As Yesenia narrowed her eyes, Meadow’s stomach dropped.Oh, no. Please don’t let River be hurt, or worse, because of me.
Before she could go down the road of what-ifs, the not-quite-Yesenia stated, “I’m sending you back to the future to our father.I never should’ve brought you here. Because of you, River and Nora are dead.”
Fear shot through her. “No!”
Yesenia walked in and stopped to spit on her. “You killed them.”
She snapped her fingers, and in the next instant, Meadow was in her old bedroom at her father’s place, except there were bars on the windows and the door had changed into a metal door with bars, like a jail cell.
Her father appeared at the door, tossed a bottle of water into the room, and said, “Lose another forty pounds and agree to my plan, and maybe I’ll let you outside for an hour. But for now, I can’t stand the disgusting sight of you. How you ever came from Maribelle, I have no idea.”
He walked away. Meadow tried to get up, but she was too weak to do more than raise a hand.
The eerie silence allowed Yesenia’s words to repeat in her mind—River and Nora were dead. All because Meadow had tried to save the day when she hadn’t been strong enough.
She’d been an utter failure.
Again.
She sobbed and struggled to breathe. She’d killed her brother and his kind wife.
What had she done?
Maybe she should stop fighting and just refuse to eat anything. Maybe then she’d stop hurting everyone she cared about.
“Meadow,” a male voice whispered. And then another. “Love, can you hear us?”
It sounded like Laurie and Joseph.
But, no. They were dead. And even if they weren’t, they’d want nothing to do with her, either. She’d killed Laurie’s sister.
“Damn it, Meadow, come to us. We need to talk.”
She should ignore the whispering voices, turn inward, and wait for death.
“Meadow,” they kept whispering.
Just the sound of their voices made her heart break even further. Were they haunting her?
If so, then the last thing she could do for them was to let them yell and shout and berate her for failing them. Maybe then they’d get enough peace to finally leave the world.
Yes, she would listen, no matter how painful it was.
The room changed again, and this time she was inside her bedroom at Nyx’s Kingdom, back in the past. Laurie and Joseph strode through the door, and her heart ached at how handsome they were.
She expected hatred or disgust in their eyes. However, she blinked at the concern.
What was going on?
They walked up to her bed, each taking a side before gripping one of her hands. She was weak but could move her head from side to side, and became even more confused at their tender looks. “What’s going on? Why aren’t you mad at me?” she croaked.
Worry flashed in Laurie’s eyes before he replied, “We’re here for you, Meadow. To give you strength and help you fight this battle.”
Joseph jumped in. “None of this is real—you burned out. All of this is fake, constructed by your own mind to make you give up.”
She shook her head. “No, I must be imagining you. Everyone is dead. You’re dead. You’re both dead.”
Her voice cracked on the last word as a tear trailed down her cheek. Laurie quickly wiped it away. “We’re alive, Emmy. We’re here because of the bond we share. We’re here to convince you to wake up so we can marry you.”
