A quiet sob escaped her throat. "Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be…"
The Devil prowled forward, circling her like a predator preparing its kill.
All I could think about, as I gazed down at her trembling body, was stopping her from hurting Auden—hurting me—once and for all. I just wanted it all to end.
“Look at me,” I said. A demand, not a request.
My mother slowly lifted her gaze, black tears pouring from her red-rimmed eyes.
“Why did you come for him?” I asked.
“For who?”
“Auden,” I hissed.
“I did not come for him,” she said. “He came to me. He wanted to come home.”
I hesitated, Auden’s words replaying in my head: ‘I want to go home…to North Lane.’
“And instead of welcoming him, you what…continue what you started that night?” I asked.
She didn’t answer.
I shook my head, disgusted at what she had become. Perhaps if she had been less critical of the Devil inside me, and looked in the mirror herself, she would have seen the evil within.Shewas the monster here. Not me.
There can always be more than one monster, Augustus.
My jaw clenched. Even now, the Devil was not entirely on my side. Even now, he tormented me.
“I want my son. Give me my son.” My mother’s nails slashed my cheek, a manic gleam in her eye as she watched me stumble, nearly losing hold of the crucifix.
“Iamyour son!” Blood rolled down my throbbing cheek, the taste of iron lingering on my tongue. “I want mymother!”
“You are no son of mine.”
It hurt. Even after all this time, it hurt. I advanced forward, eyes locked on my mother, crucifix gripped firmly in my hand.
“I am God’s soldier,” she said, “armed to fight the Devil. And the Devil wears my baby boy’s face to manipulate me. His deception will not win.Youwill not win.”
She was sick, so very, very sick. My father should have gotten her help when he had the chance. It never had to be like this.
“Let Auden and I go,” I said, softly, “I don’t want to fight you anymore.”
“I can’t do that.”
Her hand shot for my throat, but the Devil was faster. He seized control of my body, throwing me into the iron cage deep in the darkest corner of my mind while he stepped back, escaping her cold clutches.
In my mother’s brief moment of hesitation, the Devil slammed my foot into her stomach, her knees reuniting with the floorboards once more with a choked gasp. This time, the Devil did not let her rise. He showed her the same mercy she had shown Auden and I—none.
“Tell me I am not the Devil,” he said, using my voice as he twirled the crucifix in my hand, “and I will let you live.”
My mother trembled, tears pooling in her wide, unblinking eyes. “Youarethe Devil!"
“It didn’t have to be this way,” he sighed, the floorboards cracking beneath my feet as he guided me forward, grip tightening on the crucifix. “But you’ve given me no choice.”
My arm lifted without my permission, the crucifix raised high above my head.
Everything slowed.
