Page 5

Chapter 5

Aaliyah

T he last time I woke, consciousness came slowly, dragging like a weight through tar. It had been muddled and broken, the only bit that I could truly cling to being that moment in the Void, and the strange man that haunted it. Part of me wondered if everything else hadn't all been some sick dream.

This time, my eyes shot open, my mouth again on Sebek's wrist as he snarled from where he had me pinned to the ground. All I could smell, all I could taste was iron and soot, the ash from his blood growing even as he pulled back, and I choked the rest down.

On instinct, I jerked away, my head bouncing against the frosted, snow-laden earth. I bared my teeth, still tasting metal as I lashed out like a frightened animal and tried to come to any thoughts rationally.

But Sebek didn't flinch, his eyes hollow voids as he dragged me up to my feet.

I forced myself to watch him, always keeping the threat in sight even as my brain tried to get me to look away. He held me steady, his hand on the collar of my shirt, close enough to touch my skin. Still, I watched him, one breath, another, as if time had dragged to a trickle … before stopping entirely.

His face blurred, and the sight of what was behind him was enough to force me to pause. I couldn't speak as he turned, pulling me with him. I covered my mouth, choking on a scream as my mantra fought to keep me silent.

Never make noise.

He began speaking, the words nothing more than gibberish, a mess that my brain had no chance of following as my vision tunneled, and I found myself gasping for breath.

My eyes traced the desolate parking lot, and the dirtied white exterior of a building that looked long since abandoned. I'd only seen the outside a handful of times, my memories fueling every bit of the desperation that sank into my chest, weighing heavily on my heart.

I stopped breathing entirely as my adrenaline spiked, sending me into a tailspin, and just like before, a cold arm stopped me from running, forcing me to face my demons even as they taunted and screamed . Any hope I'd had that somewhere deep inside of Sebek was the man my father used to talk so highly about vanished …

They get more violent when I make noise.

Sebek hadn't just taken me from the Vivas's house. He'd brought me back to Ascension Rising .

"No," I whispered, but Sebek was so lost in his own world he didn't hear me. He mumbled something again as he tugged me forward.

My scream caught in my throat, and I found myself staring at the ground so I wouldn't have to see it.

I couldn't … I couldn't ?—

"Not here," I gasped, and Sebek's attention snapped to me. I knew I should say something, should do something. I reached for that well of darkness in me, searched for the Void, but the sheer sight of Ascension had stolen even that. Tears burst into my view, and I choked on a sob. "Please, not here. Not here !"

I didn't allow myself to take another step as I fought against his hold. When I wouldn't move, he pulled me across the road, leaving me to stumble over my feet or fall, and something told me either way he wouldn't stop.

Why here? Did he … did he plan to continue the experiments?

I nearly blacked out, my eyes rolling back, suddenly seeing white as the fight fled with the rest of my sanity. When he tugged again, everything fell out from under me, my legs caving. This wasn't happening.

I'd escaped once and had to die to do it.

I'd die again before I let him cut me open. Before I heard the perverse sound of Castillion's laugh, or the click of Nox's pen. Before I had to stare into the nothingness of the overhead lights, and question if this life was even worth it.

I would die before I had to face this alone, without even Prince by my side.

He snarled, bending to pick me up, and I lost it. The scream started low in my chest before echoing like a banshee around us. I screamed like he was dragging me to the doors of hell themselves, pulling and yanking with no real plan … beyond staying the fuck away. I ripped so hard against his grip I felt my wrist pop, then my elbow, pain lacing up my entire arm. It was trivial, an ache that hid behind the rush of adrenaline through my veins. I tried to guess what he'd do, prepare for a strike as he turned entirely toward me.

I braced on instinct, flinching so hard it rattled my teeth, but he didn't swing at me with his free hand, something I knew would at the very least knock me unconscious. Instead, his eyes went wide as he let go of my wrist. His hands, cold and still covered in blood, cupped my cheeks harshly. There was a frantic gleam in his eyes I couldn't place that paired with the manic way he inspected me and the mumbled words I couldn't make out.

But that look on his face didn't leave my mind, the worried one he made while rubbing my throbbing wrist.

He used to hate it when I screamed.

He held some affection for me, some kind of instinct to not hurt me, at least not himself. That had to count for something.

