Page 18

Darkness on the Horizon

Ella

A fter what had happened in the prison cell, I felt more hopeful than ever before because, clearly, she had protected Orthrus and I was desperate to know why. But I was also terrified that I would do or say something that would push Anástasi the other way.

I also couldn’t get the memory of Orthrus hanging there in that cell out of my head. His beaten body unable to heal had been a crushing sight, one that I knew would pain Jared also.

I couldn’t imagine what Jared was going through, knowing how worried and devastated he must be, not just for me but for his brother too.

At least he knew that my life wasn’t in any danger.

No, I was too important to Garmr, seeing as he needed me alive.

But as for his brother, Jared had no way of knowing for sure that he was still holding on.

Anástasi had been significantly quiet since the cell and like I said, I didn’t want to push her in fear of her once again turning against me.

But it was also like she was thinking on it, as if playing all Orthrus and I had said over and over again.

At least this was what I hoped for, and she wasn’t just convincing herself that we were the bad guys.

Because despite being the same person, another thing I didn’t have access to were her thoughts.

Just like Garmr wouldn’t let her have access to mine or more like… my memories.

Since being back from the cell, I had time to reflect on my own strange circumstances, because I kept referring to her as a different person entirely.

Although, I knew deep down this wasn’t the case.

The only thing I could think of it as, was like an old part of my brain had reawakened and taken over the person I had become.

Like she had been the dormant one for all these years, asleep in a hidden part of my brain. And now, we had switched places.

I had been sent to this void, along with my recent memories, thoughts, and decision-making abilities, all now locked away with no control.

It made me wonder what would happen when I came back to myself, if ever.

Would our memories merge? Would I lose my old self again, would Anástasi be lost forever or merely asleep once more?

I just didn’t know.

But I knew one thing… I had to find my way back somehow. Back to Jared, back to my family, back to my life… back to myself. This cage was maddening, with nothing to do but watch through my own eyes at the mistakes she made on my unwilling behalf.

While I was silently contemplating my dire situation, she surprised me.

She wanted to speak to me.

“You have been very silent,” she said, purposely facing the mirror as if wanting to face me personally. But when I didn’t answer her, she huffed. “What is this? So you are not speaking to me now, you have given up your ruse of playing the victim?”

And of course, this was enough to rise my temper, making me react.

“Hardly,” I snapped, and the strangest thing happened, as the briefest flash of relief was what I saw reflecting back at me in my own eyes. Eyes that she had control of. I couldn’t help but cling on to that, spiking my hope just like in Orthrus’s prison cell.

“You still believe that Garmr is plotting to use me?” she questioned, and I had to refrain from a chuckle, instead watching my own lips move as though I was talking to myself.

“He doesn’t need to plot, he is already doing it. He has been from the very beginning.”

Her frown was almost laughable.

“He loves me,” she argued, making me break through enough to grit my teeth.

“Okay, so answer me this, did you volunteer to help build his army or did he ask you to do that?”

She faltered slightly, as if knowing her own answer would damn him further. Her silence was telling enough that it prompted me to say,

“That’s what I thought.”

“You don’t understand, he needed me!”

I wanted to shout so badly at her, but I knew it would only push her to argue more. So, I decided to draw her out, doing so in a calm way.

“Why did he need you, tell me?” I asked, making her sigh. My shoulders slumped as the tension started to leave her.

“Persephone, our father’s wife, wanted Lerna and I dead. She was amassing an army and Garmr needed to do the same in order to protect us. But my powers weren’t strong enough, so he told me that he knew a way to make me stronger…” Before she could say it, I finished it for her.

“The book of souls.”

“Yes,” she said, and it was in that moment that I knew what had started this whole thing.

It had clearly all spiraled out of control after that point in the past. And it made me realize that this was what Garmr had wanted all along.

For me to take possession of the book of souls and not only regain my power, power that he could then use once again, but much more.

