Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,119
my wrist sealed with an audible snick. Tingling began at my toes and fingers, traveling up my legs, snaking up my arms, wrapping around my back, sliding across my stomach, and stretching up to my shoulders, neck, and head.
Something wide and heavy draped from my shoulder blades.
Everyone in the room gasped and backed away from us. I could feel them all; where they stood, how their immortal hearts raced. I could hear their breaths, feel the vibrations of their retreating feet along the stone floor, smell the sweat and blood and tears spread across the room.
Something hot uncoiled from my stomach, sliding through my veins like a warm serpent unfurling in the sun. I knew it was power, pure in its form. I was no more powerful than the rest…but I was their equal now.
I didn’t feel weak anymore. I felt like I could obliterate everyone in the room. Maybe I can.
In my periphery, I saw the bend of a wing covered in feathers that were every shade of brown from pale beige, to a mahogany so dark they were nearly black. My wings stretched out wide and I felt the skin on my shoulders pull tight. Then they folded around me protectively.
The truth slid into place as I held my brother’s body. I raked my fingers through his pale, blood-soaked hair as my fingertips lengthened into claws…
“If the one who killed you hadn’t died with his maker, I’d do far worse than decapitate him, Kestrel,” I promised. “Far worse.”
I could feel Aries approach but couldn’t see him through the cocoon of my wings. He crouched before me.
“Larken, you’re going to be okay,” Aries consoled.
But I didn’t want to be okay. I didn’t want to be alive when Kestrel lay dead in my arms. I didn’t want to live like this. I didn’t want to be a monster. And yet…
I was becoming Zodia.
I was taking Taurus’s place. But no horns had burst from my skull.
I wasn’t inheriting his traits; I was claiming mine.
I would be nothing like him. Nothing.
From across the room, Helena stepped forward. I heard the swish of her hair and the squelch of her shoes across the bloody floor as she came closer. “Larken?” She approached slowly with her hands outstretched. This was Helena. My friend. She came to help Kes. She came to help me.
I parted my wings to see her stooping down next to Aries. “Do you want me to take Kes away?” she asked gently, pursing her lips. Tears sprang into her eyes as I began to cry again and held his limp head to my chest. I didn’t want to let him go but couldn’t just keep him there – with them – forever.
Aries’s eyes caught on my claws. He probably thought I was disgusting now. He liked me as a human, but now I was some freakish half-bird.
Helena reached out for Kestrel and I raised my head. “I want to bury him myself. Just keep him safe until then,” I asked. Promising to watch over him, Helena lifted Kestrel’s body from my lap.
I sat on the floor for a moment, trying to contain the thrumming sensation I felt resonating through my bones. Trying not to completely fall apart from loss as the universe knitted me together. I planned to sit there and cry, but then I remembered why this happened. It was their fault.
I sprang to my feet and spun in a slow circle, taking them all in. Cancer skittered back to give my voluminous wings a wide berth. Their span nearly filled the room.
Virgo slipped behind Leo. Ever the coward. Ever the self-preservationist. I took a threatening step toward her. She flinched, watching to see what I would do next.
Pisces went invisible, the only thing belying her position was a puddle of water.
Aquarius offered a reluctant smile. Capricorn bowed her head slightly and Scorpio positioned himself beside me, barb stretched toward any who might attempt to attack me now that I’d transformed. Part of me wished they would attack. I would gladly show them how much power thrummed beneath my skin.
They couldn’t just let a simple girl live out her life in another territory. They had to team up with a bullish bully and ruin everything.
Sobs began again, but if they saw them as a weakness, they didn’t indicate it. They shrank further away. I was one breath away from attacking the ones who sided with Taurus in the first place.
Aries was at my side. He grabbed my hand. “You’re okay.”