As if he’s reading my mind, Josep says, “I can make that happen.” He holds Ryet up by the leg again. “I can give you ignorance, Syrsee. Give me your blood. All of it. And I, in return, will set you free. And as a bonus, I’ll set him free too. You and Ryet, living out eternity together. How does that sound? Good? Would you like that? To be ignorant? To go back to that day in White River when you were standing in front of the hardware store, plotting a runaway adventure?”
“How do you know about that?”
He laughs. “I knoweverything, Syrsee. I am Darkness and this is my realm. I can give you and Ryet that dream. I can put your minds back in that moment. I can trick you into believing it’s real, and the best part is, it can last forever!” He smiles, and wow. What a trick he is. So beautiful.
Magnificent promises. My grandma’s words fill my head.Be very sure about the man you give your heart to, my love. Because he will be your downfall. He will steal your soul.
But she wasn’t talking about Ryet. Or Paul.
She knew.Iknew, because I am her. I knew that we’d get here eventually. And that I would have to make a choice.
I understand what Josep is offering. An eternal dreamwalk where all the things I could ever want are mine. Where all my desires become real.
What I don’t understand is what he’s getting out of it.
Because it’s not my soul. If I ever had one, that’s not it.
It’s something else.
Suddenly, there is a fluttering in my stomach. And for a moment I think it’s fear.
But then I know it’s not.
And this is what Josep wants.
The baby.
ThenewDarkness.
Something real. Not a cloud of black sand, or nanoparticles, or whatever the hell this creature is, but something with abody.
Which, circular thinking proves, is the essence of me and him. This thing standing in front of me. I hold a piece of it. If he could take it for himself, he would, and he hasn’t, so hecan’t.
It’s mine.
The horse and rider.
Eating its own tail.
Power infinite.
That’s what I would be trading for his magnificent promise.
I hold up a hand and then slowly raise my middle finger. “Fuck. You.”
Josep swipes a clawed hand through the water, breaking the image into nothing but an endless series of ripples. And at the same time, he screeches at us. This noise is not anything I’ve ever heard before. It’s some kind of frequency and suddenly the mirror we are looking through shatters, exploding all around us.
Lucia and I recoil backwards, hands over our faces even though we both know this isn’t real and she’s not even alive. It’s just instinct. We end up on the ground, nearly drowning in the mist, as the glass settles around us.
Echo is gone and so is the doorway to Josep’s lair.
We just sit there for a few moments, breathing hard, trying to come to terms with what just happened. But even Lucia is at a loss. Because when she looks at me, she’s frightened.
I shake my head. “No. No, no, no, Lucia. You do not get to be the scared one here. You’re already dead!” I point at the empty frame that used to be a mirror. “That thing has Ryet! And he just ripped Echo’s arm right off her body! So, no! Fuck you! You do not get to be the scared one here! You’re the one who’s been calling me to this moment! You better have a fucking plan or I swear to God, I will… I will… follow you into the mist, or wherever the fuck you’re going, and I will ruin your happily ever after!Do you hear me!Tell me the fucking plan!”
