Gabriel? Gabriel’s gone. But…where? I can’t remember. Why isn’t he here? I love him, and I never got a chance to tell him. My eyes start to burn. I need to run, but I can’t move.
Hannah places the Blade in front of me, and I forget what I was getting so worked up about. “Don’t touch it until I tell you,” she says.
No. I won’t. Of course not. I have to do what she says. Always.
The symbols carved into the metal come alive, swirling and twisting, faster and faster until I’m so dizzy, I’d fall over if I could move at all.
Why can’t I move?
A man’s weak whimper distracts me, and I lift my gaze. He’s crying. His eyes hold so much pain.
I’m supposed to kill him.
My heart pounds against my ribs. This is wrong. So wrong. I can’t do this. I won’t. “Please,” I say softly. “Let me go.”
“How are youstillresisting me?” Hannah shrieks. She wraps her fingers around my forearm and squeezes until the bone snaps in two.
I scream. My vision goes dark around the edges. The chain at my throat starts to vibrate again. Stronger this time. My shattered bone starts to knit back together. It’s like ants crawling around under my skin.
I’m shaking all over, but still unable to move. Hannah shifts her hand to the back of my neck, and I can hear herin my head.
“Fight me again, you pathetic little witch, and I’ll shatter your bones one by one. They’ll heal—thanks to my blood—but the pain will be exquisite every single time.“
My whisper’s tears glisten in the moonlight. She floats behind the kneeling man—the werewolf, I remember now—with her hands over her mouth.
“I’m so sorry. I thought…I’d be stronger.”
“Pick up the Blade, Willow,” Hannah orders.
I try to resist, but it’s no use. My fingers curl around the hilt. A wave of power rolls up my arm and settles somewhere deep inside me. My magic. Created by the very first coven, passed from generation to generation.
The symbols flowintomy hand. Up my arm. They’re a part of me now. As much as my name, my memories, and even my voice.
“Listen.”
“Use her.”
“We made the wrong choice.”
“You hold the true power.”
The voices from the void swirl around me.
“You hold the true power.”
My whisper surges forward. Her lips move along with the voices.
“You hold the true power.”
She’s wrong. I can’t fight Hannah’s will. It’s suffocating me. Drowning every ounce of free will I thought I had.
“Do you believe in fate?” I ask.
Gabriel arches a brow. “As in the Almighty’s preordained plan for every soul throughout all of creation?”
“Yeah. That.”
“Complete and utter bullshit.”