"Please, let me go," I asked, voice hoarse as I tried to keep the shake from it. "You don't want to do this."

There was a long pause as he flipped my hand over, pressing his thumb into my palm.

"I'm not done with you yet, Glass. You're mine, " he whispered, the contrast giving me whiplash as his grip hardened before he dropped me entirely. The shift on his face destroyed me, that deranged calculation in his eyes as he brushed his hand through his hair, spreading blood along his pale forehead. "I allowed that troublesome Turned of mine to live."

It was the first time he'd said something that hadn't been completely unhinged, and I lifted my aching hand to my chest as he tilted his head to the side. Goosebumps rose on my arms, and I struggled to breathe. I looked behind him at the door that sat at the top of the concrete steps.

"If you continue to defy me, know that I can go back on that."

A warning, one that was left to ring in my ears as he went deathly silent. He'd let Osiris live … but going back wasn't something he'd be willing to do, not right now.

I'd thrown a wrench into his plans. His words from before suddenly rang, the last moment before he'd dragged me out of my home.

You aren't supposed to be here.

The subtle weight of the charm around my neck soothed me, and I reached up, grabbing the small lavender gem that hung there. It was a promise, a piece of protection from Osiris that I held close to me, always.

A piece of his power.

While Osiris couldn't fight Sebek, he would obliterate anyone Sebek sent to him. Osiris was strong, and I was facing the one of the only men alive that could fight him, I was sure of it.

I gritted my teeth, baring them at Sebek as if I were nothing but a feral animal. I channeled Eirik, a growl in my chest. "I'm not scared of you."

It was silent for several long seconds, and I was left taut on the ground, waiting for his words. It was strange to see the way his face softened like the man I knew he wasn't … but I saw in him, anyway. I saw my father's tilted grin, and my blood ran cold as he kneeled in front of me.

My dear ab. My dad's words, the ones my mind swore to me I was about to hear.

"So, I won't go back for Usire , clever." Was what reached me instead as he leaned closer, the smell of him acidic. There were traces of blood still lingering in the air between us. "You care for him."

I didn't answer, because it wasn't a question.

"And you care for the others," he whispered, another statement.

The marks on my wrist, the ones that tied me to the Vivas Crypt, itched as his attention landed on them. Dark ink against alabaster skin that stung as his eyes lingered. I wanted to hide them, shield them from his sick appraisal.

The others hadn't been there when he'd shown up, but they had to be home by now. He'd missed them, and they weren't people he could threaten either.

"Do you know where they are?" he asked with a sardonic sneer. "You assume home, picking up my insolent Turned. Mourning the loss of you, if he even realizes who took you. Plotting a plan to get you back?"

They had to be home.

That shallow look of rage in his eyes deepened before vanishing completely. The cold sank in, and I shivered both from that look and the chill that suddenly wrecked me.

"What are you getting at?" I snapped, overwhelmed by his barrage.

The woods had grown quiet, deathly so. The dark of the early night bled into the forest, hitting the ground and building in front of me in a mirage of inky shadows, but the cold wasn't from that, the brushing press of it more intentional. Like a comforting hand. The telltale hint of a spirit calmed me, and when the familiarity of that touch came, I relaxed even further into it.

Red.

I sagged with relief, taking in the comfort of his presence greedily. He didn't have a physical form; he never had. He was like little more than dust in the wind, a feeling you couldn't shake but knew was there all the same. The ghost that had clung to the armory, that had been my saving grace after losing Prince. He must have followed when Sebek had taken me. I stopped the urge to reach for the cloth that was still tucked away in my pocket, the little red strip he was attached to. He'd come for me and knowing that I wasn't alone helped me sit a little higher.

"Do you think they enjoyed their stroll to Archon's?" Sebek asked, standing again.

My hope crumbled one unsteady breath at a time. Red flashed, the hint of a soft emotion in the air that was meant to help me but only had me sinking back more. Sebek knew. He knew where they'd been going.

"I told him to summon them. All of them. Usire was supposed to be there as well. So, he might rid me of them before the Eternium?—"

"They wouldn't lose to someone like him!" I broke in, unable to even consider another option.

How had this all gone so wrong?

"Are you willing to risk it? I could tell him that this sunrise is their last." He crossed his arms over his chest, a glimmer of triumph in the way he stood. Like he'd already won. "Or you can follow me willingly. And I'll allow my meddling Turned to survive the day."

