Of Frost & Cinder (Old Version)

Lady Lucke

Chapter 22

There's something wicked inside you. It's waiting to claw itself out.

    A swoosh of anguish punches me in the gut, forcing me to focus on the words as they ricochet against the walls in my head, echoing echoing as they further sink in. I'm trying to catch my breath, to ease the acid rising in my throat, but I still feel the residue of that saccharine energy coursing through me, overpowering the stress that I should be feeling instead.

    I already knew I was dangerous. That was obvious from these raging torches I call hands. But part of me half hoped it was a simple a case of mind over matter. I figured that, instead of running from this affliction with magic-infused medication, I could somehow learn to contain it on my own.

    What am I? I'm so tired of asking this question without getting an answer in return. I still have so many questions. So many things I need to know and learn in order to figure out why this wickedness is so dangerous...why I like it so much. The only thing I know for certain is that I know what I'm not, and that's human.

    Olivian is gathering her things, shoving bottles and sage and velvet bags into her backpack as Pete desperately tries to persuade her to stay.

    "Olivian, wait," I say, stepping between her and the front door when all of Pete's attempts as a barricade fail miserably. The expression in her eyes is frantic, nervous like an animal struggling between fight and flight.

    "No! I'm done with this, Shelland. I can't help you!"

    I can tell she wants to push past me but she's so hesitant. It's a complete flip from the first time we met, when her confidence was surging and she nearly decapitated me for speaking Beck's name alone.

    "Look, I did what was asked of me, okay?" She yells. "I did the protection spell. Now let me leave."

    "We still need your help! All of us do. Yeah, you did the spell, but that doesn't mean that we're physically protected. We're just hidden. What if they find us anyway? Then Beck and I are screwed."

    Olivian shakes her head. "As long as you wear your items, you'll stay undetected. Out of sight, out of mind."

    "She's right," Beck shifts forward, taking a stand next to me. "If Boyd and Tripp find us here, we're as good as dead."

    She pauses, mouth half open in a recognizable struggle to choose between herself and her best friend. Her dismal eyes flash to his, full of a pleading so unlike Olivian that I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is real.

    "Why are you putting me in this position, Beck?" Her voice is soft, and for once, she seems like an average seventeen-year-old girl.

    Beck steps forward and gently takes hold of her, breaking our three-person fence in front of the door. "Ollie, I'm sorry. You know I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't have to."

    She tries to cut off his grip on her upper arms, but he remains firm and focused.

    He continues, "You remember that conversation we had before all of this began? We knew. We knew that we were going to be tested and have to risk everything to learn the truth. Now we finally have a chance to find out and your first instinct is to run."

    Something deep rattles my core, like a thick cloud of negative energy sinking from my heart to my gut.

    Pete leans toward me and whispers, "Do you have any idea what's going on, 'cause I'm lost."

    I can only shake my head. That anxious cloud is growing thicker, denser with each additional hushed syllable they share.

    "That's not fair! You know why I can't go there. Why I can't help..." Her eyes flicker briefly in my direction before she exhales, her shoulders decompressing from the emotional setback.