A couple of tears rolled down my face.
Omi leaned over me and brushed his rough hand across my cheek. “Don’t cry, beautiful. This will be over soon.”
I flinched. If he noticed, he didn’t show it.
My mind reeled at his words. What would be over soon? My life? This confinement?
“Where is she?” her voice echoed through the room before I could see her.
The flames of the torches grew brighter as she stepped between two pillars and strode to me. Her white dress hugged her perfect form, and the floating skirt belonged on a catwalk. Her black hair went down to her knees, and like Ceris’s it looked like it had a life of its own. Her skin was too white; it was almost translucent, which was creepy when paired with her black eyes and red lips.
She had her scepter—a long crystal stave, topped by a orb emanating purple light—in her right hand.
Her eyes met mine, and my stomach dropped to my feet. Something like a whimper escaped my throat.
Oh, God. I was in the same room as Imha, the goddess of chaos, the one responsible for our dark world and everything else going on with it.
Omi gestured to me. “This is Nadine Sterling.”
With an evil smile, Imha halted before me. “Nadine, it’s an honor to finally meet you.”
I stared at her. I had never felt this small and helpless in all my life.
Omi paced behind Imha. “She hasn’t said a single word since I found her.”
If I had the choice, I wouldn’t say a single word until they killed me.
Imha narrowed her eyes. “I thought you said her aura was stronger than this. Are you sure this is the girl helping Ceris?”
“Y-yes,” Omi stuttered.
So fast I missed most of the movement, Imha whipped around and loomed over Omi. “Are you sure?”
He raised his chin and looked into her eyes. “Yes, Imha. I’m sure. Her aura isn’t as strong, but I know it’s her.”
“Yes, I can feel her aura. Not too strong but different. And powerful.”
What did she mean?
“Very,” Omi muttered.
Imha paraded over to me. A chair matching my chaise appeared behind her, and she sat down. Her evil smile twisted her lips.
“Nadine, you will tell me all about Ceris. What is she planning, where is she hiding, what are you helping her with?” She tilted her head. “How do you help her? I mean, you’re a mortal. Your aura is a bit stronger than most mortals, but still you’re only a mortal. Why would Ceris need your help? With what?”
Pressing my lips into a thin line, I turned my head away.
Her cold fingers clutched my chin, and, using her power, she pulled my head toward her. “No, no, no. Don’t be difficult, Nadine, because I can be more difficult than you’ll ever be, and I guarantee you, you’ll regret it.” Her nails pricked my skin for a brief moment before she let go of me. “Tell me everything you know about Ceris.”
I held her gaze, hoping the fear and panic weren’t clear in my eyes.
With a loud growl, Imha slapped my face, making sure her nails scratched my skin.
A gasp robbed me of air as my head whipped to the side, and I almost fell off the chaise. Pain exploded on my cheek and spread through my face. I brought my shackled hands to my face, careful not to touch the red light anywhere other than my wrist, since it burned, and cradled my cheek.
God, this hurt!
Imha shot to her feet. “If you won’t collaborate with me, I have no reason to treat you well.”
Imha treating someone well? Was that a joke?
A purple energy ball sprang to life around the orb of her scepter. Before I could understand what she was doing, Imha pointed the scepter at me, flinging the ball.
I leaned back in a failed attempt of running from it, but the bolt burst on my chest. I gasped as a wave of dizziness and pain assaulted me. My vision darkened, and my muscles went slack. I blinked, trying to clear my vision, to clear my head, but it was like drowning. I paddled, trying to stay above water.
I slid off the chaise and everything went dark.
I was awake, but my eyes refused to open. My muscles were too stiff and rusty; my head was dizzy. Feet shuffled near me, muffled voices spoke, and growls and flaps echoed.
Growls and flaps?
My eyes shot open, and I sat up on the chaise lounge. The red cuffs still held my wrists together. Imha and Omi stood beside the rolled up rug, muttering what sounded like harsh words, and demons—holy shit, four drooling demons—stood around me, their eyes on me. One of them knocked its stave on the ground. At once, Imha and Omi stopped talking and looked at me.
