You have no idea.
You are not the only one stuck between two worlds. I have one foot in Weeping Hollow and the other on Bone Island with him.
Half the time, I forget who I'm betraying and where my loyalties lie.
My mind is filled with an anthology of morbid and macabre thoughts, and these gruesome ill wishes that haunt me should not sit well beside the innocent and naïve of him.
However, around him, I am not the same single-minded woman the town has grown to know. I am also not the same, black-hearted woman who exists within. He brings out the woman I was always supposed to be. He makes me soft and gentle. He makes me feel loved. So, in the spaces between seconds, I become someone I'm not ashamed of. And we are nothing short of an adored song each time we lie beside each other.
He believes the only reason I gave him mercy was because he is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me. Perhaps it’s true, but he was also the first to fill me in all the ways I've craved.
While I’ve taken advantage of him to escape my reality, we've become attached to each other. And if I'm honest, it was easy.
He once said I’d made a mess of him, but this is not entirely true.
My beloved black sea, look at the mess we’ve made.
Alice barged into the bedroom,causing my fountain pen to slide across the paper.
My letter was ruined. I glared at her.
“My apologies, Miss Adora. I’m sure this small hiccup can be overlooked.”
“No,” I shook my head, “you don’t understand. It has to be perfect.”
It would happen soon, where only the silver outline of the new moon would be visible in the midnight sky. The ocean would be awaiting my letter, and there was still so much to write.
I crumpled the paper and tossed it into the waste bin.
“It has to be perfect,” I repeated.
It was stillpitch-black when the lighthouse beam shone through the window, casting a tall shadow on the wall. It circled again, and the second time, it caught Cyrus, who was standing over me. He brushed his finger across my cheekbone.
“What are you doing in my room?” I glanced around for Alice, surprised to see him at this hour. She was taking clothes out of the dresser drawer and laying an outfit at the foot of the bed. “What time is it?”
“It’s almost the witching hour,” he said, and I couldn’t believe I’d fallen asleep, almost missing the New Moon. “There’s an urgent meeting in the Order’s chambers. We have to be there.”
I sat up. A yawn stretched across my face. “Now?”
“Yes. You have five minutes to change. I’ll meet you in the foyer.”
“What about—”
“Get dressed, Adora.” Cyrus kissed my forehead and left.
“Nothing fancy,” Alice muttered, laying a sweatshirt and jeans on the mattress. “I was told only a select few would be attending.”
The floor was cold under my feet. Shadows from the oil lamp moved on the wall behind Alice. “Do you think it’s about the Shadows? I wonder if the Order found a way ...” I wondered aloud, slipping out of my nightgown and into my jeans. I pulled the sweatshirt over my head and tied my hair back into a low bun with a chiffon bow. “This is so out of the blue. It doesn’t make sense.” Then a maelstrom of thoughts hit me at once—ones that involved Lena, my family, and then there was Stone. My gaze darted to Alice, and I halted my pace. “It could be anything.”
And my heart went crazy, hopeful one second, frightened the next.
“You’ll know soon,” Alice said, rushing me out the door.
I met Cyrus at the bottom of the stairs and slipped into my jacket. “Where’s your mother?”
“She’s already in the chambers.” He nudged his head to the left, grabbing my hand. “I already have the car heating up for you.”
His 1964 Aston Martin Vantage Coupe was the love of Cyrus Cantini’s life. In the summer, when we were sixteen, we’d taken the coupe on many joy rides going over seventy miles per hour down Archer Avenue until the town spun us around. We did this repeatedly, getting dizzy and laughing until we cried, making ourselves sick. In contrast to others, Cyrus didn’t drift to sex or drugs. Cyrus only needed his best friend.
