The Deck of Omens (The Devouring Gray #2) - Christine Lynn Herman Page 0,89
mayor to mayor. It recounts how the founders discovered a power source when they arrived here, not a monster. When they figured out how to use it, however, it came with an unfortunate side effect.”
“The Beast?”
“No.” Juniper’s lips thinned. “The same disease we’re calling the corruption.”
“So the corruption comes from us.” The words felt like poison in Violet’s throat. This disease, this nightmare?—it was their fault after all.
“Well, yes.” Juniper’s footsteps sounded on the cobblestones as she came to stand beside Violet. “The founders made an attempt to stop the corruption, and it worked?—but not fully.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“The founders died, which was obviously quite unintentional,” Juniper said. “And the Gray was born, alongside the Beast. Again, their deaths creating the Gray is true, it’s just that the purpose is not what you’ve been led to believe. It is a shield that keeps the corruption from spreading any further, and the Beast is an unfortunate side effect.”
“An unfortunate side effect,” Violet echoed hollowly. “How does an attempt to make a shield make a monster instead?”
“Well.” Juniper sighed. “Something went wrong during the ritual, and the founders… melded with the power source. We draw our powers from the Beast because the Beast is an amalgamation of the founders, and their powers?—the ones that corrupted Four Paths in the first place?—are safe inside the Gray.”
Juniper had known this back when she was a teenager, Violet realized, and on some level none of it surprised her. It made sense. More reason for her mother to run. More reason for Juniper’s dread, for her insistence that she was uniquely suited to keeping Four Paths intact. She was the only one who had known what was truly going on.
“So this monster is an accident.” Violet wanted to throw up. “So everything the people in this town look up to the founders for is just them trying to cover up a mistake.”
“Perhaps that was true generations ago, but the secret died out with the founders’ children. The founders now truly believe themselves to be heroes.”
“I just can’t believe you lied about all of this,” Violet whispered. “I can’t believe all of the mayors did.”
Violet remembered the Beast’s voice hissing in her ear: Do you really think I was bound here out of altruism?
She saw the founders for who they were now: people who had told themselves a story again and again until they believed it. They were cowards and liars with blood on their hands. This was the truth of her legacy, ugly and raw, ripping through her chest like a gaping wound.
“It’s a lie that keeps us respected,” Juniper said. “A lie that allows us to keep everyone else safe?—”
“At what cost?” Violet shook her head. “I understand now. The founders have never really tried to destroy the Beast because the person in charge has always known it’s our power source. Because they don’t want their abilities taken away, and they’re willing to pay for that selfishness with other peoples’ lives.”
“Or, Violet, because we don’t know how to get rid of it, and this is the best we can do? Just because I know how something was broken doesn’t mean I know how to fix it.”
“Why should I believe you? Why should I ever believe anything you say again?”
Violet didn’t know when she’d sunk to her knees. The world was still blurry, and she was still furious. The stone seal was rough beneath her jeans, but she couldn’t bring herself to move.
“Listen, Violet,” her mother said. “I know this is a lot to take in?—”
Violet shuddered. “All this time, you could have helped us, and you stayed silent.”
“That’s not true,” Juniper said. “I don’t know why the Gray is failing now, or why the corruption is eating through it and hurting us. Something’s changed, but I have no idea what.”
“It still would have been helpful information to know.” Violet had only been this angry at Rosie’s funeral. It was an incandescent sort of rage that buoyed her even as it rooted her further in the ground. “I’m going to tell everyone in town exactly what you lied about. And I’m going to finish this fucking nightmare for good.”
Juniper’s face turned ashen, and Violet felt a sick rush of satisfaction that she’d finally gotten to her mother the way Juniper had gotten to her.
But then she realized that Juniper was staring not at her, but behind her.
She turned, her heart hammering in her chest.
All around her, roots were burrowing up from the seal. With them