Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
“What are you waiting for, Draco?” said the old Seer.
This felt like a trap. Everyone wanted me in hell. Was it to keep me there or to turn me into a monster who would ultimately give them something they wanted?
I looked up at the Seer. The energy she gave off was everything I’d imagined. Wicked, selfish, and hungry for more power.
“Draco! Draco!” Piper continued screaming.
The need to jump tugged on every fiber of my being. I had to go to her. I had to bring her back. She was good. She deserved to live. The world needed her, not me.
But what kind of world would she come home to if I went in after her and turned into the man everyone feared I’d become? If the scene below was my hell, it was a world of torment and death. It was a place I’d created, my worst nightmare.
“You are wrong, Draco.” The old woman pointed at Piper. “It is the beginning of changing your fate. You must do something selfless and good to set a new course.”
Good for whom? The Seers? Piper? Or for the future of everyone? I was still torn, unable to trust myself.
Then maybe I should trust someone else. Every piece of my life felt convoluted except one: Piper. She had believed in me when I’d been written off by everyone. “We make our own fate,” she’d said.
“Fuck it.” I jumped.
Jesus. What is this? My body felt ice cold and deprived of oxygen. I could breathe, but the air burned my lungs and made me gag. All around me, as far as the eye could see, were burned trees, smoke, and charred bodies. In the distance, near a stand of blackened trees, a doe staggered with its head down. The animal was gaunt and close to death. There was no life here, only death. It was a wasteland of misery.
I ran to Piper. The skin on her had been sliced open, exposing meat and bone.
“Who did this to you?” I asked.
“You came back.” She sniffled. “Please give me more. I won’t cry so loud this time, I promise. Just don’t leave.”
“I am not going anywhere.” I removed the pins from the chains that held her wrists in place and then freed her ankles.
I scooped her into my arms and sank to the ground.
“Who is doing this to you?” I understood this was hell, but… But nothing. I hadn’t a clue how any of it worked other than hell was meant to be a place of suffering and penance. She deserved neither.
Piper kissed my neck. “I’m sorry I can’t remember. I will try harder, I swear. Just don’t leave me. All I hear is their screaming.”
“Whose?”
“The world’s.”
None of this made sense. Was this hell my future or simply a place my soul would go to after leading a life of inflicting horror on the world?
Perhaps it’s both. Perhaps I would be unable to escape the hell on earth I created, not even in death. I cannot let this become anyone’s fate. First, I needed to free Piper.
“Piper, tell me where you hid the chalice. Do you remember where it went?”
“I tried. I tried so many times, Draco. I don’t know.”
So this was what I’d wanted her to remember in her visions? It hadn’t been erased words or moments we shared. It had been the chalice. My desperation to find it and save her would turn me into something dark and sadistic. Perhaps I blamed her for losing it.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed. “Don’t go. Beat me, but don’t leave.”
I resisted the urge to retch. Hearing her beg for pain like this was unbearable.
I stroked the back of her long matted hair. “Just try, Piper. Try to remember where you hid it.”
“I found it in the basement.”
“Okay. That is good. Very good. And what did you do with it after?” The sooner I could find it, the sooner I could get her out of here.
“I don’t know, Draco. But you can’t leave. You have to stay here with me.”
“No, I am trying to get you out,” I said, filled with remorse. “You were never meant to die.”
“If you go back, it’s over. You won’t be able to forgive them for this.”
I knew exactly what she meant. They hurt Piper, all to get what they wanted from me. I held her tightly. “I know how much you are suffering. I only want to make it stop. If you could just try to remember. Where is the chalice? After that, I’ll bring you back, and then we’ll figure out the rest.”
“I don’t know.” She began sobbing. “Please don’t be angry. Please don’t leave me here alone. Beat me, fuck me, do anything you want, but don’t go.”
I felt sick—in my heart, soul, and stomach. “I’ll stay. I’ll stay until you remember, Piper, but you must try.”