The battle is won, but the war is far from over. With his new powers on the loose, Oliver must find balance between good and evil - before the world dies.
*****
"The old world walks the earth once again."
Something big is comi...
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-Oliver-
I couldn't fall asleep that night, and I wasn't the only one. Jaden slept for maybe fifteen minutes here and there until he woke up again. He was too worried over me and the Echo to relax enough to fall asleep. And my restless anxiety didn't help him at all.
I tried not to think about my mother, struggling to keep my emotions in check. It was impossible, especially after what I'd done. I shivered when I remembered killing the shadows just to blow off steam. I killed hundreds of them. In minutes. They were all gone now. All those poor souls who got trapped in the Shadow Realm, never able to redeem themselves ever again...
Those shadows used to be people...
And I could do that same just as easily to spirits... Dead... Or living...
Jaden moved and placed his hand on my cheek. I opened my eyes and even in the dim light of the morning, I saw him watching me with sadness written all over his face.
We'll fix this.
How was confronting my mother going to fix anything? There was nothing she could do to make things right, not after making me live in a group home for years...!
Calm down...
I closed my eyes and forced myself to focus on Jaden's warm hand caressing my cheek. I took several deep breaths, but the anger was still there, lurking nearby.
I guess the corrupted side of the Echo had found that anger. I couldn't recognize that feeling as my own. I had never hated my mom this much. Hell, I'd always thought she didn't matter to me. I hardly even thought about her. But now...
It was like she was my enemy who was threatening to kill everything I held dear.
'You understand it now,' Hades spoke at the back of my mind. 'The corruption will find your deepest, darkest emotions, no matter how small they are, and it will turn them against you. The darkness has built its nest in that negativity, and it has had time to make its home big and strong.'
'So now what? I'll go mad if I don't visit my mother?' I asked. 'What am I supposed to do? Go find her and tell her I'm not mad at her and the darkness magically lets go of me?'
Hades laughed lightly at my annoyed tone.
'No. But it is a place to start.'
'Like I'm going to let you...' someone else said and laughed in a voice that was far from human.
I jumped up with a racing heart when Hades suddenly vanished from my mind with a painful shout.
Oliver!
"Oliver!"
I broke down in cold sweat, gasping for air as the fear tried to crush my lungs.
"There's someone in my head!" I managed to tell the people hurrying to me. "It's him!"
