The Abdicated block my view as they begin heading toward the tunnel, but I’m able to see Shateel placing her palms on Morax’s face, and my stomach drops. Shit. She’s disguising him.
An Abdicated wing blocks my view, and I try to casually move so I can watch Morax and Shateel, but it’s no use. I’m at the back of the room, dealing with a dozen or so Abdicated bodies between me and them in the dim light.
Craning my neck to the side, all I’m able to see is his wings ripple with change, right as another large body steps in my way, hiding Shateel and Morax from sight.
I move to step to the left for a better vantage point, but a hand comes down on my shoulder, keeping me still. I don’t look back to see who stops me. I’m supposed to be brainwashed and mindless with no goal other than to carry out Morax’s plans, so I simply just freeze in my tracks and stare at nothing, hoping whoever stopped me doesn’t grow suspicious of my movements.
“Finished,” I hear Shateel say, and then I catch a glimpse of her sultry walk as she heads into the tunnel with the others, while winged Abdicated surround her.
Panic flares through me.
“Let’s go.” The hand on my shoulder moves down to grip my arm, and I see that a trio of guards with black chest plates are standing behind us, one for each of my sisters and me. With a tight grip on our arms, they start tugging us forward.
My eyes flare, searching wildly around, but I lost my chance. There’s no way I can see what Morax looks like now. I don’t even know what all the other Abdicated in the room looked like, so I can’t even rule faces out when we get to this party.
How are we going to tell the good Abdicated from the bad?
Trepidation sinks into my every muscle as we’re led to the tunnels with the last of Morax’s followers. How the hell are we going to trick the Ophidian if we don’t even know what face he’s wearing? He could be anyone. He could even be the guard holding me now.
That thought makes my blood run cold.
Maybe Delta or Medley were able to see him, but there’s no way for me to check in with them. I can’t risk looking their way, not with the ominous hand gripping me.
What ifs and foreboding despair flood my mind with warning. I try not to heed any of the alarm, but hopelessness floats in my chest all the same, and that hopelessness reminds me of the years I lived as a human.
All my life, I have been trying not to see monsters.
I have actively ignored them, hid from them, even tried to medicate against them. But all of that is behind me now. I’m not that hopeless, lost woman. I have to face what I am and where I am. I may have tried to ignore the monsters of my past, but the Ophidian is the biggest monster of them all, and in order to face him, I have to know his face.
I’m jostled and shoved forward by the armored demon behind me. The movement stokes my anger, and I use it to chase my fears and worry away. My sisters and I will have to be very, very careful, but there’s no turning back now. I wouldn’t want to turn back even if I could.
I pull a calming breath into my lungs and release it slowly.
Maybe we won’t survive this, but if giving my life is what it takes to end the monster, then it’s worth it. The Ophidian needs to be stopped at all costs. And if it comes down to it, I’m ready to pay the price.
23
I never considered myself someone who’s afraid of the dark. Things didn’t go bump in the night for me. They didn’t need to, because I saw the scary things in the light of day. But right now, as I’m being forced to walk through a pitch-black tunnel, I practically feel the shadows and menace closing in on me.
There’s something incredibly unnerving about walking down a narrow space like this, without any light, surrounded by enemies and the scent of earth and evil. I’m trying to have faith in Vudu’s ability—I know he would never plan on taking Toreon through here unless it was safe—but it doesn’t make it any less creepy and unnerving.