Page 40 of Storm

Flayed. It’s the only answer I find to the question presenting itself. They have been flayed alive from their backs. The creatures’ ribs have been broken backwards to represent some sort of demented wings. Solence runs in thick rivets down sliced flesh, luminescent.

Tears cascade down my cheeks when the screams stop.

Worse. It can always get worse.

Taking my focus off the three fairy sacrifices fills me with dread. Someone has to witness the atrocities of this. Someone has to mourn them. Someone has to⁠—

Confident fingers bring my face to hard, desolate eyes. “Now you know. There’s no hope. Forget about running.”

Door closed. Heart battered. Screams ring out on the inside, my mouth unable to move.

This is why he brought me here. To remind me that I’m stuck. Forever.

CHAPTER 11

A FAE IN DISGUISE

What of the woman I’ve become? Who is she? Stuck in a toilet because she can’t find the strength to go back out there. Always left wondering if he’s partaking…

The nineteen-year-old girl is now a thirty-one-year-old woman. I barely recognise her. In ways, she looks identical. Same black hair. Same pointed chin. Same blue eyes. Yet, she’s also so different in size and shape, having filled out more over the years. Freckles softened. Even the old scars on my hands have decreased in size to the point I barely notice them some days.

The harder I look, the more I see it is not‌ my physical appearance that has been through the most change. It has been my heart. My soul. I can’t profess to say I’ve ever made the right decisions. I’ve made choices on impulse and what felt “right” at the moment. They were always to keep me alive. To keep the people I love alive.

Now a husk of my former self, I wonder if I’ll have the energy to continue this game. Or do I succumb? Will I become one of them?

The internal flickering beacon within knows the answer before I even say it. Keep going. Rise. Fight.

If my legacy is Halo, I will go out kicking and screaming. For my children. For my mam. For Nix. And for everyone who came before me, wanting safety and freedom.

Taking a deep breath, my eyes shut tight, pushing down the lingering hurt. I endure. Regardless of the emotional toil, I will always continue. Turning to make my exit from the tiny space, the door springs forward. A green giant joins me, slamming and locking the door behind him, blocking my exit.

The delicious aroma of fresh fruit and springtime flowers clogs the stagnant air. I wheeze. Accusing hazel eyes burrow into mine, and I instinctively go to grasp my swollen stomach. He looks down at where I’m holding myself, scoffing loudly. “Figures,” he mutters, and then he demands, “Can you see me, human?”

I don’t see the point in denying anything, so I answer, “Yes.”

“What do you see?”

He stands with his hands on his hips. Imposing. I don’t hold back. “You have green skin, coloured eyes, and pointed ears. You’re a fairy.” That last part is a hush. If he doesn’t hear it, it’s not true. He nods, assessing the situation. Adam, the second in command to my husband, being the situation.

“You shouldn’t be able to see all of that.”

“Oh, really?” I reply sarcastically. Either I’m insane, or this is real, and… I don’t know. If this is real, it means he’s here to kill me, right? So, essentially, it’s a steaming pile of shit both ways. Great. Fuck my life.

“No. I’m wearing a glamour.” His tone sounds irate, but not deadly. I take a step back into the vanity behind me regardless. He glowers. “Do you have fae solence?” I don’t understand where this conversation is going, but those gold-flecked orbs don’t say I’d gut you in a downstairs toilet. If anything, his irises remind me too much of Nix’s.

“I’m half human, half Halo.” Unsure what he means by fae.

He scoffs. “You’re all human. No half about it, girl.” You’re preaching to the choir, fairy guy.

“Right. I agree, but I do not have any of this… fae in me.”

“I don’t see how else you could see through my glamour. I’ve been here for three years, and you’re the first person to see me for what I truly am.”

“I don’t know. Maybe your ‘glamour’ is running out.”

The fae laughs in a lilting tone at my statement and bends down. Way too close for comfort. “My magic is too strong, even under the death of Halo soil.”

“Okaaayyy…” My natural brattiness comes out, and I raise my eyebrows at his irate cockiness.