Fate's Demand (Twisted Fate, Book 3)

Chapter Forty-Four

My hand fell and my stomach dropped.

Looking down, my eyes grew wide.

The spot where we'd made contact, where skin met skin, was black like burnt coal still steaming after being dowsed with water. The taste of deadened flesh was ripe on my tongue and sizzling as grey wisps spiralled into the air.

"What the hell?"

"Not quite, but you're close," Tyler hissed. Looking up to glance from his arm to me, his eyes were black, bottomless. "You can't be light and dark. You have to choose."

"No." I shook my head and grasped his arm again, ignoring the heat. His skin smoldered as he struggled to be free. Keeping our gazes locked, I clenched my teeth and said, "I'm not the one who needs to make a choice."

"Alyssa?"

I glanced up to see as Deryk rounded the corner at the end of the hallway. His gaze took everything in, and I focused on Tyler once more when I saw Deryk break into a run towards us.

Coiling tendrils of smoke rose to circle us and Tyler's strength diminished. Remembering how I felt within the light, my skin began to glow, radiating from within. It hardly looked like anything—a dying flashlight, perhaps—but the feelings that accompanied the light were tremendous, like flying weightlessly through the air.

"What's going on?" Deryk asked when he reached us. "Alyssa? What are you doing?"

His eyes darted between us and he appeared torn. Trust me or help Tyler? Deryk stepped forward. I jerked my head sideways, pinning him with a narrowed gaze.

"He's accepted Darkness," I said and looked down. "You have a shadow, Deryk. He doesn't."

Black smoke continued to rise from Tyler, escaping through every opening that wasn't covered: his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his ears. The cloud moved steadily from dark to gray and began dwindling as it evaporated to mist.

"Stop," Deryk said.

"Are you kidding?" I scoffed and held onto the light. My body vibrated with the effort, and I felt a film of cold perspiration begin to coat my brow. "H-he's full of Darkness! You said that it wouldn't be here."

"It isn't supposed to be." Deryk reached for my hand. "You need to stop."

"No!"

"Alyssa—"

"No!" Breathing was hard, erratic. I started to feel feint.

"The Darkness is gone, Alyssa! He's weak. If you don't stop, you'll kill him!" Deryk tugged with one hand and used the other to lift my fingers until my grip slipped. "Look!" His arms wrapped around my waist and fought to pull me away from Tyler. He pointed to the floor when I struggled. "He has a shadow now."

The meaning of his words had a delayed reaction.

For five more seconds at least, I fought to regain my grasp on Tyler.

To kill Darkness for everything it had done and all that it intended to achieve. Trying to kill me, hurting my mother... existing. It couldn't be granted survival.

The meaning of what Deryk said settled like a car that had been turned on, remaining stationary until shifted into drive. Once it switched gears, it accelerated to 60 miles an hour in seconds. Looking down, I saw Tyler's shadow was there on the floor where it hadn't been when I arrived. I sucked in a breath and my shoulders sagged as I exhaled. All the escaping smoke that hadn't evaporated had coalesced in the air and reformed, returning to where it belonged at his feet.