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Kill the World

EMILIA

T he heat was going to kill me.

I stood at the open window, gulping in the fresh air, but it brought me no solace. Restlessness lashed in my stomach like a serpent.

I couldn’t take another second of this.

In nothing but my pale blue night dress, I left my room, my bare feet silent against the marble floors.

I found myself entering the Serpent’s Wood, leaving the safety of starlight, willingly crossing over into the dark mouth of the trees. Shadows clung to them as their spiny branches danced in the light wind.

An ache bloomed in my chest, beckoning me forward, a silent call I couldn’t quite explain.

It took me a few moments of deep breathing to gather the guts to go through the fairy door alone. The hole in the grassy knoll felt sentient, a creature watching me, hedging bets on whether or not I’d do it.

“I’m not afraid,” I muttered, then stepped through.

The portal swallowed me, stealing my senses and my sanity, but only briefly.

On the other side, I was welcomed into the arms of true winter, and it felt like breathing for the first time.

Moonlight spilled through the canopies of the massive old-growth trees, their limbs sagging under the weight of thick snow, which twinkled as it caught the light. Icicles dangled from them like Christmas decorations. The forest was a canvas of deep greens and blues and silver, the darkness unable to truly reign here—not while the frost and the moonlight worked together to bless the world with a cool, shimmering glow.

The trees whispered in the wind as I walked alone through the thick snow, my bare feet unaffected by the freezing bite. The white plumes that surrounded me with each breath filled me with gentle euphoria.

Riding on the wind were voices. Voices from somewhere deep in this snowy forest. I listened closely, noting the musical, feminine tones.

Women singing?

I ventured toward the mysterious ballad, feeling summoned like a wandering spirit.

The treeline broke to reveal a moonlit clearing, where the snow sparkled like a bed of diamonds. I crept forward, my brows lowering as tall waves of silver caught the light. As I got closer, I realized they were silver robes. Long and flowing from the bodies of seven women standing in a circle, singing.

No, chanting .

Words I didn’t recognize. A foreign, ancient language that made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

Primal fear punched my chest. I watched them for a few minutes, hardly breathing, until one of them turned around.

Before I saw her face, I ran. Tore through the woods like a bullet, inexplicable terror scorching through me. Footfalls crashed through the trees after me. They’re coming . I didn’t stop, even when I stumbled. I hurled myself through the fairy door, expecting to be met with the silence of the Serpent Wood.

Light and sound obliterated my senses.

People bustled by, their faces distorted and terrifying like demons had clawed their way up from Hell and taken over the world. I spun around, bewildered and afraid.

I was standing in the middle of Moonrise Blvd.

“What…?”

Bright, neon lights flashed everywhere. A floating Ferris wheel spun in the distance. Creepy music played in the background, like the chime of a broken wind-up music box. A billboard shone above me, the light inside of it flickering ominously. My sister’s face was displayed on the stuttering screen for the whole world to see. The message under her picture read:

YOUR EVIL SISTER WILL KILL THE WORLD

“No,” I whimpered.

The street was packed. Everyone looked up at my sister’s billboard as they walked by. They cackled and pointed. Mocked her and basked in the propaganda. “ Nyx Morningstar is the devil ,” they said. “ Evil bitch .”

“No, she’s not!” I cried, but none of them heard me.

And the crowd got bigger, the street more packed. People knocked into me, pushing me around. I tried to elbow my way out of the mob but they were consuming me. An ocean of frightening, wrong-looking people, swallowing me whole. Nyx’s face on the flickering billboard watched me. Tears streaked down her cheeks. “ Help me ,” she mouthed. Her picture came to life. She started punching at the billboard, trying to escape. “ Emilia, why won’t you help me ?”

“Nyx!” I screamed. “I’m trying! Please!”

I started running. Desperate to get out of here.

Billboards lined the street above me. All of them flickered with blue light, the words written on them all the same.

YOU’RE DREAMING

I stopped short.

Looked down at my hands. They shimmered, my skin nearly translucent. My fingers were thinner and longer than I remembered.

“Am I dreaming?” I wondered aloud.

The billboards above me were now barren, stuttering with weak light. They displayed no pictures or words. What had they said before?

I stumbled down the center of the street. The asphalt below me morphed, thinning out until I could see through it.

Until I was standing on ice.

A thin, dark sheet of it. Fissures crackled and spread under my feet as I moved. My stomach flip-flopped, knowing that if I fell into the dark water below, I’d never surface again. Every step I took was light and calculated, whimpers escaping me as the ice threatened to shatter under my weight.

“Please,” I whispered, trekking forward.

