Never Fated To Be |✅|

Chapter 35 : Enter, Sacrifice

We stared at the panting guy. I raised one eyebrow to conclude the silence that had followed momentarily.

Tyler did not look at me when he spoke,
'I informed my parents about everything that had happened as soon as I reached home yesterday. And guess what? They told me what to do. I mean, it's an assumption though. But yeah.' Tyler said, taking a seat hurriedly.
'And?' Zayla gritted her teeth.
Tyler hesitated. I continued staring at him. He met my eyes for a fleeting moment but quickly flicked his gaze away. I frowned to myself.
'What's the matter?' I asked.

'Actually, to lift the curse, two things need to be done.' Tyler began with a kind of an edge to his tone.
'I'm guessing it includes a lot of codes and spells.' Zayla said matter-of-factly.
'That's one.'
'What's the other?' Luke asked dubiously.
Tyler glared at the floor,
'A . . . . sacrifice.' His voice was barely audible.

'A what?' I said, toneless.
Tyler bore his eyes into mine,
'A sacrifice.' He said more firmly.
'A sacrifice of what?' Luke asked again.
'The question is actually . . . . who. . . . ' Tyler's voice had dropped to a whisper. He had gone completely rigid. When my gaze fell over his hands, he had them clenched tightly.

Zayla's eyes widened.
'Someone needs to be sacrificed.' Tyler whispered with finality and surrender in his tone.
'Huh?!' Luke exclaimed, 'What the heck do you mean, sacrificed?'
Tyler pursed his lip. From my angle of view I could see his jawline tighten. But he said nothing.

'Death.' I spoke my mind, sounding unwilling, blank, indiscreet,
'Someone needs to die.'

'But it shouldn't be like that! Shouldn't it be the opposite?' Zayla said, her tone unusually high pitched, 'Are you sure you're not joking, Tyler?'
'Do whatever but don't lie to us, dude.' Jake said, threateningly.
'I'm not lying!' Tyler said, throwing his hands in the air, 'I'm completely serious right now.'
'So you mean, it'll have to be something like the past?' Luke asked.
Tyler exhaled,
'You saw what happened yesterday.'
'That's not a reply!' Luke snapped.
'I am implying something like that!' Tyler said.
'Yet--'

'He must be right.' I still sounded dead toneless, as if I was a puppet and someone very bad at her job was dubbing my lines, 'It matches to the codes in the forbidden book.' I turned to Zayla with my blank eyes,
'Sorcery, midnight, and . . . . death.'

Witchcraft, spells, mist.
And a sacrifice.

Too cliche?

Zayla opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Her pupils turned cold due to certain realization of the reality.
'We're all already too involved.' Tyler began again, absolutely remorseful, 'One will have to die, or else we'll all die. That's what I was told by the oldest member of my family right now.'

My head started to ache. Badly. But I did nothing. I did not even budge. I did not know why my head had started to ache, but something told me that it wasn't because of the weather or dehydration or anything like that.

They'll all die, Valerie.

Shit, they were back.
The ghastly dolls' hisses echoed in my ears.

What are you going to do, Valerie?

Well, apparently long time no see. I replied to the darned dummies in my head. Where have you been?