I eye him warily, “You tried to kill me for a science experiment?”
“Technically, you tried to kill me first.” He pauses, thinking it over, “But yes.”
Unbelievable.
“Is this what you do all day?” I gesture to the piece of plastic in his hands, “Build cloning devices?”
“My primary work is done in the lab, working with chemicals. This,” He holds up the device, “Is just one of my hobbies. Something to keep my mind and hands occupied so I don’t grab the nearest bottle of bleach and guzzle it down.”
Empty blue eyes drop to the gun clutched in my hands.
“We don’t get to choose this life, you know. Our parents get a choice, but no child born within these borders are graced with such opportunity. We are forced into the darkness, into the terrors that haunt our every waking moment until the day we die.”
Unexpected sympathy drips through my chest.
“Did you always like science?”
“It was my escape until the day it turned into my prison.” Another half-smile, “Now there is nothing I hate more.”
The Witch of Wolf Hollow stands before me, his face dripping with blood and his soul screaming for mercy. It’s a tragic sight, one that has my heart breaking as I stare at the boy clinging to the edge of a hopeless abyss.
“I’m here to steal the Hoffmann Diamond.” Offering the fragile kid a grain of unfiltered truth, I give him a wry grin, “Along with the gemstones from your mother’s coffin.”
“I know.”
“Then you should also know the Hoffmann brothers are still pissed you killed their sister.”
“She deserved to die.” Something sparks in Everett’s eyes, “Sylvie was cruel and abusive. Demanded the house look a certain way or they would all go to bed hungry.”
“Some might describe your own sister with similar attributes.”
“Evelyn has her faults, but she does not prey on the weak.” His chin lifts, the slight shift in his stance telling me I’ve struck a nerve, “She took my poison and she used it to free the dwarves. To release them from Sylvie’s enslavement.”
“And to steal the necklace from her dead body.”
“My sister took the necklace out of greed and jealousy. There was nothing except pettiness behind her careless actions.” He pauses, a faraway look in his eyes, “If I had known what the outcome would have been, I would have approached the situation differently.”
“You were close with them?”
A slight nod, “One of them rescued me from the wishing well.”
He reaches up and swipes the blood from his lips, drawing my attention to the chipped black polish decorating his fingernails.
“I was trapped down there for three days. Three days with water at my feet and slippery cobblestones around me. I was trapped in complete darkness until a drop of sunshine saved me.”
“Your family didn’t notice you were gone?”
“Didn’t notice or didn’t care.”
I study him silently, thinking about the different ways Everett White was saved that day.
“After Sylvie’s death, your family was banned from ever stepping on Hoffmann territory again.”
“Not all stories have a happy ending.” Sad, resigned eyes meet mine, “Sometimes the best you can hope for is just an ending.”
There’s a rock stuck in my throat when I holster my gun. Slipping my hand inside my pocket, I grab the piece of paper that was never supposed to see the light of day.
“Dorian told me to pass this along.” Swallowing hard, I unfold the drawing and look at the stick figures, “I thought it was for Evelyn at first, but now...”
