The Last Hope

19 - Repentance

SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER - Silhouette, Aquilo. Linked above! If you enjoy the chapter please vote, it means a lot. Also, I actively encourage commenting and am trying my best to reply to any as quickly as I can. Want a chat? Don't be shy!

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Shivering, sweating, and head pounding with nausea, Mercy sat up in bed. Sebastian had managed to pull her into a dream. The way Jaxon had been able to - and the ring hadn't stopped him. She twiddled the band of gold around on her thumb, pondering. Perhaps the rune mitigated the protection that the ring offered her? She would have to talk to Mona about it-

Mona. Mona was lying to her and had been from the beginning. If the others knew-

Mercy didn't let herself think about it as a horrible feeling chewed through her. She would confront Mona first, find out what she knew. And then, if the others knew, she'd deal with them.

From one monster to another.

The words played on a loop inside her head, a record that scratched and scraped the outer corners of her mind. Was that what she was? She'd been given unimaginable power, the fact she couldn't reach it was beside the point, but she'd shattered those Grunts into pieces with half a thought. It had been so easy, and she hadn't imagined the dark rush of power afterwards. She'd been ignoring it since, the way her body yearned for the magic Sebastian had stolen. She'd told him he could keep it - part of her was bluffing, but part of that reason was that it terrified her.

Much more than any Grunt could scare her. Much more than Sebastian, and even Cressida. What had truly scared her was the way that when she'd used her gift, the call, to kill those Grunts, to wither them away into dust, the only thought going through her mind had been more. And a second before Sebastian had shown up - before he'd taken control of her body and stolen away her magic - she'd nearly taken it upon herself to see what more was.

That steady, underlying current of fury pulsed like a heartbeat. An anger Mercy realised she'd been able to feel her whole life. Anger that had made her so unpleasant to be around, that very few had tried to be her friend. It was like a siren song now, calling to her, singing in her blood, the mark on her hand grew hot. Magic, she realised, even with her magic trapped away and stolen, shadows of it still whispered against her skin. Useless as anything but to serve as a reminder, she'd only get her magic back if she made that deal with the devil.

Mercy watched in panic and terror as the swirling marks crisscrossing her palm grew, coiling around her pale flesh to encompass her whole hand and most of her forearm. She scratched at it furiously, blinked, hoping it was just her mind playing tricks. But when she shook her head and looked back, the mark remained, too dark in contrast to her pale skin.

Whatever was happening, she was tired of being in the dark.

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Maybe she was waking the house, but she was past the point of caring. Mercy thudded on Mona's door again, knuckles singing with the impact, especially after they'd been bruised from training yesterday. Keenan had been unable to use his gift to heal her because of the rune, so the aching lingered. Her knocking grew louder, more persistent when the door didn't swing open for her the way it had yesterday. "Mona! Open this door!" She hit the wood harder, and the door rattled on its hinges - the frame groaning.

"Mercy? Are you okay?" That was Keenan, peering out of his door, looking groggy and confused. He was dressed in loose-fitting shorts and a white t-shirt that clung to his shoulders and chest, but the label showed at his collar bones - he'd put it on inside out and back to front, dressing in a hurry. His red hair had been tied back with a leather strap. Mercy barely spared him a glance and continued to pound on the door, as the other Sentinels and then, eventually, Felix left their rooms. All of them with the same confused, irritated looks on their faces. Good, let them be irritated.