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Everything is dark.Open your eyes, Summer.Darkness. There is only darkness, a throbbing pain radiating through my skull, and the warm trickle of blood as it trails from my ear. Open your eyes,Summer. Darkness. I try to move my arms, but I can’t. Something hard and sharp is pressing against my wrist, digging deep into my skin.Open your eyes, Summer.Darkness. I try to move my legs, but again, nothing happens. Something rubs uncomfortably against the backs of my thighs.

Open your eyes, Summer.

I try, but there is only more darkness. This time, though, awareness floods into me.

That laugh, that horrible chilling laugh, comes from behind me.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” the voice says. The necklace around my neck heats until it feels like it is burning my skin. “Hello, Summer.” The voice is right beside my ear, the words a hateful caress. That voice. It is so familiar, yet so foreign.

“I was beginning to get bored waiting. I’ve been so looking forward to seeing you.” The smile that lines the voice is evil and hateful, jealousy permeating it. “Are you ready to see me, hm?”

“Who are you?” I whisper, my voice surprisingly even.

“What’s wrong, Summer? Don’t you recognize my voice?” The voice gets farther away, moving in front of me. Slowly, theblindfold is peeled away. The light burns my eyes, and at first, it is just a shadow in front of me, a mere outline surrounded by a dark brown halo, but then…

Aqua smiles wickedly at me, her platinum white hair shaved tight to her scalp. I blink, trying to clear my vision. Rocks surround us and there is the faint noise of water dripping, a malevolent echo of life in an otherwise dead space. She spins the blindfold around her finger and pulls a dagger from the waistband of her pants. There is a blur of movement, and then she is straddling me where I sit on the chair. I gasp and try to tug my arms free, my chest heaving. Aqua presses the sharp edge of the blade to my cheek, and I groan as the agony momentarily blinds me. Aqua’s eyes roll in pleasure as she slides the dagger down my face, slicing away flesh and skin. The pain is nearly unbearable when the air hits the raw wound, but I don’t scream.

She looks at the flap of skin she has just carved from me and smiles, her magenta eyes darkening as she places it on her arm. “So pretty,” she hums softly, pressing the blade against my throat. “This is just too perfect to be here,” she says, cutting into me again. My body bucks, and I bite back a scream as she takes another chunk of me. “Hush,” Aqua says. “I’m just taking a little.” She removes the flap of skin from my neck and places it on her cheek. “They won’t be able to tell.”

Aqua wipes the blade against her bright blue pants, cleaning away my blood before lifting it. She studies her reflection in the shiny metal with a smile, sliding her fingers over my skin and blood. She hums that haunting tune again and tilts the knife. Distraction. She’s distracted. A memory from my defensive classes flashes into my mind, and I slam my head forward. Her nose makes a sickening crack, and she cries out in pain. She covers her face with her free hand and slams the dagger into my shoulder. Pain explodes through me, the sharp blade sliding right through to protrude from my back. I feel a hot tear trackdown my face, stinging as it falls into the open wound on my cheek. Aqua snaps her nose back into place, her placid smile returning.

“I was impatient. You made me impatient. I had it all planned, you see. Seven perfectly planned lessons, but I only made it to four,” she muses. “You don’t know what it’s like… growing up dark fae,” she says, yanking the blade free. The pain is almost as awful coming out as it was going in. “Perfect little light fae.” Aqua trails the blade down my arm, taking a deep slice of my flesh.

“W-why are you doing this?” My words are a groan of pain, strained from the effort of holding back my screams.

“We all heard you. The second you walked into Avalon. Clear as a bell,” she continues as if I hadn’t spoken. “There were a few of us who knew it would happen. We were called crazy. They would throw things at us.” She smiles at the flap of skin and then brushes it over her lips, her eyes rolling back into her head as she does. “The line of Titania survives.” Aqua tsks, still playing with my skin. “I was supposed to take you, but I wanted to play. I wasn’t finished playing, but you made me impatient.” Aqua pouts. “You made him mad. I didn’t want to kill him, but he didn’t understand. No one did. You’re mine, my little perfect doll.” Aqua places my skin in her palm. “And I wanted to see you break.” She squeezes her hand into her fist, and the flap disintegrates, blood and tissue oozing gruesomely between her fingers.

My body trembles, not just in fear but in rage.

Aqua presses the blade against my side, and I notice the ring on her finger. It’s my engagement ring. I shake my head, and she slashes my waist, taking another chunk of me. “You have it so easy. You don’t know pain. You don’t know terror.” She looks at me, and I meet her gaze. “But you will,mySummer. I couldn’t even get to the end of my clues.” She tuts.

Aqua lifts her hand, playing with my ring like I’ve done so many times, covering the gold band with my blood. I pull on the restraints until the rope burns my skin, rage surging through me.

“Maybe I’ll keep him around. That wasn’t the plan, but he’s nice to look at.” She gazes at the ring admiringly. “I doubt he’ll notice. Perhaps he will prefer this, prefer me. The perfect little Summer. But that’s not who you truly are. Is it?”

“Release me, you piece of shit!” I snarl.

Aqua blinks at me, almost like she’d forgotten I was there. Then she smiles and slowly slides the dagger up my body, pressing the tip just beneath my eye. “Such a pretty color. They would look much better on me.”

I tense, barely breathing. “Aqua, please. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

Aqua tilts her head. “You know, we’re not even supposed to touch you.” She smiles madly, her eyes shining with wildness. “His royal evilness said hands off.” She drags the knife down my other cheek, cutting but not taking any of my skin this time. The blood trickles down my throat. “But his orders don’t work in Avalon. Here, we are free, and I just couldn’t resist.” She looks at me with a dark possessiveness that is terrifying. “Besides, they don’t understand. You are mine.”

“Aqua, I don’t understand. Please…” I plead, another tear falling.

“Poor beautiful Summer,” Aqua says, leaning in and slowly licking the blood from my cheek. She moves her lips to my ear and whispers, “The last of the light fae. Soon to be no more.”

A pebble falls somewhere in the distance, and Aqua’s head snaps up. She smiles menacingly and slams her lips to mine. The kiss is savage and hateful. She bites my lip hard, making me bleed before she vanishes into the shadows.

I pant, pulling on the restraints again. My wrists throb from the burns, and blood drips down my hands, but I ignore the pain, tugging harder and harder. Fuck.

Footsteps approach, and I whimper softly. Connor appears in the doorway, and a new level of fear punches me. I shake my head. Connor gasps and runs to me, ripping at my bindings. “Fuck. What the fuck happened?”

I shake my head. “Connor. Get out of here. Now. Please.”

Connor meets my gaze. “Don’t worry, babe. I wi?—”

His body goes rigid, and he arches, a small, pained sound leaving his lips. I watch in horror as his legs buckle, and he falls to his hands and knees. Red blooms around the blade protruding from his back. My dagger, the one my protective boyfriend gifted to me. It was meant to keep me safe, and it is now piercing Connor’s back.