Ironwood inclined his head in a nod. “Fine. Show us what you can do.”
She walked over to the mirror as Bram and I headed back to our seats.
By the time we sat down, Voidfire had already completed the ceremony to amplify her powers.
Ironwood’s lips twitched into a smile. “See, that’s how you do it. You don’t lose control of your powers like Bram did.”
“I won’t lose control of my powers, but now that they’re boosted…” Voidfire smirked before her gaze zeroed in on me.
“Okay, you were right,” I whispered to Bram and Skel. “We should’ve killed her before she tried something.”
“What do you mean?” Bram and Skel asked quickly.
“Curse of the Fated eyes!” She summoned her fear magic and blasted it at me.
Ironwood’s shoulders slumped. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”
Oh, shit.
I racked my brain about demonic curses and remembered that fear demons were able to curse others by simplylookingat others with malicious intent. The exact way Voidfire was staring at me now. The curse was known to literally bring the victim’s fears to life. Only, those fears can andwillhurt them.
In some instances, the illusion can kill the victim.
“Fuck!”Skel and Bram shouted, throwing themselves in front of me, but it was too late.
Shadows twisted and coiled before us. A figure stepped forward from the darkness, and my blood ran ice cold.
Mother—no—Penny Bones stood before me, her form far too real to be an illusion. Her blonde hair was oily, slick with blood just like it had been before. Her red eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at me.
My body went rigid.
This wasn’t possible.
She was dead.
I killed her.
“No,” I rasped.
“Oh, Pandora,” she tsked. “Did you really think you could eat my soul and get rid of me? A worthless,weak, defective demon like you?” Her head tossed back as she laughed. “I’m going to have to punish you for that.”
Her voice was as sharp as I remembered. It was suffocating. Her shadow tendrils lashed out, completely bypassing Skel and Bram, striking me across the chest.
Pain exploded as I fell, and my vision tunneled instantly. Pain ricocheted through me as I landed on the stone floor. Blood splashed underneath me as Penny cackled.
“Pandora!”Skel’s scream was distant, barely cutting through the horror locking me in place.
Voidfire’s laughter rang out somewhere in the distance. “She deserves this! Her fearshouldkill her! She killed Dreadful, Shadeberry, and Nightwind!”
Dex’s voice pierced the fog in my mind as he stepped out of the shadows somewhere in the room. “Wrong. Sure, she killed Dreadful. But I killed Shadeberry and Nightwind, and I made it so fucking painful for them. At least Pandora killed Dreadful quick. She did her a fucking mercy.”
Voidfire screamed.
The nightmare that was the woman that birthed me wrapped around me, taunting me.
“We have so much time to make up for, Pandora!” Her shadow tendril stabbed through my stomach, ripping the circular scar open with ease.
White-hot agony flared through me.
