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❝ THE VOID BETWEEN WORLDS.❞
MABEL WOKE UP gasping in a fit of pain.
The circular mark around her arm burned immensely as Simon carried her into the castle, Marie trailing closely behind him. She was holding Mabel's hand as Simon gently placed his cousin onto the spread of cushions.
Banded around Mabel's upper arm was a bracelet of blood, like someone had tightened an invisible wire around it, cutting into her flesh. A gush of blood welled up around her puffy skin, splattering onto Simon's shirt.
Mabel yelled out in excruciating pain, squeezing Marie's hand with so much pressure Marie thought her bones would break. "Make it stop!" Mabel cried, her throat dry and aching. "God, it hurts so bad! Please, make it stop!" Her words came out in a combination of desperate sobs and demanding screams.
Simon viciously ripped a piece of fabric from the sleeve of his shirt, tying it around the mark that banded her upper arm. The blood immediately seeped through the material, drenching it in scarlet red. Simon's heart dropped and his hands went numb; he felt utterly helpless and defeated. How could he save his cousin when he didn't know exactly what he was saving her from?
He looked over to Marie, who shared his same expression of desperation and anguish, and she extended her free hand, resting it on his kneeling thigh as the warmth of her skin sent a rush of love and familiarity through him. Her touch spoke words that didn't need to be said; it promised him everything would be okay.
Outside the castle, Madison Creswell could hear Mabel's cries, and her stomach leaped to her throat. She had never been close with Mabel—she had never been close to anyone, for that matter—but nonetheless, Mabel's screams sent a wave of unfamiliar heartache through her entire body, tormenting her with its torturous sounds. Her face hardened. She rubbed the purple gemstone that hung at her throat between her two fingers, allowing the cool touch of the amethyst pendant to calm her anxieties down.
Madison closed her eyes, allowing her mind to take her back to the past few minutes. Hades was there, outside Castle Byers and O'Neil. Zack and Sam were also there, but their limp bodies had been knocked to the ground. And then before Maddi knew it, Max and Mabel had collapsed to the floor, their unconscious, limp bodies hitting the ground in quick succession.
Everyone had surrounded them, trying to shake them awake as their matching circular marks glowed a bitter red against the pale complexion of their skin. And when Madison finally glanced back up, Hades had disappeared.