The world around me was barren and endless. Nothing but mist, ice, and dark angry clouds.

I watched my feet, watching in horror as every step felt heavier, the ice ready to combust.

An enormous, serpentine body slithered under my feet, moving sluggishly in the dark water under the cracking ice. Wide as a car and pale as a winter moon, writhing like a giant snake.

I screamed.

The ice shattered.

The dark water roared in my ears as it enveloped me with frigid, ravenous jaws. I clawed desperately for the surface—terrified that the beast was going to devour me. But I didn’t see it as I descended deeper into the glacial water.

I saw something else. She was floating amid the darkness, her limbs and silver hair buoyant around her motionless body.

Nyx.

The fear that had been pummeling through my chest vanished instantly, replaced with dire urgency. I swam toward her as fast as I could, trying to call her name, though my voice was swallowed by the arctic depths.

A winged shadow emerged behind my sister, his eyes two silver lamps piercing the dark. He glared hatefully at me, his mouth moving as he muttered curses upon me. Then he snatched Nyx, his wings beating hard as he rose to the surface and left me alone.

No!

The momentum of his wings pushed me deeper. The darkness claimed me, and no matter how much I struggled and fought, it didn’t matter. Eventually, I succumbed to it, falling still in defeat. I’d die down here in the freezing depths.

I stared up at the surface, watching as the moon peeked out from behind a cloud. It was so far away yet I could see it clearly. It poured its silver-blue light through the water, illuminating my body.

The moon dropped a stone into the water.

It sank toward me, this mysterious black stone. It ignited a reaction inside me that I didn’t understand. A familiarity, a knowing.

A saving grace.

I clawed my way toward it, stunned by what I found. It was a crystal. A black crystal.

I recognized it. Where had I seen it before?

Without thinking, I grabbed it. The second I made contact, the world shifted. Violently. I screamed as the water drained from around me and a tornado engulfed me instead. I spun and spun and spun and spun. A wooden staff emerged from in the center of the chaos and I grabbed onto it for dear life.

When the world fell still, a prince stood before me. Holding his staff, his hands placed right below mine.

I blinked, breathing rapidly. My fingers stayed fused around the staff.

“Michael.”

His face had been pensive, but now it split into a grin. “You know me this time.”

A statement which was only half true. I recognized his face, but everything else bewildered me. He wore a silver crown encrusted with blue jewels. A long, navy blue cloak fell around him like dark water. His dark eyes were bigger than I remembered, swimming with silver flecks.

“I know,” he said grimly, watching as I studied him. With one hand, he yanked on the crown, but it didn’t budge. “Not sure where this came from, but I can’t remove it.”

My eyes widened. Finally, I untangled my fingers from around the wood. Took a moment to sweep my gaze over our surroundings. We stood alone on a dark beach, a giant blue moon shining overhead. The ocean lapped gently at the shore.

I took in a deep breath. “I’m dreaming.”

“Yes.”

I nodded. “Okay. Okay.”

“Are you alright, Emilia?”

The way he said my name awakened something inside me. Something starving that had been lying dormant.

He was so lovely, devastatingly lovely. His crown, his eyes, his lips. My focus zeroed in on the ring through his bottom one, which he pulled between his teeth instinctively.

I wanted to press my lips to—

No.

His presence drenched me in temptation but also reminded me of a greater purpose. We were together, lucid in the Dream Realm.

Tearing my gaze from him was painful. In doing so, though, I realized where we were.

“I know this place.” I pointed to the dark house. “Come on.”

Inside the house was exactly how it had been in the waking world. Shattered glass on the floor. Blood on the kitchen island, and a mess on the kitchen floor. I searched for a sign, maybe something I’d missed before, but everything was the same. We must have only been here because this place was in my subconscious.

Then a sound came from down the hall. The bedroom.

I perked up, listening.

Soft sounds, like whispers or cries.

I instantly followed the sounds, stalking toward the bedroom. Maybe Nyx was here after all—dreaming. If she was lucid, as Micheal said she’d been before, I could talk to her.

Excitement rushed through me.

I pushed through the bedroom door and instantly wished I hadn’t.

She was here, alright.

Naked in between Solaris and Jedidiah.

I might have screamed.

I should have shut the door. I should have stopped looking. But it was like a car accident—a naked, sweaty car accident that I couldn’t pry my eyes away from.

Jedidiah was sitting on the end of the bed and Nyx was standing in front of him, their bodies flushed together. He had his hands on her breasts, his lips on her throat. Her head was tilted back, her mouth open, eyes closed. Her expression was pure euphoria. Solaris stood on the other side of her, his fingers in her hair, his mouth tasting the skin beside her parted lips. His wings were tucked back, and he was fully clothed—they both were—but Nyx was stripped naked and they were having their fill of her.

