Return to the Darkness - Ripley Proserpina Page 0,16

Wanted us to have normal lives.”

He suddenly slammed his hand against the door. “That’s not for him to decide. He can’t sweep in and decide he’s the great solver of the universe, and he’s just going to fuck with the timeline for all of existence so that I’ll feel like eating at his house on Sundays. If he wanted something like that, he should have done better the first time.” When Oliver reached out to touch the side of my face, it was gentle. “You killed Erdirg, and what happened, happened. That’s your story. He doesn’t get to touch it.”

I swallowed. “I put him to sleep. I didn’t kill him. And his grave—or sleeping chamber, whatever—it was empty.”

Oliver winced. “Of course it was.” Sarcasm dripped from his every word. “Thanks a lot, Dad. Let’s fight a monster we’ve already battled. Again. Sounds like fun.”

My stomach turned. If this was true, Erdirg was awake. And I was here to face him.

Chapter 5

Colton was going to meet us in the desert. Oliver drove silently. Aaron was in back, and the whole car was filled with heaviness. Aaron didn’t have the same outward anger as Oliver, but when I turned around to see him, it was clear he was tense. He smiled grimly and then went back to watching the scenery pass by.

Oliver, on the other hand. Yikes. He was barely-coiled rage. He white-knuckled his way through traffic, muttering under his breath at lights, stop signs, and other drivers, until he just went completely silent.

I rolled down the window, even though it just let in warm air. I needed something to help me breathe, because every minute that passed was a minute closer to home.

Ha.

I knew that home was gone. I’d gone back when we were fighting Erdirg the first time, and all the homes in that park were gone. Maybe I was lucky not to have so many memories from that place. Neither my mother nor my father had been what anyone would call… caring. The impressions I had of them were two miserable people who were always angry at me.

So, yay! Homecoming!

“What are you sighing and rolling your eyes about?” Aaron asked me. He slid to the middle seat and leaned over my shoulder. “You practically fell backward with that last eye roll.”

“Ha. Ha. I was thinking about my parents.”

“Those thoughts cause me to do the same thing,” Oliver offered.

“Aw.” I took his hand where it rested on his thigh. “We have so much in common.”

He snickered, turning his hand so he could link his fingers with mine. “What are you thinking about?”

“Looking back on it as an adult, I realize how unhappy they were. But when I was a child, they were two looming shadows. Huge dark masses I tiptoed around because I was afraid. I don’t have a lot of memories of them, but the ones I do have…” Shit. I could remember those overwhelming forms screaming and crying. I could remember being hungry and them not waking to feed me. “I’m not looking forward to seeing my old stomping grounds. And the place where I fought Erdirg.” Part of me wondered if I’d left some of my darkness in the desert, and what would happen when I returned.

“It’s going to be okay.” Oliver squeezed my hand before bringing it to his lips.

Aaron darted forward, landing a quick kiss on my cheek before sliding back and buckling his belt. “We blew up portals. Fought a demon. We can handle the specter of our parents’ failures.”

I was glad he was confident about that, because I sure as shit wasn’t.

Cinderblocks scattered at the end of what could barely be called a road were the only things that proved a neighborhood had once been in this spot. The wind blew fast and hot, kicking up dust and sand, and I covered my mouth as I got out of the car.

“This is it?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah.” The wind carried my voice away. I tried to orient myself. Shutting my eyes, I did my best to pull up those buried memories. The memory of finding Erdirg’s vessel in the riverbed was relatively new, but the ones before that time were hazier.

I walked around, looking at my surroundings. “I’d just left you guys and I came out here like I knew what I was doing. No training on it. Just holding the few things I’d managed to take from the house. I bled.” Wincing at the memory, I rubbed the spot where I’d cut myself, a