“Nadine, you’re awake,” Imha said, approaching me with her evil smile. “Are you ready to talk now?”
I met her gaze, but I didn’t say one damned word.
“She’s still playing dumb?” Omi asked.
“She’s playing,” Imha said, looking at me. “But she’s not dumb.” She conjured another purple bolt, and I flinched. “I’ll repeat my question. Are you ready to talk now?”
Omi muttered some more, then reached for the rolled up rug. He tapped it with his scepter, and it magically opened, reaching the floor. The tapestry—a brownish world map—was large, almost as large as five or six men standing side by side.
However, the size wasn’t what caught my attention. What caught my attention was the fact that certain points on the map, at least two dozen, shone brightly. I squinted, trying to make sense of it. Cathedral Rock was one of those points. As was Stonehenge, the pyramids in Egypt, and many other known places. The white lights blinked and then shifted. What the hell?
The ball of energy in Imha’s hand died out, and she looked from me to the map and back to me. “What do you see?”
For a second, panic surged up. I willed my face to look as emotionless as I could and averted my eyes.
Omi turned his back to the map. “What happened?”
Imha didn’t answer. However, the smile on her face wasn’t only evil, but the kind of smile that said I know what you saw.
The lights blinked and shifted once more. When they settled, they expanded and I could see them better. They weren’t only lights, but also symbols, though I couldn’t exactly make them out.
Then the symbols danced around the map again. I fought the urge to look at them, but I couldn’t resist. I could feel them. I stared at the symbols and tried to make sense of it. I noticed a couple of symbols moved along with the others, but they always came back to the same places.
Her creepy smile widened, and I turned my head away, forcing my eyes to focus on a crack in the stone floor. She muttered something to Omi, making his smile grow wide too.
Oh, God.
His eyes fixed on me, and he strolled forward, halting a few feet from the chaise.
“Nadine, tell us where Ceris is,” he said.
I remained quiet because saying “I don’t know” would be just as bad.
Omi pointed his scepter at me. “Last chance to see a nice version of me. Where is Ceris?”
Swallowing my fear, I raised my chin and met his gaze, without saying a single word.
“So be it,” he said.
A red stream surged from the orb of his scepter. My muscles locked as it traveled to me. The red light twisted around me like an unending snake. Panic filled my chest, and I fought the urge to scream. The red snake curled around my arms, around the cuffs, and lifted my arms above my head, pulling me up. Up and away from the chaise. Pain shot from my wrists, and I whimpered as the snake stretched me in the air. It was like there was a rope holding me up by my wrists, and it hurt.
Omi seemed amused. “Where is Ceris?”
I whimpered because honestly I couldn’t hold on without screaming a bit, but I still didn’t say anything. I wouldn’t say anything.
Omi looked at the four demons standing guard and gestured to me.
Baring their teeth, the demons attacked.
One of them raised its claws and swiped at me. I screa
med, making Omi laugh while Imha looked bored.
Taking turns, the demons played with me as if I were a piñata. They clawed my legs, pushed me back, and twisted me around, causing more pain in my wrists.
After a few minutes, Omi raised his hand and they stopped.
He looked up at me. “Where is Ceris?”
I kept my gaze on my torn clothes. Blood trickled down my numb legs.
Shrugging, Omi walked away, and the demons growled, resuming their game.
I opened my eyes and recognized everything about this place and situation in less than a second.
I was in a dark, chilly, tiny room with gray stone walls and no windows. A cell in a dungeon. A thin strip of light coming from a torch illuminated the place.
My arms ached. I looked up. Metal chains wrapped around my wrists. My clothes hung in tatters, and when I moved, my back scratched painfully against a rough wall.
Just like the vision I had three months ago.
Imha walked into the room, her head high, holding her scepter. A black cloud followed her. I shuddered.
