Page 159 of Shadowface

As I step into the light, she breathes deeply, seemingly relieved, as if she was expecting me. With a slight movement, she lowers her pencil. The light causes the white streak on her forehead to shimmer.

The cloth mask tickles my cheek, itching the skin on my face hidden beneath. I will be careful not to leave any fingerprints. The very essence of it screams at me.

“So it’s time, then?” she asks, her voice calm and calculated. “You finally admit what you are, Summer Landry?”

I step forward and play with the razor blade in my fingers but don’t respond. Only a quick flash of her eyes betrays her fear on her otherwise stoic face.

She’s scared…I was wondering if she would be. She recovers quickly and rises. “This is remarkable, Summer. You embody him so well. You’re different from your father and grandparents, yet, in many ways, you’re the same. Impulsive, angry and jealous, and clearly so loving in ways that shouldn’t be possible. But you need to understand, girl, what you feel for Lincoln isn’t love. You are simply not capable of it.”

“I love him,” I fire back at her. “You do not get to tell me how I feel, you crazy old bitch.” My voice betrays my identity, but I don’t care. She’s clearly been watching me for a long time. I wouldn’t be surprised if she suspected I was still alive.

She walks toward me and sits on the front of her desk. “You don’t love him, Summer…just as Lincoln is incapable of loving you.” Her eyes flicker as if she’s deep in memory and she smiles. “Your grandfather could love, though, and so could your grandmother. In fact, they were great lovers.”

A stir of something pushes through me. She knew them, all of them, in ways I never could.

“You don’t know me. You don’t know this version of Lincoln, either.”

She smirks, the wrinkles under her eyes more pronounced this close. “I believe in all my heart that true psychopaths are born, not made. This verifies it. But I have to say, whatever you did to transform Lincoln was impressive. Although it’s a shame because he had such…potential.”

“The Lincoln you knew doesn’t exist anymore,” I tell her calmly. “He deserves this life, and he deserves to be happy.” I glare at her. “And you don’t deserve to live.”

Her eyes dart to the cell phone five inches from her hand. And I realize now that’s the only reason she moved at all.

She merely scoffs. “Lincoln doesn’t exist at all. You’ve fallen in love with my creation, young lady.”

I contemplate for a moment. “I thought Mikael created him. And I thought you said I wasn’t capable of loving?”

Her old eyes flash to the phone again. “But which part of him do you love, Summer? Because Lincoln is an empty shell, hard to get through and easy to manipulate. So really, it must be the other side of him, the dark side. Mikael is the one you’re truly in love with, isn’t it? Or perhaps it’s that monster that lives inside both of them.”

I cock a brow. “I love all of him. Every side, every angle. You’re not going to tell me my love for him isn’t real.”

Her finger inches to the phone. “I imagine it’s hard for you. Every little girl wants to grow up and fall in love. You have created a perfect life. I understand why you long for a storybook ending. But your feelings of protectiveness and loyalty are driven by self-interest. You are empty inside, Summer, but you’ve always known that.” She lets out a sigh and continues, “It will make you stronger, enabling you to pursue the things you were destined to do.”

I pause for a moment, listening, contemplating, and have no fucking clue what she’s talking about. Her eyes keep darting to that damn phone as she rambles.

“If you dare lay a finger on that phone,” I say darkly, “I will slice out every vein in your hand. Then I’ll move to your feet, so you can’t walk, and your ears, so you can’t hear. And I will cut out your eyes last because I want you to see everything I’m doing.”

Her weathered hand trembles and she pulls it into herself before making eye contact with me. “You’re not the first to threaten me, you know. Your father threatened me the same way once, and it was cute. I’m an old woman, Summer. I’m tired, and this sounds like a very fitting way for me to go.” She waves her hand. “I’m not bothered by your threats.”

“Did he now? Was that because you made him kill people?”

She sucks in a breath. “There are so many things you simply do not understand, young lady. The genetic makeup you have inherited, the transformation you are on the brink of, and the society I’ve dedicated my entire life to safeguarding.”

“Tell me what this is all about, then. I deserve to know.”

She rises and walks back to her desk, keeping her hand away from the phone. She grabs a book…an old one.

Ancient almost…

She hands it to me, but I don’t take it. Instead, I stare at that old book like its poison. It’s the cause of everything that’s wicked in this town.

“Take this codex,” she says. “This rightfully belongs to you now, so don’t take it lightly. What’s in here is sacred.”

“It’s bullshit,” I fire back.

She shakes her head. “It’s not.”

I narrow my eyes. “And you’re just going to hand it over to me?”