Page 300 of Sinister

Something inside me tells me to shut this conversation down, to tell him I am not interested, that he and his strange friends need to go. But even as I open my mouth to demand that they leave, no sound comes out.

I keep staring at him, and suddenly, my head is inundated with images. Me, Elroy, our child. I can see us caring for the baby, loving him. I can see Plum growing up . . .

I gulp down. What is this? What is happening?

“We can make a deal,” the friar continues. “And all those dreams will come true.”

He grabs the knife from my side and makes an incision across his palm. Belatedly, I note that the previous wound had healed—unnaturally fast.

He gives me the knife to do the same.

“Do it. Say yes. Your soul for your dreams,” he murmurs in a low, seductive voice.

I feel the pull of his words. The yearning inside of me rises to the surface with such an astounding force it becomes my reigning emotion. There’s nothing else but this deep longing—for my beloved, for our child, for the life we never had.

I can no longer think rationally. I am driven only by feeling.

Grabbing the knife, I press the blade into my flesh until blood pools to the surface.

Frey Antonio stares at me expectantly, silently willing me to continue.

“Say the word,” he murmurs. “Say it.”

I open my mouth to speak just as I extend my hand forward to clasp his. But before our hands can touch, before our blood can mingle, someone grabs my arm and wrenches it back.

The jolt is enough to bring some sense into me. I glance back and note it’s Valerion.

When had he come here?

“Do not,” he states in a harsh voice. “He will consume your soul.”

I stare at him. I can hear the words, but I have a hard time registering the meaning behind them.

“I need it,” I whisper. “I need Elroy and Plum back.”

“Sister Agatha, if you take the deal, your soul will forever be obliterated. It will become a part of this demon.”

“What are you doing here?” Frey Antonio asks as he stares Valerion down. “This is not your territory.”

Valerion cursorily glances at the friar, an icy gaze that instantly shuts him up.

“He cannot bring your fiancé and baby back. Their souls are already in the afterlife. The only way for you to meet them again is in another incarnation.”

“Another incarnation . . . ?” I whisper.

He nods. “When you die, your soul will be measured based on your deeds, good and bad, and you will serve time accordingly in the afterlife before the Fates decide if you’re worthy of another incarnation.”

“But how would I meet Elroy and Plum again then? What if we never get reincarnated at the same time? What if they don’t remember me? What if—” The question dies on my tongue as I glance back at Frey Antonio.

Wrenching my arm from Valerion’s hold, I tentatively reach forward toward the friar.

“Sister Agatha,” Valerion calls my name.

“You cannot stop her, Vitry. You know as well as I do that even we cannot interfere with free will. It is her decision to make.” The friar smiles triumphantly.

“Perhaps I cannot do anything now, but I can still ensure you won’t see another day,” Valerion declares.

I gulp down, thoroughly confused by what’s happening. I don’t know what I should do. I only know that there’s this gaping hole inside my chest, that my entire being yearns to be reunited with my loved ones.