Second Chance Doom: a paranormal romance adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 5)

by Ella J. Smyth

  It should have made me feel lighter, but it didn’t. Because I didn’t believe them. I knew the truth, and they didn’t.

  There was something rotten at my core, something that hadn’t been there before I died. If it saved them, I’d gladly give my life for them. Because my existence was tainted.

  My limbs were heavy as if an indignant Gravity wanted to finish what Death had started and pull me six feet under where I belonged.

  Regrets spun around in my tired mind. If only the dagger had done its job properly. If only I’d stayed dead and never returned.

  I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the wall. Next to me, my friends were talking quietly.

  I didn’t listen. The murmuring served as a backdrop to my self-recrimination. Eventually, I slipped into an uneasy sleep.

  I found myself back in that awful place with the black sand hot under my feet and the sky so gray, as if it had swallowed the stars and the sun itself.

  In the distance, the Lobhadh Ocrach stood against the horizon. Their hissing voices overlapped, yet I could hear them clearly as they fed their corrupting words into my subconscious.

  “They say they forgive you, but they will never forget. Because it’s your fault, Julian. It’s all your fault.”

  I reeled as they repeated my deepest fears and used them against me. The weight of the truth lodged itself in my throat and dropped into my stomach. My hand flew to my middle to hold myself together.

  Between one blink of the eye to the next, they stood in front of me, piercing me with their beetle eyes. I stepped back involuntarily. The taller of them grabbed my arm and held me in position.

  He brought his face close to mine and whispered mockingly, “Are we real? Or did you make us up? Looks to me, either way you’re fucked. If you made us up, then you’re insane and you’re using us to justify your own sick fantasies.”

  The shorter one behind me stood close enough to rub himself against me. I shuddered at the touch of a thousand tiny legs crawling over my skin where he touched me. “Did you enjoy seeing your friends dead, Julian? Is that what your mind conjures up?”

  The taller one licked my ear as I held as still as I could, squeezing my eyes together in revulsion. My legs barely held me up, and the sand under my feet seemed to shift as I fought the urge to puke.

  The creature made a chittering sound. “Are we your black beasties, sending you visions of what’s to come? Or maybe none of this is real, and we’re just playing with you.”

  They both giggled their strange, chitinous laugh. “Soon enough, you will join us, and then you’ll know.”

  But that was one thing I was sure of. “Nope. Not gonna happen. Next time I die, I’ll stay dead. I’ll make sure of that.”

  The taller monster guffawed. “And how do you plan to do that? How will you make sure you stay dead?”

  My determination strengthened my voice, and I rolled my shoulders back. “Easy. I’m a necromancer. I’ll use my powers on myself.”

  The Lobhadh Ocrach’s insect gaze bore into mine. He stopped laughing. And I realized that despite my lack of knowledge about what I was, I must have found some grain of truth.

  “We won’t allow that,” he rasped. His companion detached himself from my back and joined the taller one. I’d rattled them.

  Their outlines were wavering as if they struggled to keep their human forms. The fogginess shimmered like the heat haze you might find on an asphalt road in the summer. For the first time, they didn’t have full control of the situation.

  I tilted my head, pulling strength from my magical power source. “I think you’re tied to me somehow. And I think that if I die, you will, too.”

  The smaller Lobhadh Ocrach responded, “A good guess, Julian. But the truth is that if you die, your necromancing energy won’t dissipate. It will keep us here in one thousand broken pieces.”

  His companion added, “We’d be fully conscious but spread across the universe for all eternity. We would never be able to play with humans again.”

  The smaller monster nodded, his expression sorrowful. They seemed to think their explanation would scare me into submitting to them.

  Instead, it brought a smile to my face. “Sounds okay to me. Whatever it takes to destroy you, I’m on board.”

  After a moment where they stared at me in shock, the taller Lobhadh Ocrach transformed. Its skin melted into the sand. It no longer even pretended to be human.

