Page 91 of Pet: Torment

“Remus…you don’t want to know,” she says.

“Agh!” Her lover’s pained groan echoes over the party that has now fallen silent to watch this unfold.

“It was our mother! You left and came back different, that’s all I know!” she shouts, shifting her attention to the human who writhes in pain under the invisible force of gravity crushing his bones.

“Please, we couldn’t tell you because you just would have confronted her! And we would be in the same boat, we’re still trying to understand everything—”

“You lied to me. You both lied to me,” I say, shifting my attention to Ezra. He’s standing with his companion and Iris protectively behind him, his expression blank. I look from him to Iris. She watches me with a worried expression, and it doesn’t affect me. According to everyone here, it is because of our mother.

I scoff, releasing Xion’s human from my hold. I look at all of them, my anger visible as I speak.

“You were right to lie to me. Of course, I am going to confront her,” I say.

Ezra steps forward. “Remus, we—”

“Don’t!” I snap. A wave of energy cracks the ground beneath me as my anger comes out in a way that I can’t control. “You watched me live a lie. You let me give in to what she had done, and you were too scared to fight for me, after all I’ve ever done for you. You don’t deserve my protection. You don’t deserve my care. You deserve whatever happens to you and this wretched—”

I sense it before I see it. A bolt of energy rips through the rings, sending a chill up my spine at the power behind it. I’ve never felt anything like it before. It travels faster than even I can comprehend, and it heads straight for Ezra. He doesn’t sense it, for some reason, the hurt behind my words still lingering in his eyes as he looks at me. I’m not fast enough to warn him, nor am I close to being able to stop it as it rips through the sky,splitting the clouds. The beam of blue slices right through him from behind. It tears through his back like a harpoon, the force so intense that it pulls him off his feet, digging into the ground to anchor him there.

The aftershock of the blast sends a violent wind that blows everyone except for me and Xion back, sending debris and smoke everywhere. It rips through the sheets surrounding us, knocking over some of the columns.

“Ezra!” I shout, terror ripping through me as I move across the room. His head hangs limp as his arms dangle in front of him. I am reaching for his body when an entity appears in front of me. It’s a powerful force field that sends bolts of energy through me, forcing my body to fly back. I vaguely register Xion’s scream as I crash into a column.

I am conscious enough to prevent the debris from crumbling on top of me, so it falls around me, giving me time to stand as our attacker lands behind Xion. She turns, forming a pure energy weapon as she tries to strike, but he catches her hand, his free hand catching her around the throat as he looks at me with eyes resembling my mothers.

The way they gleam is a sign of the power he wields. The energy is visible, moving and never still. His hair is white, just like ours but in a braid to hold it out of his face. He grins in excitement, his eyes illuminating as he looks at me, and I tense when the veins beneath his skin illuminate from the foreign energy rushing through him.

“Oh, my son…how you’ve grown.”

Chapter Forty

Remus

This stranger’s words barely register as I shift my attention to Ezra, desperately searching for vital signs. The beam of energy protruding through his back pulses with life, making it difficult for me to focus on Ezra’s. It releases an energy I’ve never seen before, scattering all signals.

Xion’s pained groan is all I need to hear to force me into attack mode. The world around me grows intensely vivid until I can sense everything, down to the irregular pattern of the human heartbeats in the distance.

Then I attack.

An expression of shock appears briefly on our attacker’s features, and he attempts to dodge but misjudges what I am going for. I aim for his grip around Xion’s throat, my intent to sever his hand from her neck. But he releases her, sidestepping to dodge me. I waste no time grabbing her, and since he moves out of the way, I am inches from grabbing Ezra when I feel a powerful blast at my back.

I dodge just in time with Xion in my arms, but it puts distance between me and Ezra. Once I’m a safe distance away, I slowly lower Xion to the ground, my attention remaining on the being who claims he is my father. He’s watching me with a confused expression, his gaze narrowing as he approaches Ezra.

“You seem keen on protecting this abomination,” he says. “You know nothing of your past, do you? Nothing of the way Me’Rite tainted my name. I can see she has twisted your mind past the point of sanity. I am shocked you are able to control yourself.”

I ignore his words as I check on Xion. She’s panting, and her skin is flushed, so I use my power to heal her, passing on my own energy. He attacked Ezra with the intent to kill him. But he was only trying to weaken Xion, meaning we are of some importance.

“Are you okay?” I ask her in a language the being before us cannot understand.

“I’ll be fine,” she says after a moment.

I shift my attention behind him to Ezra.

“We need to separate him from that energy weapon,” I say, lowering my gaze back to Xion.

“I need you with me,” I say. We don’t have time to dwell on the words I spoke to them earlier. They were in a fit of anger. Now, as a real threat stands before us, we need each other.

Xion nods, grimacing as she rises to her feet and we both face the being who claims to be our father. It never occurred to me that I had one. My mother spoke of her life before this—of the culture we came from as if we were the only ones left. This stranger is clearly aCelestivinewith an aura that I can’t decipher. He gives nothing off—no energy, no power, no intent. For once, I feel a chill of uncertainty grab hold of my spine as he slowly steps in front of Ezra’s unconscious form, intent on keeping us away from him.