Because he had already won.

I'd die again before I walked into that building. Or I would have. Six months ago, before I'd met them , that had been true. If this would save them, then I would face it.

A thousand times, I would walk through the doors of this wretched building again.

For them.

"You'll tell him to let them go?" I asked, a barter I had no leverage to make. There was another reassuring brush from Red, leaving me shaking. Anxiety filled the air, tasting curdled on my tongue. I looked past Sebek, to the building of my nightmares, and tried to find some comfort in it. Tried to focus on Adrian's laugh or Eirik's soothing purr. Fallon's gentled eyes and Osiris's captivating voice as he read to me.

Prince's all-consuming smile.

"No," Sebek said, surprisingly level. I half expected him to laugh at me, to prod and jab in any way he could. Instead, he just stood there, silently watching me on the ground as my palms pressed onto the frozen earth. "But I will not kill them."

He didn't reach down to pick me up, simply waited for me to stand. To walk myself back into my living hell like he knew I would.

Because I couldn't let the others die for this. Wouldn't even risk it. Not when I could still see Osiris's crumpled form on the ground back at the house, his neck twisted so unnaturally.

So, I stood, my legs shaking as that blissful numbness that had kept the experiments from destroying me clouded my mind. I let my hands fall to my sides, categorizing the steady ache in my wrist, filing it away for when I had the energy to deal with it. Blood dripped down over my lip, egged on by the subtle push of pressure as my nose flooded.

Sebek looked pleased enough, turning and walking up the steps. He didn't even hold my wrist to stop me from running.

For them.

I had to force the first step, nearly crumpling again. My breathing became shallow as I passed through the doors. I waited for them to cave in, for the sounds of vicious laughter to follow my slow steps, but it was silent. There were no grand screams or mocking laughter, just the sound of my footsteps on the tiled floor. Part of me wondered how I was moving at all. But I didn't stop as I followed behind Sebek.

The walls were familiar, from the cracking paint to the smell of bleach, but it was the blood that I noticed first. It was old, decaying, and staining the harsh white a sickly brown. We passed the experiment room, the sight of it alone making me sick, vertigo causing me to stumble. I kept it together even as I saw the bodies strewn about the room. There were no ghosts, a fact I took some comfort in as I began to sweat.

It was like it wasn't really happening, each step a hollow torment. I spent the walk staring at the back of Sebek's black suit, pretending he wasn't this monster, until we came upon a door. The glass that met me was the same I'd stared out of for years. Behind it—the threadbare mattress and the stale scent of uncirculated air.

My cell.

Never make noise.

"Please," I started, shutting down my mantra even as it sat like acid on my tongue. The plea was cowardly, but I couldn't go any farther. My knees locked, my throat swelling until I could barely breathe. "Not here."

He raised an eyebrow as he opened the door. It creaked on rusted hinges, sliding into the room as he carefully lifted his hand, brushing back my matted hair. "I don't have the time to track you down should you run."

He toyed with a strand before tipping my head toward him.

None of my father showed in his eyes, even though I kept begging to see him there. The harshness to his scowl said enough, and I hesitated again.

"Do I have to remind you why you're listening?"

I shook my head, taking the first stumbling step through the open door. I couldn't watch, nearly puking as tears came to my eyes.

So, I closed them.

I saw Osiris, his hands against the old ivories of his piano. I saw Adrian in his kitchen, wearing one of his many frilly aprons, cooking something I'd never forget. Fallon painting with that soft smile he tried to hide. Eirik, lying under the stars, using our joined hands to show me the memories of his past.

I saw Prince standing under that ray of sunshine in Eliza's shop. His tilted smile and grounding presence like a balm.

For a second, there was a brush of cold, one I knew to be Red. He helped me take that step, then another.

Until the door closed behind me.

I sank to the ground, my legs no longer strong enough to hold me. I didn't turn around, instead curling up as I tried to convince myself this was all a nightmare. If I dreamed hard enough, maybe I would wake up between the men that I was growing to love. They would hold me close and tell me everything would be okay.

Never make noise.

I curled tighter as the temperature dipped again, and the faintest brush of a hand showed in the air, making a symbol I didn't recognize. The sobs came quickly but quietly.

Even as I tried to let them out, no sound ever came.

They get more violent when they hear noise.