Fate's Return (Twisted Fate, Book 2)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Still shaking, I felt the silence as I ran from my car, extending my house key to slide into the lock. It was the wrong one. My hand hit resistance and I fumbled, dropping the keys onto the cement porch. Dammit. I picked them up, trying again, all the while keeping watch over my shoulder.

Still shaking, I was scared Gabe, Mike, and Raffy—the boys I'd trusted for the last year—would follow me home. It was like I didn't know them at all. A whole year. Had it all been lies? Why?

The door finally opened to darkness; nobody was home.

I pulled back to release the key and felt nothing. The snick of metal on metal as the key's teeth slid back was eerily silent. What the...?

I looked down to my hand to find my keys. The same plastic sandal, the same key to my car, and the same key to my journal—the kind you have as a child and lose but forget to throw away. But my house key was gone. Its white metal base covered with strawberries was there, intact, and hanging from one of my many rings, but the ridges were gone. Vanished.

It was disintegrated by the venom of Brenan's acidic blood.

I raced up to my room, turning on all the lights as I ran so the shadows, and the terror of the day, couldn't claim my fear. Stripping off my clothes as though they'd been tainted by Brenan's touch, I threw them in the wastebasket and pulled on my robe. With Brenan gone, he couldn't touch me. I was strong. I was light. I was... wait.

Light and dark.

I'd seen it now, but still didn't know what it meant.

Brenan was dark; Gabe, Mike, and Raffy—they were light.

Light meant good, right? Because Brenan certainly hadn't been. But if they were so good, why did they kill? Why not just rough him up enough to stop him, and then call the cops? Or an asylum? None of what happened made sense.

My phone beeped as I sat down at my desk and I bent over, pulling it from my bag's front pocket, scared of who it might be. I jumped as it reached eye level and it began chirping Suzie's song.

R U DONE W/ BRENAN?

My breath caught, and the beat of my heart echoed in my head as it started to speed up again. I hadn't thought what I would say to people. Yeah, uh, I broke up with Brenan because he became all demon-y, so my co-workers offed him? While they were glowing, no less. I'm sure everyone would believe me once I explained how he had hardened to gold-coloured marble and crumbled like a shattered mirror before turning to dust.

Right. It was a good thing I couldn't see my reflection within all his shimmer and shine at the end, or I'd be facing seven years of bad luck. Not that I could call myself lucky now, but whatever. My karma sucked.

I typed my reply with short, jerky movements: WE'RE DONE. Just don't ask me how he is.

SRY BABE. IS HE OK OR SHOULD DERYK LOOK ON ROOFTOPS?? XOXO

What do I say? What do I say? Licking my lips, I glanced around my room. What do I say? Ahh. Right. Perfect. And it wasn't even a lie.

HE WAS SPEECHLESS. G2G. TTYL.

Turning off my phone, I lay on my back on my bed and tried to regulate my breathing, slow my thoughts. Everything felt so surreal, like I was an actor who'd forgotten their movie had wrapped and stayed in character. I wasn't me.

I pulled my pillow over my head and lay for hours, ignoring everything but the never-ending confusion of my thoughts. Basically, I spaced. After replaying what happened over and over again in my head, I fell asleep, but even that didn't offer relief.