and his brother Hektor—one selfish, the other good. In the story, good triumphed for the time being. But I wonder how the story would have gone if Hektor had to sacrifice his life to trap Malefiscus in the portal. Would bad have triumphed, instead? Or would he have thrown down his life to save the people he cared about?
“I have the answer to the question you asked me earlier,” I say to the queen, approaching the throne, not steady and sure, but trembling and terrified because that’s who I am. I’m not fearless. I feel almost everything now. I’ll never be able to be someone who fearlessly lays down their life to save others.
I’ll always just be a girl doing what I have to in order to make things right.
ALEX
“A traitor?” Laylen says, appalled. “Okay, I think you’ve finally lost your damn mind. Seriously, man.”
“That sounds like something a traitor would say.” I aim my knife at him.
He stares me down. “You’re fucking insane.”
“Aren’t we all?” I question, eyeing the two of them, wondering if they’re really Aislin and Laylen.
“Laylen’s not a traitor!” Aislin shouts as she finishes removing the Mark of Malefiscus from Sophia’s arm. “And neither am I.”
“Then why was I trapped in that floor?” Sophia wakes up, blinking. “I don’t understand how any of this happened.”
“Are you sure about that?” I inch toward her, still armed with my knife. “Or could your confusion be an act to make us turn on each other?” I lean down, getting in her face. “Is this a desperate attempt by my father? Did he put you in the floor to get to us? That way, you’d have time to detach Gemma’s soul again?”
“I never wanted to detach Gemma’s soul in the first place,” she mutters, sitting up. “I thought what I was doing was right. I thought I was protecting the world.”
“No, you were ending it,” I say, pointing the tip of my knife into her throat.
“I know that now, but before . . . What I was trying to do made sense.” Blinking, she desperately clutches onto my arm “It’s your father. He must’ve brainwashed me.”
“Trust me,” I say, shaking her hand off my arm, “we’ve all been there.”
Glass suddenly shatters across the floor.
I spin around, ready to fight, only to find Aislin standing there with half of a ceramic cow in her hand and glass scattered around her feet.
“I can’t deal with this anymore,” she says, her hands trembling. “I can’t stand that our father’s a horrible man who messes with minds and murders innocent people. I just can’t take it.” She smashes the rest of the ceramic cow against the floor. “What are we going to do to fix this?” she asks, breathing heavily as she looks from Laylen to me
“We’re going to take care of the problem.” I reel around and grab Sophia’s arm. “Sorry, but until we know who’s in control of their own actions, I can’t trust you.”
I push her back through the trapdoor, and she falls into the hole.
“Alex, please!” she begs as she trips to her feet and tries to climb back up. “You can’t do this! I’ve run out of food; I’ll starve!”
Aislin grabs some snacks and bottled water, tossing them into the trapdoor. “That should hold you until we work this out.”
“Alex, please don’t leave me down here. I—”
I shut the door and slide the tiles back over it. “Seal that up,” I order Aislin, feeling the slightest twinge of guilt, but drastic times call for drastic measures.
Aislin traces her finger along the cracks between the tiles. “Signa eius intus et clauditis hoc usque.” The floor shimmers as the cracks fade away. When Aislin stands back up, her eyes are nearly popping out of her head.
“Oh, my God. No.” She turns to me. “Alex, I’ve done that before.”
I’m about to take her down and tie her up until I can figure out what the hell is going on, but Nicholas suddenly appears in the room, looking very human and very alive.
He stares at his arms and hands incredulously. “It’s time to wake her up.”
I shove past him, charge up the stairs, and barge into her room. Gemma is lying motionless on her bed, her skin is pale, and her arms are resting on her stomach. I can’t feel the electricity until I get right next to the bed, and when I touch her cheek, her skin is ice cold. I wait for her to open her eyes, but she remains still.