Page 95 of Haunted Hearts

I feel the air around me lighten and sit up in the cot, the metal frame creaking from my movement.

You’re back.

Are they okay? I still don’t know what happened.

I feel the subtle static of magic in the air. I let you in, and shapes begin to form behind my closed lids as muffled voices begin to come in clearer.

I see Jack sitting in his chair, he’s showing me something on a screen. It looks like a video feed of me and Gen sitting on a bench; I watch as we get taken by men in a black van. I watch myself get thrown into the van as my hand goes straight to the bump on my head.

“That explains this, I suppose,” I mutter to myself.

The vision fades as my eyes readjust to the darkness.

Thank you for showing me that. I wish I could get the hell out of here, but I would need to get this damn collar off. I can feel my magic just beneath the surface, but I can’t reach it. I can’t stand these things. I remember the first time I wore one, it was the beginning of the end.

I grip the collar on my neck, the long-buried memory coming to the surface.

I walk into the living room when I hear the click of the front door open and I hide behind the corner in the hallway. I see Cade go into the house covered in blood. He looks angry again. I hear our father’s voice come in from behind him.

“Dammit, Cade!” he growls. “It’s your fucking duty to take over; you can’t keep acting out. Your days of going on missions with Darian are over. It’s time you start learning about your duty.”

I see Cade go to the sink in the kitchen, turning the water on and washing his face.

“Why are you so persistent? Give someone else the job,” Cade says, wiping his face.

I watch as Father steps closer, his voice as scary as ever. “You will do this, do you understand?”

Cade leaves my eyesight. I lean forward to get a better angle when he appears in front of me like a wall and I jump.

“Calli?” Cade looks down at me with confusion.

“Uh… Hi,” I say in a small voice backing away.

His eyes search my face before looking down at my neck, his hand reaching up and gripping the collar around it.

“What is this?” Rage laces his tone. He turns back to our father. “Why the fuck is there a goddamn collar on her neck?”

“Her power has been growing, it’s for all of our protection,” our father says calmly.

“She is a fucking child!” Cade’s voice echoes through the large house.

“She is dangerous.” My father’s voice is unnervingly calm.

“She poses a hell of a lot less danger to you than I do right now. Take it off.”

“You will not speak to your father that way!” My mother’s voice has my back straighten as she saunters down the massive staircase.

“What the hell is this?” Cade asks again, gesturing to the thick black collar.

“I think it’s time we tell you the truth, sweetheart.” Her voice is calm as the memory begins to fade; a tear streams down my face as I lie in the cot pressing my nail into the collar. The rage from the memory of me being so helpless is pressing in on me.

I spent so long in the dark when I was little.

I wipe the tear from my cheek, sitting up.

I’ve been through a hell of a lot worse than this. If they think they can break me, I look forward to proving them wrong.

There’s a cruel symmetry in this. The first time Cade saw this collar on me, it ended the life I knew. He shattered the chains they’d wrapped around us both. He swore he’d burn their whole world to the ground.