Seraphina’s chants grew louder.
"Then blood shall awaken what prophecy has sealed, and the mark’s bond shall be revealed."
My head felt like it was on fire as she spoke. I looked down, focusing on the large, creepy stone-carved eye. It wasn't just a marking; it seemed to react to Seraphina’s chants as if it were alive. When the eye shifted, even slightly, my breath caught in my throat. What was this?”
"And power shall arise where the ritual is fulfilled," she continued.
I thought of my mother sitting in her wheelchair in the kitchen, staring out the window at the abyss, waiting for me to come home. My hands trembled around the iron bars in anger as I thought of her, hoping I would return. She would never know what had happened to me. She would never stop looking and Dennis, hewas always away, always working. She would be alone. She would have no one.
I shook as I clung to the bars, a scream tore from my throat, but I didn't let it be mere noise. I aimed it at the brothers.
"You're monsters, all of you!" My voice broke into a desperate cry, but I kept my eyes locked on the one who had flinched—the one on the left. I knew it was Cillian. "Is this the 'charming' future you promised?
Seraphina didn’t so much as glance my way as her voice became louder and faster, chanting her spell. Her and her damn spells. I hated her.
"You were never meant to leave, girl. The mark chose you. The bloodline of the threebinds you. And through your offering, our people will be freed." Her eyes burned with blue fire. "Your blood will choose its bond. If not, today you die."
My gaze swept over the brothers, as the torches sputtered and shadows crawled across their masks. Then I felt a cold seep into the chamber and under the stone. That's when I felt a force clawing its way upward, reaching for me with unseen hands.
I pressed myface closer to the bars,
“Cillian. Let me out," I begged, my voice echoing against the chamber walls.
Cillian's hand twitched again. I pressed closer to the bars, enough to catch his eye.
"You were the only one who looked at me and made me feel anything," I said. It was a lie, or maybe it wasn't, either way, words were the only weapon I had left to throw at him.
Seraphina's gaze swept the circle. Her voice sliced through the air. "There is no other way. Do not falter”. The mark chose her, and the Varethym Order binds us all.
I saw Cillian's throat clench.
"You know I heard Seraphina and Fionn planning this," My voice shook with fury.
"Fionn, maybe you should tell your brother how you and Seraphina planned to get Cillian in line.'
The dance, that was your plan. To make him jealous." I see it now.
Cillian flinched again. This time I had his attention.
“Do not distract. Hold the circle,” Seraphina snapped.
"And you," I said, turning to her, "maybe you should confess how you used the séance to find me." If I were going to die, I wanted to ensure they knew exactly how deceitful she and Fionn were.
***
The lights flickered. Then I felt the hands. They weren’t flesh-like or visible, but they were real. Ghostly fingers slid over my ankles, arms, chest, throat. They were everywhere, tugging not at my body but at my soul. They were trying to tear me from myself.
“No!” I shouted, clawing at the air. “You can’t have me. I won’t let you take me.”
Then the voice slipped through. A loud demand in my mind.
“Tilly.” The name thrummed through my brain.
The necklace disc. The centre of the eye. Now.
I had no choice. My fingers tore the necklace from my throat, and I dropped to my knees.
Seraphina chanted, “Blood to blood.”
