Bound Book 2

Chapter 48 - Lies

Skylar

The darkness is momentary before I am thrown to the ground, my body rolling twice before coming to a stop. I get up on all fours and vomit, the heaving only subsiding when all the contents of my stomach are splattered on the ground beneath me. I palm the sand, allowing it to fall from my hand back onto the floor. This is real. The waning crescent moon overhead casts only a little light around. Standing up, I am back in a familiar place. This is the location of my recurring dream. I look around and am met with shrubbery and forest, the spitting image of the one I know well.

I become aware of the fact that there is no whip around me, however, my hand rises to touch a thin string tied around my throat. I put my finger between the sting and my throat, pulling to get it off. The more I pull, the more it feels like it is constricting my airflow, so I leave it. I can't afford to black out again. I try to teleport, but nothing happens. I try and call up a ball of flames, the space on my hand coming up empty where the energy would usually gather. My mind link to Dmitri is also closed, and for a change, I wished for the familiar headache that would accompany his push to communicate.

I drop my hands in defeat. Looking up, my gaze is pulled towards the edge of the cliff, the one that has seen me pivoting off into its depths on numerous occasions. The finality of me doing it now though is apparent as I peer over the edge, my foot knocking a small stone that falls into the darkness before ricocheting off something below. This is no longer just a nightmare.

"Skylar," the voice sings. His voice. Gael.

Turning around slowly, I see Gael step out of the shadows of the tree, the smile on his face kinder than it was minutes before in Dmitri's house. The scars he sported earlier are also gone, though I am almost certain this is just an illusion.

"Finally. We are alone. And what better setting than where it all began?" He says, taking a slow step toward me.

I don't say anything, still trying to figure out what exactly this psycho wants.

When he doesn't say anything, just continues staring at me expectantly, I ask a simple question, one that cannot anger him.

"Where are we?" I keep my voice calm, though inside, I can feel the panic rising. This man had been patiently infiltrating himself into my life since I was eighteen when these dreams first started. His obsession and perseverance showed that whatever he was, normal was not part of his composition. Also, the fact he could kill his twin brother and Chris, his adopted father's son, who I assume he grew up with, spoke to the level of insanity at play here. Unhinged is the word that pops into my mind.

"We're actually close to your house in Willow Falls. It's a couple of miles outside of the town. I bought it when you were eighteen. Always imagined this is where we would end up." He smiles a smile that is more like the one Blaise used to give me when we first met. Less evil madman vibe, though his words contradict that notion.

"How would you know I would eventually come to Willow Falls?" This causes him to laugh, a deep throaty laugh as if what I have said is the best joke he's ever heard.

"Think Skylar," he says, tapping his head with his smooth, scar-free right index finger.

I think back to how I came to be living in Willow Falls, nothing really sticking out until I remember that one of Ben's friends had told him about the quiet town of Willow Falls. Ironically, just at the time when I was looking to move away and start my own business. Irony that now seemed planned.

"There it is," Gael says with a smile in his voice, the look on my face no doubt indicating I have found the correct connection.

"Ben...you were that friend that told him about Willow Falls," I voice out loud, needing confirmation even though my gut knows.

"Bingo. Though he didn't know who I was at the time, so you can't blame him," Blaise says, waving his hand in the air dismissively.

"Why was it important to you?" When he looks confused, I elaborate. Now was the time for answers. It might be the only opportunity I have. "That I live close to you. To your property?"

"Well, that question stems from the first time Chris met you. Selinah asked me to cast a spell she had written. I was otherwise occupied and sent Chris instead. Faux par on my part," he says, picking up a stick close to his foot as he talks, his eyes meeting mine occasionally.

"Anyway, it seems even at the ripe old age of eight, you caught his eye. Though I will at least say that the romantic love he felt for you only bloomed when you did. I think it was more of an obsession he developed based on the treatment he received from our so-called father. When he saw you alone and crying at the scene of your parent's car accident, some sort of instinct kicked in. A misplaced sense of protection. Could also be from the fact it was he who stood in the road, causing that accident, fatal for your parents." The way Gael says this is so blasé as if he hasn't revealed the most significant missing piece of a puzzle spanning my life. The tears form in my eyes, though I am grateful for the shadow cast by the dim moonlight, making the emotion almost invisible to the monster, ripping my life apart.

"From that day on, he watched you. Managed to keep you a secret until just before your eighteenth birthday. When his feelings shifted to love I could tell, his erratic behavior more disturbing than usual. I followed him one morning. When my eyes landed on you, I knew you were special. It didn't take much to get Chris to spill the beans. About you, the Legend, all of it. Down to what time you slept, what you liked, your personality. His need to boast about you meant that his knowledge became mine. His obsession became mine," Gael snickers at the thought, his emphasis on the word mine not going unnoticed. The contrast between when he and when Dmitri say it is not lost on me. One fills me with terror, and the other with a feeling of belonging I've never known before.

A tear slips from its origin, running down my cheek before hitting the dry sand below.

"It was when he tried to deceive me that I knew his usefulness had come to an end. He wouldn't break the curse. Or couldn't. Meant the same thing to me. He chose his side, and it wasn't mine. So I took his power, draining him while I was at it." He looks up at me suddenly as if those words are the most disturbing thing he has said.

"But don't worry, Skylar, that won't happen to you. I love you." He says the words as if I should be grateful. Like I should know. All I can do is blink, hoping another tear doesn't slip from its hiding place. All the people that say they love me but then hurt me. Lie to me. He is just another on an ever-growing list. The only one who isn't on that list is Dmitri. That prompts the thought that breaks the dam, tears flowing freely down my face.

I would never see him again. 

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