Little Green Stars

Chapter 52-End Game

There it is. I knew it. I knew this was all too good to be true, the way things just fell into place so easily. Now I'm left wondering what Malcolm's end game is. If he was okay with cursing Maeve, then what will happen to me?

Malcolm shakes his head and clears his throat, trying to pull himself together. "We have an hour left. I won't spend another day without my vengeance."

I don't like the sound of that. This is one of those fight or flight type situations. I don't have much experience with fighting—except hair pulling with Bundty—so my best option might be to get the hell out of here. Where's Jin when I need him?! He's the one that's good at distractions.

"Vel," Malcolm says, extending a shaky hand to me.

I slowly scoot myself away from his reach.

"I'm not going to hurt you!"

"You hurt Maeve, and that hurts me," I say, the anger snarling in my voice.

"That's what you don't understand! If I can get my powers back, then I can save her!"

"Why would I ever trust you?! Everything out of your mouth is a lie. You said NOTHING can save someone from the curse of creating a soul-tie! If there was, then you could have saved my Mom. So what are you, a liar, or a murderer?!"

"I don't have my gift, remember?! Your Grandfather stole it from me! You're standing on it!" Malcolm shouts, pointing to the stain just inches from my feet.

"Instead, you allowed her to create a soul-tie, knowing damn well she'd be cursed because of it!"

Malcolm looks down, his hands clenched in fists. "It was a sacrifice that needed to be made."

"Here's the thing, you keep saying that and everyone keeps getting screwed. Where's your sacrifice?!"

"For thirty-three years, I've sacrificed! Do you have any idea what it's like to lose a part of yourself? Of course, not, you're a naive little girl. The fact is that your mother knew what her father did to me and she didn't care! So forgive me if I don't feel remorse that she became collateral damage."

"You know what, you're right. I don't know what it's like to lose a part of myself. I mean, I still really know who I am," I say as the realization hits me. Is this what it's like to be an angsty teenager amid an existential crisis? "But I think you're wrong, Malcolm. I think Mom cared. I think she cared A LOT about you. The thing is that I grew up thinking psychics were nothing but shams. I never saw her use her gifts. I mean, as a child, I helped her use all sorts of tricks on her customers, so they'd think she was the real deal."

"Impossible, River Shamrock was never a fake!"

"Well, she was! But why? Could the reason be that maybe it hurt her when Grandpa cursed you? I think it hurt her so bad knowing that you had lost your gift that she stopped using hers."

If I hadn't had the night I had, hell, if I hadn't had the week I've had, then I wouldn't comprehend my sudden epiphany. But after thinking about losing Jin, Jaxson, and yes, even Maeve, there's no other way I can see it.

"Do you truly believe..." Malcolm begins as his eyes fill with emotion I can't understand, and honestly, I don't think I ever want to.

"I knew my mom. Was she crazy? YES. Was she erratic? YES. But, more than anything else, she was compassionate, and she loved like crazy. So, yes, I really think she cared."

Malcolm's fists withdraw, dropping to his sides as his back slides down the wall. He falls onto the ground, his face collapsing in his knees. This is my chance. I should run. I should get the hell out of here. But, for some reason, some INSANE reason, my legs don't move.

"Malcolm," I call over from the far corner, still not wanting to get close.

He doesn't respond; instead, his head hangs in between his legs.

Seriously, why is this my life? How does one comfort their captor while still preparing to run in case said captors become all capture-like again? What would Jin do?!

"Malcolm!" I insist, grabbing an empty water bottle and tossing it over his direction, missing per usual.

"I'm sorry," Malcolm's muffled voice says.

"I'm sorry, what? I didn't hear you?" I say, my teenager snark coming back because honestly, I can only be sympathetic for like less than a minute, it's one of my better qualities.

"You heard me," Malcolm says, lifting his head as he takes a deep breath to rise. Once standing, he does his signature quick tug on his suit to straighten it out. "It's very unbecoming to be upset publicly. You'll have to excuse me. Now, we must carry on."

"Carry on?"

"I didn't come this far only to come this far. Great quote, from a marvelous band, you might have heard of them, Journey?"

"Everyone's heard of Journey..."

"Right, well, as I said, less than an hour."

"Until what?!" Now, do I need to run?

Malcolm pulls his sage stone from his pocket, grasping it tenderly in his hand. "At dawn, your soul will settle."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Your soul, your Red Lady, she only comes out to play in the night, you surely know this by now," Malcolm says, taking out a long gold chain from his side pocket.

"Your point?" What the hell does he want with Red Lady?

"I have something for her to do," Malcolm says, his face becoming distant while he places his stage green stone into the bracket of the gold chain.

Within a single instance, all the hairs on my body stand. Why didn't I run when I had the chance?!

"I created you, I put forth the events to make Red Lady happen, I got Maeve to trust me, and then I got her to tie-your soul to me. But the thing Meave didn't know is that the spell I gave her tie your soul to me, then immediately split it yet again."

"What..."

"You think your Red Lady is only good for haunting old, badly decorated houses?" Malcolm says, kicking around the drapes slung across the basement floor. "She has much more potential. An untied soul can go through dimensions if it means righting a wrong. For example, she could go through the dimension between our world and the spirit world."

I don't like where this is going.

"So Maeve, thinking she was helping you was helping me. Yet again, your soul has ripped away from the very thing it's tethered to, me. So, your Red Lady will have an intrinsic desire to attack the very enemy that hurt me. An enemy who just so happens to be in the spiritual dimension."

Holy shit. "You can't mean..."

"Your grandfather? Oh, but I can. The only way to break a curse is if the soul who cursed you is dead."

"Grandfather is already dead..."

"You're right. He's dead, but his soul is very much alive."

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