“Hello, Nadine,” she said, an evil smile over her red lips. “How are you?”
I bit my lip as bile rose from my stomach. Oh, God, that vision. The torture vision. I had joked about it with Victor and Micah.
Approaching me, Imha tsked. “It is polite to answer questions addressed to you. Didn’t your mother teach you good manners? You don’t want me to call my friends, do you?” she asked, still smiling. “Be a nice girl and tell me everything I want to know.”
I remembered this part. In my vision, I had asked her, “What do you want to know?” but this time, I knew what she wanted to know.
I grimaced but kept my mouth shut. I would change this vision. I didn’t know how, but I would.
Imha laughed like an evil queen in a fairy tale, sending goose bumps over my skin. “Still playing the mute one, are we?” Her laugh died, and her eyes became hard. “Tell me everything, and I will end your suffering.”
Suffering was a big fear of mine, but loyalty was one of my best traits. I wouldn’t crack. Even if she spent ten years torturing me, I wouldn’t crack.
“If you tell me about Ceris and her plans, I promise your death will be quick and clean.” Imha came closer until her face was inches from mine, her eyes sparkling with pure vice. “On the other hand, if you keep up with this silence game, I promise you, you will regret ever being born.” She kissed my cheek.
No, no, no. I braced myself as her icy lips touched my skin, cracking it, drying it out. The withering spread, sending searing pain through my face until it reached my throat, making me gasp and choke.
I tried to inhale the air that would save me, but it was in vain. The parching spread down to my lungs and chest. The world spun, and the room became even darker. Blood trickled from my wrists as I struggled against the cuffs, and my legs went numb.
Imha sent a purple bolt from her scepter to my chest. The bolt hurt as if it had opened my flesh and crushed my organs. I tried to yell but couldn’t. However, a few seconds later—although it seemed like decades—the power of the bolt spread, and the drying sensation left me. I took a deep breath, not caring that my body weight dangled from my bloody wrists. I didn’t have any strength left, not even to look at Imha while she laughed.
“That is just the beginning,” she said, sauntering toward the dungeon door. With her back to me she added, “I’ll give you a while longer. Choose wisely.”
She left. The door closed behind her, leaving me in total darkness. Despite myself, I cried.
12
Nasty hands carried me out of my cell, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open for long. I was tired. I was hungry. I was thirsty, and I was in pain.
I was thrown on the same hard chaise I had been on … yesterday? Two days ago? Last week? I had completely lost track of time.
“Nadine, I have something to show you,” someone said.
Nothing they had to show me could possibly interest me.
Hands clasped my shoulders and held me up.
“Open your eyes,” Imha said. Against my will, my eyes fluttered opened. Imha flashed her evil smile. “Good girl.” The bright symbols danced on the map behind her, but before I could pay attention to them, she gestured to the pillars to her right. “Bring them in.”
Them?
The air fled from every cell of my body when demons brought my father, my mother, Teddie, Tommy, and Nicole in the room.
The floor—the world—was pulled from under my feet.
“No,” I muttered. My throat felt raw, but I didn’t care. “No, no!”
“Nadine!” my parents shouted as demons dragged them to stand before me by the shackles on their wrists.
“Nad!” Nicole cried, coming to me. The chains held her back, and she tripped.
Their clothes looked like mine, in tatters, and they appeared weak, too thin, too pale, and hurt. Oh God, they were hurt. My father and my mother had purple bruises on their faces and arms. I wondered how many more bruises their ripped clothes hid. The kids had bruises around their shackles and on their bare feet.
The demons tugged on their chains, making the kids cry more.
Oh, God.
My chest burned as the tears made their way out.
I stood and Omi pushed me back down. “Nu-uh. You play by our rules.”
My parents looked at me. The dull shine in their eyes was relieved, as if they were happy to see me, but it was also sorrowful.
“How … How—?”
“She speaks!” Imha laughed. The evil tone in her voice made my skin crawl.
