“Thank you, Bash.”
I know she’s not just referring to the promise I already plan to break.
My sister just thanked me for killing her.
She hums a few more bars of the hymn as the water turns red.
The moth flies away. The humming stops.
And Billy—my only friend in this godforsaken world—finally breaks free of her jar.
The bathroom is silent except for the drip of the faucet and the flutter of moth wings against the window as it tries to find the exit.
When it finally escapes, I realize I’m alone.
Absolutely,achinglyalone.
I fancy Billy hitched a ride to heaven on the wings of that moth. If anyone deserves a fairy-tale ending, it’s my little sister.
I stay in the bloody, milky water until it goes cold.
Then I get out, change into dry clothes, and climb out the bedroom window into the chilly night.
I don’t cry.
Not even when I look up and see the moon glowing in the sky.
I haven’t experienced joy in a decade, if not more. Sadness didn’t last long either. Now all I experience is rage and spite and malice…but now that Billy’s gone, I know those will atrophy too.
There is no place for emotion in my world. I’ve never had a soul, and Billy took my heart with her when she fluttered out of her broken jar.
You can’t break what you can’t touch.
That was Billy’s only weakness.
She could never give up that most fragile part of herself, like I did.
If she had, The Witch would never have been able to trap her.
And I would never have had to set her free.
Chapter 51
Bastian
PRESENT DAY
I’m on my fourth bourbon when the floodlights in my backyard snap on.
I jerk back to the present, alcohol sloshing over my hand, my heart pounding like I’ve just sprinted a mile.
My home’s exterior motion sensors are calibrated to ignore wildlife, but in this blizzard, a tree could have tripped the sensor.
Or, it’s Ezra.
I set down my glass and stand, my jaw hardening as I glare into the white-out beyond the sliding glass doors.
Christ, I’m glad he came. The smell of lavender and blood and mildew is so strong I could puke. But once I’m done with him, there will only be blood.
