Italy 1583
Raul had tricked me. I thought I would be his lover and be done. But I was chained to a bed for a whole year and treated as his “experiment.” I was tortured, and escaping was almost impossible. When I was finally free, I ran far away from Raul and his cruel men. Raul wasn’t the same man I used to know.
I tried to find Malik again, but he had become a ghost. I couldn’t find him. John James told me he had survived and lived, but no one knew his whereabouts.
My time was running out. I knew either Raul or Balthazar would find me again and surely kill me.
As I departed from Raul Costa’s house, a man wearing a hood and long cloak slid from the shadows. I nearly screamed at him as he rushed toward me, but he clapped his hand over my mouth and dragged me into the trees.
He gripped me with unusual strength and hissed in my ear, “I know you have been looking for Malik. I know where he is.”
I stopped struggling and pushed his hand away from my mouth. “You do?”
I whirled to face him.
“Yes. He is in Britannica in the year 1323. Find him there.” He gave me the address where I could find Malik and then faded from sight like a spirit.
May 15th, 1323
I have trekked to Britannica and found Malik’s address. He lives in an old stone manor house. I hurried up a tree-lined walkway, past a tumbling creek, and strode up stone stairs to the door. I lifted the metal knocker and let it fall.
A few minutes later, heavy footsteps pounded in my direction.
Malik opened the door, and once he saw me, an angry scowl spread across his face.
“What are you doing here, Alina?” he hissed. “Who told you where to find me?”
“I…I…” I stammered, taken aback by his reaction. “I found the Sun Dagger.”
“I don’t care. I’m done being the darkness and want nothing to do with the dagger or your life.” He started to close the door in my face, but I jammed my foot in the way.
“Wait, Malik. Don’t turn me out like this. I’m no longer with Balthazar,” I began, but Malik interrupted me.
“Don’t you dare say his name here!” Malik hurried out onto the stoop and closed the door behind him.
“What happened to you, Malik?” I said, thoroughly confused. “Why are you so angry with me? Last time I saw you, we were still friends.”
“Last time you saw me,” he whispered, “I was chained to a dungeon wall being tortured by my former mentor.”
I reeled back, stunned. But he was right. Who knew what kinds of atrocities Balthazar committed? I didn’t want to know what Malik had to endure to escape.
I reached into my pocket and procured my journal.
“Here,” I said, thrusting it toward him.
Malik threw out his palms and backed away. “What areyou giving me? I don’t want anything from you.”
“It’s my diary. It’s a full account of what I’ve been through. Please take it. If my daughter survives, which I hope she won’t, she will seek it out. I’m certain of that.”
A baby’s wail came from inside the house.
We both turned to stare at the open window.
“Malik, are you a father?”
He didn’t answer me. Instead, he said, “I want you out of my life, Alina. I’m in a very dark place in my life, and if you don’t leave this instant, I will kill you and put you out of your misery.”
The baby started crying louder and louder.
