Page 66 of Dance With A Devil

He just shakes his head, slow and firm. “Youneedto see it,” he says. “Even if it breaks you.”

I swallow hard.

Dash’s knuckles drum a slow rhythm on the arm of the couch, his eyes unreadable. Onyx just nods once, still masked, still unreadable. Wells, his arms crossed, his body coiled tight like a fuse waiting for flame, grunts something that might’ve been support or warning.

I breathe in.

I square my shoulders like I’m about to slit open a vein.

And I open it.

The pages crack like a scream.

There, in thick childlike scrawl, is my name.

Athens Jane.

And a date.

“…My God…” I whisper, breath catching like it’s snagged on barbed wire. “I was five years old when I wrote this?”

I stare at the crooked letters. At the too-small handwriting.

“How the hell would I evenknowhow to journal at that age?”

No one answers.

Because they don’t need to.

Whatever's inside these pages… whatever was done to me, whatever I was forced to remember or forget, it’s about to come out.

And the Devils of Cliffside are about to learnexactlywhat they swore to protect.

Even if it destroys them, too.

Athens – Age 5

Mommy had to work again today. She always works when it gets dark. I think she forgets I get lonely when she’s gone. The house is so big when I’m by myself.

Daddy came into my room before the moon got too high. He said little girls shouldn’t sleep alone, not when they have a daddy who loves them. He said mommies don’t understand the way daughters need their daddies. But he understands. He always understands.

He climbed in behind me, like he always does, and puts pillows between us. He says that way, no monsters can get me. That his body is a shield. That he’s my lion, just like Aslan. He uses a pillow instead, proof he’s here.

I didn’t feel scared. Not really. I just felt… small. Like my bones were too little for how heavy the room felt. But he told a story like he always does, about Narnia and magic and snow. I love the snow. I love the lion most.

He said he would take me there one day, if I was good. If I kept our stories a secret. If I didn’t tell Mommy how warm he gets when he holds me.

I didn’t want to ruin it. The story was so nice tonight. It almost made the heaviness go away.

So I closed my eyes and went to Narnia in my head. I saw the lamp post. I saw the lion.

Athens – Age 6

Mommy was putting on her lipstick again. The red one she wears when she works late. She smiled in the mirror like everything was normal. Like I wasn’t holding onto the hem of her coat with both hands.

“Be a good girl and I’ll see you in the morning before school,” she said, kissing my forehead. Her lipstick left a mark. I wished it would stay there forever.

“I don’t want you to go, Mommy.” My voice shook, just a little. Not enough for her to hear what I was really saying.