For a split moment, I could see both life and death.
In the kitchen, the veil had dropped, and it wasn’t just us.
Five shadows stood languidly to my left in front of Cyrus.
The others didn’t see them, but I could.
No one in this room was sleeping, so I didn’t know how that was possible.
Wait ... was I sleeping at this very moment?
Or could they show themselves to whom and when they wanted to?
I stared at the Shadows, and they didn’t frighten me.
I didn’t know how I knew this, but they weren’t here to hurt me.
They didn’t need to because they wanted something from me.
Cyrus took careful steps toward me, walking through the Shadows without knowing they were there. Viola warned him with cautious authority, and he looked over his shoulder. “Mother, I have it under control. Please leave. I will take care of this.” His words hung in the air, as if he was even skeptical, saying something he wasn’t quite sure he believed. His arctic-blue eyes grazed me again when he turned back around. I focused on them as the kitchen door swung closed, leaving Cyrus, me, and the Shadows alone together. “Give me the knife, Adora.”
Cyrus was afraid.
So afraid. I could tell in his shade and how his voice tried not to shake.
“I kn-kn-kn don’t know—” my voice tangled up in the words that were trying to come out, competing with the knocking banging in my head.
“I know,” he nodded, “it’s okay. Just give me the kni—” he didn’t finish the sentence before he took a quick step toward me, knocking my wrist against the wall. The knife dropped from my hand andclankedagainst the tile.
Cyrus scooped me up into his arms.
His tall, strong body engulfed me, surrounding me.
“It’s okay, I got you,” he repeated into my hair, holding me close to his chest. I closed my eyes, feeling safe in his arms. “Let me take you back to bed.”
Cyrus stoodin front of me as I sat on the edge of the bed. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” He looked back at Alice, who had fallen asleep, then at me. “I can watch you. I don’t mind.”
“I’m fine,” I said for what seemed like the thirtieth time.
He rocked on his heel and fell back to approach Alice.
“If you so much as blink it will be the last thing you do on this earth,” he swore in a whisper. “Do not fail her again.”
From his pocket, he handed her a key that was attached to a string.
When Cyrus left the room, a lock slid into place from the other side.
The sound echoed, and I waited for his steps to descend before standing and walking to the window.
I gazed out into the black ocean, watching the dark waves endlessly churn like a cauldron.He locked me in this room, I thought, and conflicting emotions fought within me. Fear, anger, anxiety.He’s my best friend.How could he?
“Adora, you should rest,” Alice demanded with the key hanging around her neck beside her other necklace. Never mind her job, Cyrus had threatened her life, and her voice had taken on a disturbing tone. One that was less servant and more sinister. Alice had never signed up to keep an eye on the crazy fiancé.
This was all my fault. But I couldn’t sleep. Not after what had happened.
Eventually, Alice got quiet when I hadn’t budged from the window, and her chair rocked its song. A creak. A croak. The only light came from the lighthouse’s fleeting beam as it rotated through the racing clouds. It stood as tall and sturdy as I, but unlike the lighthouse, I was crumbling underneath the resilient façade.
As it was, my gaze settled on the place my secret was tucked safely.
