Dance in Shadow and Whisper (Marionettes of Myth #1)

Chapter Twenty-One

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

We sat together, side-by-side, our backs against the wall. My legs were stretched out, his pulled up with his elbows to his knees and his arms dangling. We stared up at Ra's pedestal and the golden light he reflected against the ceiling. The thick silence poured fire into my stomach and I tasted it on my tongue by the time I finally cracked and said, "I'm not Amon."

Mazin didn't speak. He stared at the trinket's throne, eyelids heavy and shoulders heavier. The bitter scent of frustration wafted from him, infecting every fiber of him.

If only I could convince everyone else that I wasn't what they thought I was.

If only they could see what I did.

The fact that they expected great things from me, the fact that I couldn't meet those expectations, drilled the hole deeper in my chest.

"Kali." Mazin's voice startled me. "I'd like to tell you a story."

"I'm not going to like this story, am I?"

He tilted his head to give me a smile so fragile, all I'd had to do was breathe too hard and it'd shatter. "I arrived that night the vampires entered your biological parents' house."

It hurt to push the words out. Each of his vocal chords pulled too tight, ready to snap, but he continued. "The storm that hit Pittsburgh that year was...absolutely extraordinary. The lightning that lit up the sky, I was sure some ancient deity was furious over something, as they often find things to slaughter each other over. The earth became too saturated to hold the water, and when a nearby levy broke, your parents' area flooded with some twelve feet of water. Coincidentally," he spat, "a tribe of vampires decided to take advantage of the situation. I arrived on the scene too late, but...when we entered the home, we found each of the vampires very much dead, and you the only one alive."

I was right. I didn't like this story. "Maybe my parents managed to kill the vampires first, then."

"No, Kali." He shifted to face me. "You were four then. What do you remember?"

I shook my head, focusing very hard on the pedestal. "I don't. My earliest memory is walking through a long hallway with bright lights. Rajy told me that it was a sector of the demon court in Oakland, and he said that was the day I came into his and Lio's care."

I remembered how the lights had hurt my eyes and every shadow frightened me, and I remembered gripping Rajy's hand. I remembered how his big fingers cradled mine, and the smell of the marble floor and the plaster walls, and I remembered gnawing on the flesh of my thumb.

I had been scared.

No, I had been confused.

'What happened?'

'Where am I going?'

'Who is this?'

'Why did they give me to him?'

Mazin released a sigh. "Demon children develop much sooner, I'm sure Rajy told you. We've concluded that it's another survival skill, that children be able to learn the 'flight' instinct as soon as possible. That includes comprehending danger and calculating how and when to react. Memories can develop after the first year of life, and yet you have absolutely no recollection beyond that first moment of yours."