“Your touch hurts the supernatural, so what?” She surprised me by saying, sticking another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. “I can’t stop eating, Sebastian falls into a cursed sleeping state more than all the fairy tale princesses combined, and don’t get me started on the rest of my siblings.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Like you, these curses were placed on us without us wanting them, and it’s not our fault. You didn’t kidnap me. You had nothing to do with it. Even if Harvest or whoever would have succeeded in forcing your hand on me, I don’t worry like the rest of my family because I know I’m never really alone.”
“You’re alone all the time,” Sebastian told her.
She smirked. “No, I’m not. I’ve never been truly alone in my entire life.”
“We don’t hover,” Sebastian defended them all.
“Not you.” She sighed. “Something in the shadows is always watching me.”
“Not this again.” Sebastian huffed. “We’d know if someone was watching you. We’d sense it.”
Memories of the night I escaped flashed through my eyes, and the terrifying man that had moved through the demons killing them—just like a shadow. Was that who she was referring to? A shiver slid down my back. I wasn’t brave enough to ask or mention that creature to her. Somehow, it felt like by thinking about him right now, he’d somehow know. He was downrightcreepy, and the Underworld was full of creepy, so I had no idea why this one was so horrifying.
“I suppose,” she mumbled. “I’m Kara, by the way, but everyone calls me Kitty.”
“Isabella,” it was easier to find my voice when we weren’t talking about that night.
“Why is my brother the only one that isn’t affected by your touch?” she randomly asked. “Yeah, you’ve been the talk of the house the last several hours, so I know all about it.”
“I don’t know…” I told her honestly.
She smiled, still taking bites of her ice cream. “Our parents have a word for these kinds of encounters and things.” Her words had Sebastian smirking like he knew what she was talking about. “They call it fate.”
“I’ve already—” Sebastian cut off mid-sentence. The smile on his face left completely, and when I looked at Kitty, her face held the same amount of alarm as his as they glanced at one another. “Feel that?” he asked.
She nodded. “Hundreds of them… Hundreds of lives are about to be taken that aren’t supposed to die today.”
Everything that happened next spanned within seconds, but it was amazing how fast everyone came together in such a short amount of time.
“It’s safe to say it’s Harvest,” the Grim Reaper called out as everyone started appearing left and right around us.
“Well, he wanted our attention,” Sebastian’s mother, Melanie said.
“And he got it,” Maureen hissed, stepping out of the castle door. “That and he’s about to get so much more.”
“Who messes with children just to get our attention?” Payne muttered.
My stomach swam with unease. “It’s children again?” I asked Sebastian.
He nodded. “It’s okay.” He gripped my shoulder. “We’ve got time to make it to them.”
“I’m going too,” Kitty told everyone.
“Fuck that,” August hissed. “You’re staying here. Who knows what we’re going into and we won’t have time to look after you.”
“I know you mean well, but you sound like a fucking assholebrotherwhen you treat me like I can’t take care of myself.” Kitty snapped at him.
“She’s coming,” Sebastian said to August. “He wants all of us for a reason. We’re better together. She’s more vulnerable left alone than going.”
August blew air from his nose but otherwise said nothing as he nodded and walked away. It was amazing to see that even that prick seemed to care a great deal for his family.
“Izzie.” Sebastian snuck up beside me holding his hand out. “You’re safest attached to me, got that? But don’t go distracting me by sliding your hand up my stomach, all right? I’m all yours again afterward.”
He made me smile despite my queasy stomach. Instantly, small and warm flurries replaced my worries… he was good at that, making me feel better. “Sebastian… We’re walking into a trap, you know that?”
“How many lives did you help save while working at the hospital?” What a strange question to ask me at a time like this.
“Why are you asking me that?”