He wanted that version of me back. The part of me that had been so easy to manipulate in my grief and heartbreak when losing the love of my life.

My HellBeast.

That’s why he needed to get me back into Hell.

That was what he had tried to do ever since that first attempt of the Hellhounds attacking me.

Throwing one thing after another at us. Until, in the end, it was my love for Jared and my own attempt at trying to save him that led to me to being here now. Led to this point.

Right back to the start.

“It’s what he wanted all along,” I said, making her frown, so I explained, “He won’t let you access my memories, right? He is stopping you in some way?”

“It’s not like that, not a physical thing or anything he has done to me. He just told me what would happen if I do.”

“Why? What did he say would happen if you did?” I asked, a bad feeling washing over me.

“He told me that there is a chance I will be lost again, lost to you and all the memories I had before in my first life, they would disappear completely as you regained back control.”

I groaned.

“Or he is just scared that you will realize the truth, that you will see the life I had before all this and how happy I was? That you will see what type of man Jared is and that he is not the enemy? You will see all the nightmares Garmr plagued me with since I was a child and how he stalked my mind. Because it was the only thing he had the power to do once he knew I had been reborn back into a mortal,” I told her and, for once, she didn’t instantly argue against me.

Although she wasn’t exactly all fired up to accept it either.

Baby steps, I kept telling myself, baby steps.

“We will have no way of knowing if that is true or not, as I am not willing to take that chance. I am sorry but I just can’t do it.”

I couldn’t say I was surprised. So, I decided to use a different tactic.

“So, you trust him… Garmr? You trust his intentions and the reasons he is telling you as to why he continues to make you rebuild this army…? And to exhaustion at that, I might add. You can honestly say you trust him completely?” I asked, and despite her answer, I couldn’t help notice her slight hesitation in doing so.

“Yes, I trust him.”

“You don’t believe he is keeping anything from you?”

“I don’t understand why you are asking me this, I have already told you, I trust him, so no, I don’t think there is anything he is keeping from me!” she snapped, telling me I needed to tread lightly.

“Okay, so let’s prove it.”

“How?” she asked, our voice laced with suspicion.

“Simple, let’s go for a walk.”

She jerked back in surprise, obviously not expecting my suggestion.

“A walk?”

“Yeah, why not? We aren’t a prisoner here, so surely we can go for a walk, right?” I asked, making her frown.

“I feel like this is a trick.”

I laughed, and it was a sound that made it through, something she didn’t seem surprised by anymore.

Something that told me, once again, how much stronger I was getting.

But I had to question, was it because she was letting her guard down with me?

Was she getting more comfortable with hearing my voice…

and to the point that she was even asking for it?

I didn’t yet have the answers, so I decided to lure her even further into a false sense of security by pointing out the obvious.

“What, you think I have somehow arranged for us to be kidnapped? How would I plan anything, I have no control, remember?” I said, trying to keep the bitterness out of our tone.

“Fine. A walk to where exactly?”

“I don’t know, around the castle, just anywhere out of this room that doesn’t include a cave filled with bones,” I said, making sure to point out the fact that this was all we ever seemed to do.

Garmr had been pushing her too hard lately and I could feel her resolve snapping, along with her need to make him happy.

It was as if she could see his growing greed for more.

More bones, more souls, more power to add to his army.

One that was so immense, I knew that if I didn’t do something to stop this, and soon, all would be lost. Because there was no way the rest of Hell could fight against this.

It was just too immeasurable. So, I had to find a way to help somehow, something I knew would never happen if all I ever saw was the inside of this room and those dreaded caves.

“Alright,” she agreed, and I forced myself not to make her sigh in relief, because I didn’t want to tip her off that I did actually have an ulterior motive.

In truth, I was hoping that I would see something that would help me when the time came. That, or I would catch Garmr doing or saying something incriminating. Something enough to have her questioning his own motives. Either way, I knew I had to try.