“Oh, son, thank god you’re OK. What is happening?” My mother floated over to me and wrapped her arms around me tightly. I gave her the power to feel, as I wished to feel her embrace again.
“Rudy’s taken over, running the shots.” I shrugged, while my parents gasped and jaws dropped to the floor . . . literally.
“Can’t you do something about that? I know the power in you is strong enough,” my dad reprimanded, assuming I had let this happen.
“He grabbed me by the heart,” I admitted and a soft female hand touched my shoulder in comfort. Lucy’s sad smile was directed toward me.
“You fell in love. I thought you said you wouldn’t. That this curse of our family would end with you.” My father’s disappointed voice felt like a vice around my chest.
A tightness grew in my throat, while my jaw hardened to the point I felt my teeth could shatter. My parents just expected me to die like they had. They never wanted me to live or fight the curse. I know she didn’t mean her words to be a barb but instead of being happy that I’d gotten to experience love, they wanted me to hurry up and die to end their prolonging to the afterlife.
“Not something you can control, though I tried. Sorry to disappoint.” I shouldn’t have come here. Being around them only made me feel shittier about the situation and emphasized how little control I had in this world.
“That’s not what we meant, son. We’re happy you found love before it all comes to an end. We just didn’t want you to go through what we did.” My mother reached her shimmering blue hand out to touch my cheek, a loving gesture from someone who hadn’t loved me like a mother should.
I wanted to consult with Madam Tully and find hope in her words that something could be done. Rudy wouldn’t let me near her room, though. It was guarded with a ghost who could stab me without hesitation. Such great power to control the dead flowed through my being, but I still couldn’t walk through walls.
“Right. I’m gonna go walk around while I have the blood pumping in my veins to do so.” It was an asshole thing to say to them, but I didn’t feel like being civil.
I said hello to the ghosts that waved at me. My grandfather was in a duel with a pirate as I passed by his tombstone, which elevated my mood. Lucy followed me around as I weaved through the mausoleums and worn-down statues in silence. She rarely came out here, since most of the performers didn’t like the graveyard. Perhaps it was because of the familiar soul who always stayed by his giant crypt, sulking in the memories of what he’d done to those he cared for.
Despite being a ghost, I noticed Lucy’s hands trembling as we walked past the main section of the cemetery to a quiet and less crowded area. Only one mausoleum stood beside a tall tree with moss hanging from its branches. Magically lit torches stayed fiery throughout the years and a man sat on the steps outside.
“Hello, George.”
The depressed gaze of my great- great-grandfather, the man who had brought the curse upon our family looked up.
Chapter Thirty- Two
Selene
Numb and cold, I didn’t cry. I was past that. Instead I endured two of the worst feelings a person could have . . . hopelessness and loneliness. Besides my parents, who as far as I knew were having a great time in Europe, I didn’t know where to find my friends. No calls to Phillip to ask him what I should do or to Emily, who always made me feel a little lighter when the darkness tried to take over.
I couldn’t focus on a simple thought. I drowned in the pain of losing everyone. Who was I to fight the dead? I was no one. As soon as I got home, via Jude’s car that Rudy demanded I take, I collapsed on the bed and had barely moved since. Life constricted my chest, and I couldn’t find the strength to get up.
I didn’t even know what to do if I could get up. Who could I turn to for help? I was alone.
Alone.
The insanity that overtook me as a teenager crashed on over me, and I feared what I might do if I let it win. So I slept for hours. For a full day, trying not to give in to the siren of death beckoning me once again.
Jude’s scent clung to my sheets. I breathed it in, over and over. I concentrated on each inhale and exhale, one second at a time. Anything further than that was too much to think about.
The morning before Halloween, my sadness turned to anger. My fists ached to punch something. My power urged me to be released and lash out. I wanted to, but I knew what I endured wasn’t good and wouldn’t truly help me in the end. I had nothing. How does a person rise from the floor when they have nothing?
“That’s not true,” I whispered to the empty room.
The lie caught me by surprise, and I found the strength to pull the Jude-scented sheets off my head. Light hit my eyes, and I squinted from the brightness.
I had light in my life.
I could see.
I could walk.
I had fresh autumn air to breath.
I was safe, even if safe was temporary.
