Page 48 of Pet: Torment

I don’t respond, but I don’t have to, as she laughs, shaking her head.

“Of course not. I never embedded curiosity in you,” she says.

She narrows her gaze. “But you have brought something into my domain that cannot be concealed. And for that, she must die.”

I tense, taking a step back just as a wave of energy washes over me, holding my body captive. Panic hits me at the sudden turn of the situation, and I look at my mother as the force of her energy forces me to my knees, bright beams of blue becoming visible as they wrap around my arms and legs.

My mother watches me with an emotionless expression as I struggle.

“Your father always knew you’d be a prodigy. But I thought I could fix that—fix you,” she says. “Turns out he was right.”

“What are you doing?” I snap as I struggle, but the beams of energy wrapped around me are sucking what little energy I have left. I am helpless.

“You have given your father a roadmap to where you are located. I am sure he picked up that tiny trace of essence within that feeble human form. Even my rings couldn’t keep that at bay,” she says in irritation.

“Don’t you touch her!” I shout, wincing in pain when the beams tighten.

My mother laughs.

“I am so sick of this song and dance, Remus. You know nothing about the world we came from. Those visions of you as a child are memories. I thought I could prevent you from being just like your father, but I was naive, and when you refused to adjust, and matured as aCelestivineat such a young age, I had to learn how to control you,” she says.

She comes to stand over me, her eyes level with mine as she holds her fingers in front of my face and snaps.

My vision blurs as memories dance across my mind.

My mother pulling me from my bed in the middle of the night. She holds her fingers to her lips, telling meto be quiet, but I don’t want to for some reason. I want to go to her room, and as we pass the door, I reach for it. But she yanks me around roughly to face her.

I release a gasp, my breathing erratic as I remember everything, and I look at my mother in horror, seeing her for the monster she is.

“You took me…while he wasn’t there…during the conversion,” I say, suddenly aware of things I never knew existed.

“Why?” I ask.

“I thought I was saving you from him. From that entire life. But you ended up being just like him. Cold and unfeeling…and filled with so much power,” she says.

I tense, closing my eyes as more memories appear. My mother locked me away for years. That is why I have no memories. And when Xion was old enough, she released me. She trained and manipulated me, locking away memories and blocking who I was.

“I’ve spent centuries creating a safe haven for all of us. And when Ezra’s father came along, I thought everything would be okay…then I bonded with him. And your father began to track us down through him,” she says.

My flesh crawls as I look at her in a darker light. The distance between us, the desire to protect Ezra that she has…she would do anything to remain hidden from the world she came from. She has already done the unthinkable.

“You killed him,” I whisper.

She looks at me, narrowing her gaze. “Don’t look at me with those eyes. If I could, I would kill you too. But if Kuron ever finds us, you and your sister are all I have to leverage for Ezra’s and my freedom. I won’t let you tear down what I have sacrificed so much to create—”

I lunge at her, my rage suddenly uncontrollable. My cries of rage fill the air as the ground around me trembles and breaks,and she watches me for a second, fear clouding her eyes, but only for a split second. She knows I am weak.

The beams of energy tighten around my arms, pulling me down as they pull the life from me. She wipes her face of emotion as she comes to stand over me, pressing her fingers against my forehead. I tense when I feel the tingle of her in my head.

My mind immediately shifts to Iris. She is going to kill her if I don’t do something. But I don’t know how to reach her. And I don’t know how to reach any of my siblings like this.

My mother finds my thoughts.

“Don’t worry. I will make her death as painless as possible. You won’t even remember to mourn her,” she says.

My eyes widen as I feel her tampering with my mind. I see the desperation in her eyes as she does so. Whatever she is trying to prevent me from becoming, whoever she is trying to prevent from finding us, she truly fears.

I shout, using all of my energy in a last desperate attempt to protect Iris. Instead of focusing on myself, I attempt to do something my mother never taught me and destroy this plane of existence.