“How …?” I couldn’t speak.
“How did I find them?” she asked. “Simple. I learned of your hometown and that your family still lived there. So after we got you, I sent a search party back to retrieve them.”
No, no, no … this couldn’t be happening.
“Please, let them go.” My voice broke.
Imha walked behind my family. “I will let them go once you tell me everything about Ceris and her plans.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know anything.”
Imha raised her scepter and pointed it at my family. “I thought we were done with games.”
“I don’t know where she is. I swear; I’m not lying. I met with her briefly in the middle of nowhere before going to my parents’ place, and I hadn’t even seen her for three months before that.”
“Her plans,” Imha urged. “I know she has been up to something for quite some time now, and you’re going to tell me everything.”
Oh, God. How could I give her what she wanted without telling her the truth?
My eyes swept over my family. How could I not tell Imha the truth? This was my family, my blood, the reason I lived, breathed, and went on everyday trying to do my best. Who cared about the fate of the world? Who cared if Imha found Ceris, or if she found out Levi and Mitrus were alive? Who cared if the world plunged into more darkness, war overtook every corner, and demons ate every living person?
I should care.
The saying to sacrifice one life, or five, to save millions was true, but I didn’t really care about it when it came to my family.
But I should care.
How could I think of keeping my family alive when there wouldn’t be a world to live in?
My head hurt, and my thoughts zoomed by too fast. I couldn’t make sense of anything.
New tears sprouted in my eyes.
“Tell me!” Imha’s voice boomed, shaking the walls.
I cringed, the kids cried, and my parents whimpered.
“I … I …” I shook my head, willing the words to come out. “I …”
Omi’s grunt became a battle cry, and he pointed his scepter at me.
“No!” Imha pushed his arm away, and the red bright light shot across the room, blinding me for a second. I tried focusing past it, my heart racing.
The light receded, and I blinked. My family was on the ground.
My blood turned
into ice, and I couldn’t process what was right in front of me.
I watched them. Quiet and too still. Bright red blood seeping from under them.
My heart tightened. “No!” I cried, dashing to them. I knelt on the floor and poked at their shoulders, not sure whom to check first. I turned to Mom, then to Nicole, then to Tommy. They were too far away, and they weren’t moving. “No, please, no, no.” I turned Nicole around and screamed. Blood trickled out of her ears and her eyes. I pressed a hand to her chest and willed her heart to beat. It didn’t. “No,” I whispered. I pressed harder. Nothing. “Oh, God.” I punched her chest.
It couldn’t be. This wasn’t happening. I grabbed Teddie’s arm and pulled him to me. I reached for Tommy’s sweater and dragged him over my legs. As much as I could, I scooted closer to Mom and Dad. We had to be together. I would take care of them. They would be okay. We would find a way out of this.
Their blood covered me, and I wished I could drown in it.
I brushed Nicole’s hair from her beautiful face. A sob raked through me, bringing reality with it.
Tipping my head back, I screamed my rage and my pain away until I passed out.
There was a moment during my high school senior year when I thought I wouldn’t make it. I thought I wouldn’t be accepted into any good university; I wouldn’t get a scholarship, and without it I wouldn’t be able to pay for my studies. There was a moment I believed I would end up like my parents, working my butt off on the farm and barely getting through a day without any aches and pains, or complaining about not making enough money to buy food for my siblings.
When the NYU letter arrived with one of the best scholarship options they offered, it was like a rich person’s Christmas. After that, I just needed to get a well-paying job, and I would be able to lessen my parents’ burden.
The week before I moved to New York, Nicole had been in a crazy mood because she was upset with me. I didn’t blame her. I was sad about leaving them too.
I was packing what little I had when she stormed into my room and threw Pinky at me.
“I don’t want it!” she yelled. “You gave it to me because you said you loved me. You’re leaving, so you don’t love me anymore, and I don’t want anything from you!”
Soul Oath Page 10