The sounds they were making. The way they were touching each other.

The way they were looking at each other…

My insides clenched and heated, and it was fucking wrong, I needed to look away. But I was trapped. Jed leaned in to kiss Nyx on the mouth before he turned her around and pulled her to his chest. She arched into him, her entire front exposed to Solaris who stared down at her with starving, possessive eyes. His hands were all over her breasts as Jed kissed her shoulder and had his hand between her thighs.

“Nyx!” I cried. She didn’t hear me. “Nyx! Stop it! STOP!”

They didn’t hear me.

Fingers locked around my wrist and yanked me from the room while I was still screaming.

It was way, way too late but my hands flew to cover my eyes. The visual played like a horror movie on the back of my eyelids.

Michael dragged me back down the hall while I cried out intelligibly.

“Emilia!” Michael’s voice jarred me out of my stupor. His eyes were wide, his shock mirroring mine. “That wasn’t her. It was an echo—or a projection. If that was really her, she would have heard you. Lucid or not.”

I breathed hard, letting those words roll over me. “What’s an echo? A projection?”

“An echo is an old dream. Usually recurring. A projection is a suppressed thought from your own mind.”

I grimaced, offended. “Why would my mind come up with that !”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. But whether it was a fear of yours or a fantasy of hers, it wasn’t real. I’m going to take us out of here, okay? Hold onto me.”

I practically jumped into his arms. He held out his staff, sweeping it around us, kind of like the motion of a paddle.

The realm blurred and shifted. I dove into his chest, hiding from the whirling chaos.

When the world went still, I was in my dorm room. Lying in bed, panting, the dark ceiling spinning above me.

“Michael?” I murmured, searching for him.

Michael wasn’t with me anymore. But I wasn’t alone.

Destiny was here. Back in our room, but not in her bed. She was standing over mine as if she’d been watching me sleep.

“Destiny, what are you—?” I shut myself up when I saw her eyes.

Pitch. Black.

She stood over my bed, staring down at me through two black holes. I was not looking at my best friend but at a demon wearing her flesh. Even the way she stood was wrong. With her neck slightly bent, forward and to the side.

When she saw that I’d woken up, she grinned.

Then she lunged at me.

I screamed and rolled out of the way, her fingernails missing me by a hair. I toppled onto the floor, tangled in the sheets. Destiny made a god-awful, inhuman sound that turned my stomach to lead. I clawed at the floor, desperate to get away from her. My brain wasn’t processing what was happening. I was in pure flight mode.

I fought my way out of the sheets and bolted for the door.

She caught me by the shoulder, her nails digging mercilessly into my skin. I shrieked in pain, my head snapping back as she tried to drag me deeper into the room.

I turned around, my arm reared back. I punched her in the face with all the strength I could muster.

She remained unfazed. Grinned at me as she latched her fingers around my throat and tossed me across the room.

I sailed through the air with a scream before my body smashed into the wall. I hit so hard that the mirror and a few pictures clattered to the floor around me in a mess of shattered glass.

Destiny watched me struggle to breathe.

Panic exploded through me like a thousand baby spiders from their cottony nest.

Slowly, so fucking slowly, she walked over to me.

She stepped into the moonlight that shone through the window. Her shadow on the wall behind her was massive and disfigured.

“ Your evil sister will kill the world ,” she mocked, and her voice was all wrong. Deep and echoed, as if several different voices were talking at once.

“Destiny,” I wheezed. “If you’re in there, please—”

“ Shut up! ” the voices boomed. “ You tore us from our vessel. You did this .”

She came at me again, and I knew I was done. I threw my hands in front of my face and screamed.

I woke up like that. Screaming and tangled in the sheets and cowering away from the demon wearing my best friend’s face.

I breathed hard as I sat up, bracing for another attack. I scoured my room as my heart threatened to eject from my body. Destiny’s bed was empty and made. The mirror and pictures on the wall were perfectly intact. No sign of a struggle anywhere. I was alone, in the quiet dark.

It was a dream. It was just a dream.

I repeated that mantra over and over as I slid out of bed and splashed cold water on my face in the bathroom. My reflection was a wreck. My eyes, shadowed and haunted and battle-worn. Phantom pain on my shoulder burned. I—

There was blood on my nightdress.

I pushed down the sleeve to expose my shoulder and my heart fucking plummeted from my body.

Where Destiny had grabbed me in the dream, there were four deep scratches, oozing with fresh blood.