomed, just like I am. But we don’t have to accept it. We’re powerful, Echo. In our own way.” She looks down at her fingernails, studying them. “I’m going to dreamwalk my way into the past.” Her gaze once again finds mine. “To the beginning of time. Well, for witches, at least. I’m going to live in the ice castle and find the purple and… I dunno. Just soak it all in, I guess.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course not. I haven’t explained it yet.”
“So why don’t you get to the fucking point?” I’m angry now. I feel… not betrayed, exactly, just… used.
“Evil things like us have two choices in the end. We can accept our fate and join the Darkness for all eternity”—she pans a hand at the cave around us, indicating Josep, I guess—“or we can leave it behind and travel.”
“Oh.” Things are starting to make sense. “The way Josep travels? In the earth?”
“No. That’s a purely vampire thing. But our way is just as good. We travel in the purple, and sometimes the gold too. In the mist, Echo. It’s…” She hesitates. “Well, it’s not real. You need to understand that. But it will get you out of the infinite eternity of Darkness. Not your soul, of course—that’s doomed—but you can save your consciousness. What’s left of it, anyway.”
I think about all these words. Everything she has just told me. Boyd, my death, the time, the halfbreeds. And I come to the conclusion that I am… fucked.
“No, Echo, you’re not fucked. I just told you there’s a way out.”
“Way out how? You didn’t tell me anything useful. I don’t even know what the purple mist is.”
“It’s Paul’s magic.”
“So? What’s that got to do with me? Obviously, Paul hasn’t shared this magic with me because this is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“He never shared it with me, either.” And then she laughs. “Power, Echo, is something you steal. If you want the magic of the purple, you need to steal it.”
I point to myself. “You want me to steal from Paul?”
“I don’t care what you do. I’m just here to give you your options. Stay in the cave with Josep, your own personal incarnation of evil and everything that entails. Or find a way to harness the magic you have access to so while your soul rots in the Darkness of Josep’s infinite emptiness, your consciousness can create whatever life you want.”
The dream world. Josep already offered it to me and I said no. To be loved is a good thing. Even if it’s a demon’s love. I’ve never been loved, not once in my life, so I’m attracted to what Josep has to offer.
But he’s not human. Never has been human. He doesn’t have feelings. I think he wants to be loved, but he can’t comprehend the actual concept. And if I stay with him, I will be part of this misunderstanding. I will have his demon baby, whatever that means, and we will be a family.
But is this what a family looks like?
And now I know why I’ve been thinking about my parents.
Josep is a pattern.
Josep is a trap.
And if I stay here with him, I’ll be teenage me, stuck in that house, hiding in that bedroom, taking pills I don’t understand to escape my reality while my parents manifest their roles as enemies, forced to play a game together that no one wins.
“How do I steal this magic?”
Lucia’s grin is wild and wide. “I thought you’d never ask. How much do you know about mirrors?” And then she takes my hand and leads me over to the pool of lavender water.
18 - Syrsee
I missed it?
The pink-haired girl stares back at me. I remember her from that night Paul first brought me to his compound. She was his… acolyte, or something. They had some kind of relationship, I do know that. Or least an understanding. None of the other people from the compound were there, just her.