  The only thing that stayed the same were its awful eyes with their black, shiny eyeballs. Its insect chittering grew louder. The neck sat unnaturally on its spine, in danger of falling off, if it weren’t for the twisted shoulders, holding it in place.

  The smaller beasty spoke with a voice so distorted, it hurt like my ear drums were sliced by razor blades. I had to grind my teeth to understand what it was saying. And then I wished I hadn’t.

  “We won’t allow you to escape. We will stop you. We’ll take over your body and your mind. If we possess your human flesh, you will continue living even if they rip your magic from you.”

  I stepped back in alarm. “And what will happen to me? To my mind?”

  They were back in charge. “Your mind will still be there, but your body will be ours. You will scream, Julian. You will cry. You will beg us not to hurt your friends and your lovers.”

  My eyes were growing wider the more the thing spoke. My body knew the truth of their words while my brain was still catching up. My skin vibrated with adrenaline, and my knees shook with the urge to drop and beg for mercy.

  “We will keep your body alive and use it to wreak terror on the world.”

  And then it attacked so quickly, I didn’t even have time to scream. It launched itself at me, clinging to my arms and chest.

  I tried to throw it off, but it held on and sank its mandibles into my flesh. My mind froze, incapable of processing the horror of seeing it shrink to scarab beetle size and disappear into my body through the holes it bit into my skin.

  The agonizing pain of the creature scuttling up my arm turned my insides to water. Where it tunneled, the skin darkened like rotting fruit, leaving a trail of corruption.

  The other monster grinned. “Bye bye, Julian.”

  I made a grab for it, but it evaded me easily. Then it followed its companion, burrowing itself into the soft flesh underneath my armpit.

  This couldn’t be happening. My heart was beating out of my chest, racing to expel the intruders. I clawed at the trails under my skin, tearing at my flesh to get them out. There was blood everywhere, under my nails, dripping onto the hot sand.

  They reached my heart, and it stopped beating for several agonizing seconds. The world around me slipped and tilted sideways. Then it started up again in fits and starts. Like a python, something wrapped itself around my insides and squeezed tighter and tighter until there was nothing left in my chest but a rock of ice.

  And yet it didn’t hurt as much as my consciousness withdrawing from my dying body. Except I knew my body would be fine. But my mind wouldn’t.

  The pain grew until it screamed through my mind like a white-hot buzz saw, crowding out every conscious thought I had.

  Except for one. Amber would wake up to my likeness and never realize I was gone. My friends might not survive the next day, but what if they died with the taste of my corruption on their tongues?

  But if somehow they were rescued, they’d think their friend, their lover, had betrayed them. I couldn’t bear it.

  A second thought cut through the shrieking agony.

  I am a necromancer. I am a necromancer.

  I. Am. A. Necromancer.

  The thought fought its way through the torture the intruders inflicted on me.

  I would access the death magic and use it on myself before the two Lobhadh Ocrach hijacked the vessel that was Julian Cooper.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to follow the monsters’ progress while they burrowed a hole in my stomach.

  They broke through my diaphragm with the so
und of rending tissue. I bent over, pressing my fists against my middle, and vomited a stream of bright-red blood. It hit the sand and evaporated with a hiss and a plume of stinking smoke.

  They were so close to the center of the magic swirling inside of me. I waited until I was sure they wouldn’t escape.

  And then I struck, tugging at my power, pulling and pulling until it exploded outwards, consuming the Lobhadh Ocrach. Their agony shuddered through me.

  They had come so close to absorbing my power, my essence. But they’d been greedy, and now it was too late for them.

  Like insects in amber, my magic trapped them. But they fought back harder than I’d expected them to. For long moments, I struggled to control them.

  They were trying to burrow back out of my body. I pushed more energy at them, harder and harder, until I had nothing left to give. And still, it wasn’t enough.

  With an enormous scream, they broke free from the hold my magic had on them. The sense of utter despair tearing through me was unbearable.

