Page 99 of Illusory

As far as I was concerned, this baby was just that—an innocent baby—and until he grew up and proved me otherwise, he really wasn’t my concern. The only reason he was even a blot on my map was because the Order and their deranged Horsemen dragged me into it. But those masks were off now, and I knew the faces of my enemies.

The only real threat to me and my family was the Order. They were the ones who had been playing with my life long before I’d even stepped foot in Hollow Hills. Not some baby who hadn’t even been born yet.

Which really begged the question: if the Roderick sisters were behind Morgan’s vision block and had been watching us all this time, wouldn’t they know all that already? Wouldn’t they leave well enough alone instead of stirring up problems where there weren’t any?

Unless they weren’t behind it at all.

“Don’t you think it’s kind of strange that they’d be able to disable your entire ability without even meeting you once?” I asked, inspecting her profile as she watched the bird dip and dive frantically, as though it had spotted a carcass somewhere near the riverbank. “I mean, putting up some kind of barrier or protection spell to stop you from seeing them would have been more than enough. Not to mention much more believable.”

Her gaze snapped to mine then. She knew where I was going.

“But to knock out your entire ability? Wow.” I whistled dramatically. “That’s some serious magic of the highest order right there.”

Her face twisted into a frown as the puzzle pieces slowly came together in her own mind. I could see her dutifully working out the ins and outs of it, mulling over the amount of power and access to a Descendant one would need to pull off a spell like that.

“No.” She met my eyes, shaking her head. “There’s no way.”

“You have to admit, it’s much more plausible seeing as they actually have the chops to do it.”

She shook her head again, refusing to even accept it as a possibility. “You’re crazy. There’s no way. Why in heaven’s name would the Order want to block my ability? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Doesn’t it?” I argued. “Maybe they wanted to block your ability for the same reason we thought the Roderick sisters did. Because they’re planning something, and they don’t want me to see what’s coming.”

I knew I was right. The moment the words left my mouth I knew it. I could feel it coiling in my gut like a headless serpent circling endlessly in its pit.

Morgan looked away, focusing back on the river, her brows knitting together furiously into a permanent knot as she ran it over in her mind.

And then she knew it too.

31. OUT OF FOCUS

I stayed at the riverbank for a long while after Morgan left, watching the sun slowly set in the distance as the familiar scent of pine trees and rich soil stretched along the rolling water, wrapping itself around me every so often.

After my conversation with Morgan and the realization that the Order was in all likelihood planning something against me in that very moment, I’d needed a little more time to get my thoughts in order.

Especially considering the whole reason I’d gone to the river in the first place.

Not that I was surprised to hear that the Order was plotting against me. After all, that had been exactly the kind of underhanded, sneaky moves they’d been making long before I’d even moved here. And according to my Alt who had visited me not so long ago, they were pulling the same shit in the future too.

It had taken a while, but I was slowly beginning to see the bigger picture and understand what it all truly meant for me. So long as my heart was still ticking and my Morningstar blood flowed freely in my veins, they were always going to come after me. It didn’t matter which side of the murky line between good and evil I was standing on, or what kind of person I was, or even if I was playing ball exactly as they wanted me to. They would always come for me.

Of course, that hadn’t been the only reason I hung back at the river long after it had gotten so cold and dark out that I couldn’t tell the difference between the sound of my chattering teeth and the skittering animals in the brushwoodaround me.

I tried to tell myself that Iwasn’thiding from Trace or Dominic. That I wasn’t sitting there on the rocky bank of a place that held terrible memories for me, slowly freezing my fingers and toes off because I didn’t have the guts to face the two of them. But I knew deep down inside that it was a lie.

Despite knowing that what I was doingwasthe right thing—that choosing neither and walking away from both of them was the only way to let them go on with some kind of dignity—it still didn’t make it any easier to actually do it. To destroy them, and myself in the process.

The full moon was already casting its ethereal glow on the world below by the time I pulled back into my driveway. Despite fleeing my house like a demon absconding from heaven, I’d at least had the courtesy to text Gabriel and let them know that I was safe, and that I wasn’t going to run off and do something stupid. That I just needed some time alone to clear my head. And luckily for me, they’d respected it.

Shutting the front door behind myself, I peeled off my jacket and tossed it onto the console. Drawing in a steadying breath, I straightened my shoulders and made my way down the corridor to the living room, following the sound of their carrying voices. I knew that they would be there waiting for me because I had already informed them that I had news I needed to share. And simply because I had asked them to.

I walked into the living room and paused at the doorway, immediately feeling the tension wafting through the air like a fifth wheel as Gabriel, Trace and Dominic’s gazes latched onto mine and stayed there.

Dominic was positioned by the window with his usual drink in his hand while Trace and Gabriel sat opposite each other on the sofas. Neither of the three looked happy, and that only made me hold tighter to the decision that I had made. Tothe fact that Iwasdoing the right thing. I knew with certainty that they’d never be happy so long as I was around, bringing my curses and pain and darkness into the room like it was the air I was breathing.

As agonizing as it was for me now, I knew they would be so much better off without me in the long run, when I was finally gone from their lives.

I just had to get through these next couple of weeks first.

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