God, I hate her mean girl attitude.
“How do you even know what we’re doing?” I snip back.
“Egor told us all last night at the end of the harvest. Weren’t you there? Knox was.” She raises an eyebrow as she looks me up and down. The bond constricts uncomfortably in my chest.
“Knox was at the harvest?” I want to be sick.
“He certainly drank his fill last night, if you know what I mean. I guess that doesn’t make you so special after all.” She gestures to the two open wounds on her neck.
A ringing fills my ears and my conscious mind separates from my physical body. One moment I’m looking at Megan’s smug face, and the next she’s sprawled out on the floor. All I know is that my wrist throbs and my knuckles have split open.
“Holy shit!” One of the other Familiars runs over, and I glance up to see Cyprian’s chosen, laughing with the others as they watch.
“I guess she’ll be just fine in a ballgown. Huh, Megan?” he teases.
Why don’t I remember hitting her?
The bond hums in satisfaction.
Is it taking over my body? Or did I simply just lose control?
As a loud, ear-splitting voice fills the backstage, my hands fly up instinctively to block it out.
“The final part of your training is about to begin! Please come into the arena. Your new life awaits you below.”
Below?
We all walk out one by one into the arena. My heart pounds when I see the space is completely empty. There’s no audience this time.
Without warning, the entire room tilts on its axis like some kind of funhouse. I fly forward, colliding with another Familiar; I manage to grab tightly onto their shirt for balance, screaming as everyone is pitched in the opposite direction. The floor suddenly opens up, and we all fall through.
My hair whips around me, my next scream caught in my throat. When I finally manage to see where I’m going, I immediately wish I hadn’t. I look down and see nothing. Nothing but darkness and shadows.
A bottomless abyss.
My body twists and turns in midair as I freefall. There’s no beginning and no end. I can’t even see the other Familiars as they fall. I wonder if my life will flash before my eyes. I could do without reliving those memories before the end.
I gasp and squeeze my eyes shut tighter when I suddenly collide into something. I expect it to feel hard, but it’s like a soft, warm cloud.
I open my eyes a crack, my vision flooding with a blindingly bright light. It’s like I’m in Heaven’s waiting room. Everything is white. I’m talking brilliant white. The cold shiny floors, the ceiling that I apparently fell through. There’s no walls, just endless space.
“How is this possible?” I say, searching the vast space for anyone else who might be here. But it’s just me.
Where did the others go?
“Hello?” My voice is swallowed by the silence. There seems to be no way out, just endless light.
Am I dead?
The ground beneath me begins to rumble.Not this again!I try my hardest to keep my balance as something solid and shiny cracks through the surface. My eyes widen in terror. A tall mirror bursts through, coming to a shuddering halt in front of me. An eerie silence is cast throughout the expanse in the aftermath. Hesitantly, I look into the mirror and see only emptiness. What am I supposed to see?
The glass abruptly warps and I’m face to face with my reflection—at least I think it’s me. I appear bright and healthy, maybe even a few years younger than I am now. I’m not wearing a torn, blood-stained ballgown. Instead, a burnt orange suit that looks way more expensive than I could ever afford fits me perfectly, as if designed and tailored just for me.
What is this?
A shadowy figure moves up behind the weird version of me inside the mirror; I turn to look behind my actual self, but there’s nobody there. I glance back at the looking glass and my heart almost bursts from my chest. It’s Knox, wrapping his arms around my waist and staring back at me as ifI’min the mirror. He whispers something in my ear and my reflection bursts into a fit of giggles. The pair of them look so comfortable with each other. So familiar and natural. I notice then that Knox’s eyes are no longer red, but a startling shade of blue, much like the veins that usually stretch across his face. Those same veins are invisible underneath his warm, tanned skin.
Is he human?