  I fell to my knees, waiting for my consciousness to disappear. Yet their screams didn’t stop, and I was still able to think my own thoughts.

  But they were there, moving around inside of me like skittering spiders, incapable of exiting my body. Somehow, I’d absorbed them into myself, but they hadn’t managed to take over.

  They were inside of me, alive. Yet I was in control of them, not the other way around. I prodded at the bumps under my skin.

  Their movements had slowed down as if they were caught in tar. And maybe that was the best description of my black power that held them captive and wouldn’t let them go.

  I withdrew my magic slowly, testing how far I could go without losing control of them.

  When I felt them slip through, screaming their hatred at me, I quickly slipped a lid on the imaginary jar I’d caught them in.

  I held them on a tight leash, and carefully prodded them, and experimented until I was sure I could keep them under control with a minimum of power.

  The black desert shimmered and wobbled until I got dizzy and had to close my eyes.

  When the movement stopped, I found myself back in the chair. My friends hadn’t noticed my battle and victory.

  I looked at my arm, where two bumps moved quickly from the front to the underside. The Lobhadh Ocrach were there. I could feel them like ants scurrying under my skin. But I was reasonably sure I could control them, even when I was asleep.

  But if I survived the coming day, I would have to be very careful to not ever let go of them. Because they could destroy us all. And they would enjoy doing so.

  36

  AMBER

  The door opened and startled me from a light sleep. Dream fragments of Julian laughing at something Macha said, of my head in Lance’s lap, all slipped off me like a warm down coat, leaving me exposed and shivering.

  We were out of time.

  Dr. Winkler clutched a clipboard under his arm, holding a disposable cup of steaming coffee. I would have killed for a drink. Julian and Lance must have felt even worse since the stupid assistant had run off.

  “Good morning,” the man said heartily.

  I was the only one to answer him. “Your henchwoman ran out yesterday without giving us water.”

  He stopped writing. Then he turned his head and bellowed into the other room. “Sandra. I thought I made myself clear. I want our test subjects well hydrated. Give them some water immediately.”

  After a few moments, the woman came in with her eyes lowered. Under the watchful eyes of her boss, she fed us a small bottle each.

  I was the last. She held the drink against my lips while regarding me reproachfully. I couldn’t have cared less. What did she expect me to do—suffer from thirst so she wouldn’t look bad?

  I used to be so worried about hurting people. But not anymore. It was them or us. And if I had to choose between the rest of humanity and the men I loved, I would burn down the planet gleefully.

  Dr. Winkler leafed through several pieces of paper, muttering to himself. When his assistant had left the room, he addressed us. “The plan for you today is to extract your magic.”

  He waited as if he expected us to ask a question. When we didn’t, he continued, “Unfortunately I have bad news for you.”

  I muttered, “What? Worse than wanting to kill us?”

  He ignored me, although he glanced at me apprehensively. “Usually we sedate our subjects before any clinical procedure. We have been experimenting for months to make this process less unpleasant. Because your magic is so inextricably linked with your DNA, there is no way to mitigate the impact.”

  Kiernan interjected, “Except you said you had bad news. Does that mean you won’t be able to sedate us?”

  Winkler pushed the glasses up on his nose. “That is correct, yes.”

  My body tensed up at his statement. The Fae’s gleeful words suddenly made sense. We were going to die screaming.

  “So what is the chance of surviving this extraction?” Kiernan continued.

  Winkler’s gaze stayed on the paper in front of him, but his hands tightened around the clipboard. When he looked up, he couldn’t meet our eyes. “You’ll be fine. You might feel a little groggy afterwards. But once your magic is removed, you’ll be normal human beings and ready to go about your lives.”

  A Fae man with long, wavy hair entered the room. Winkler flinched away from him like a cat from a snake. The Fae looked very different from the warriors we’d encountered in the mound. For starters, he wore a human suit and had the strangest silver eyes, swirling in lazy circles.

  Huh. So that means Mrs. Palmer is Fae as well. After she’d delivered us to the FBMA compound, nothing about my former teacher surprised me any longer.

  The man didn’t introduce himself. Instead, he glanced imperiously at Winkler. “He lies.”

  The scientist stepped aside, his shoulders rounding, his head bowed. “Lord Arawn. I didn’t expect you. Thank you for gracing us with your presence.”

  The Fae Lord regarded him with a judgmental gaze. “There is no honor in lying to the captured.”

  He turned to us. “You will not survive today. You will die an excruciating death, but be assured, we will honor your sacrifice.”

  “That’s comforting.” Kiernan’s words were polite, but his tone was bleeding sarcasm.

  Lord Arawn took no note of him and continued, “You’re not enemies of the Fae. I regret that your deaths are necessary. But your magic will enable our world to survive.”

  I had to know. “What will happen to Bleddyn?”

  His face darkened to a mask of pure hatred. “The traitor Bleddyn will be sentenced to meet his end in disgrace.”

  God. I hope he got away. I closed my eyes, so I didn’t have to see the smug bastard in front of me. But at his next words, they flew open again.

  “I have come to give you news about your companion. The one with no magic.”

  “Macha?” I asked, breathless with hope.

  “Yes. Unfortunately, he cannot be allowed to live, or he might give information to the human world that could jeopardize our survival. Therefore, our King has decreed that he will be offered an honorable death, fighting in the Unseelie arena.”

  My breath entered my lungs and refused to leave. My gentle Cat Boy. My vision narrowed, focusing on the Fae who’d so casually informed us of Macha’s imminent death. My arms were so tense, they shook against the restraints. The pain of metal digging into skin cut through the shock.

  I exploded, screaming at him. “What the hell is wrong with you? You think you’re so honorable? You’re not. Your life is worthless if it depends on murdering the innocent. You’re a coward, Lord Arawn.”

  I put emphasis on his title, making it sound as despicable as I could.

  Emotions warred on his handsome face. One moment, he looked like he wanted to kill me for insulting him. The next, he forced his features into a neutral expression. His gaze swept across the array of chairs before him. Then he bowed and
left the room without saying another word.

  “Fucker,” Kiernan grunted. I agreed whole heartedly.

  Dr. Winkler waited until the door had closed behind the Fae. Then he cleared his throat, his eyes hooded solemnly. “We will begin in five minutes.”

  I was so incensed by the hypocrisy of these people, I spat at him, “Same goes for you, asshole. No matter how you try to justify it, you’re a fucking serial killer.”

  He ignored my outburst, but his fingers tightened around his pen until the knuckles turned white. He turned to leave, but stopped and said, “I’m only following orders. And I truly believe our work is for the best. I am sorry.”

  Then he left the room. Kiernan chuckled without humor. “That whole speech just to make himself feel better. What a dick.”

  I swallowed hard. If everything went according to my plan, the guys would survive. And I wouldn’t. But it would be worth it. They’d made me feel truly loved in my short life.

  Maybe they’d remember me fondly when they had families and children in the future. At least, I hoped they would. Because if I had miscalculated, none of us would get out of here.

  37

  We waited. And waited. My breathing increased until I was gasping. The sound of the dragging inhales and stuttering exhales was the loudest thing in the room. My eyes were wide open, staring at the wall on the other side of the room.

  The fear of what was coming next was breaking me apart. Panic seeped into my thoughts. The plan I’d been so sure about broke into jagged pieces, and no matter how much I clung onto it, it was slipping through my fingers.

  “Amber.”

  I turned my head to look right into Kiernan’s eyes. I’d never heard him sound so stern. His gaze drilled into me, shoring me up at the same time as he was scolding me.

  “Amber. Be strong. We will get through this and see each other on the other side. Don’t give them the satisfaction of seeing you cry. I love you.”

  Tears streamed down my face, trapping my hair as I nodded. Kiernan winked his cheekiest grin, and my mouth trembled into a smile.