Page 105 of Dead Wrong

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“Do not mock me, Tobias. I know the difference. These are no dreams.”

“Then let me help you!” I pleaded with her. “Clue me in on what’s going on, and maybe I can help think it through. But giving up the power you’ll need to enact change isn’t the right move. You’ll only clip your wings?—”

A sound from the bushes a few feet away silenced me. Movement out of the corner of my eye and something darting out of the brush, dark as a shadow and fast as lightning. They closed the distance in a fraction of a second, the flash of steel glimmering in the lamplight as the figure thrust a short blade at Lynette.

She catches them at the wrist, her other hand moving in a blur, but she’s too slow to catch the assailant’s other hand as they slap something across her mouth. Lynette grunts in pain as the device locks over her lips, keeping her from speaking—or commanding the assailant with magic.

“S-Stop!” I shouted, attempting to wrap the figure in my aura, but their defenses were too strong for me to overwhelm, and they stabbed back into my mind, causing me to flinch. Instead, I charged them, shoving my shoulder into their side to try and throw them off balance, but it was like colliding with a brick wall, and even with mine and Lynette’s combined strength, the assailant shoved me with their hip, knocking me to the ground.

“Don’t interfere,” they barked, voice harsh behind the black mask that obscured their face. They pushed the blade closer, the tip biting into Lynette’s abdomen. She whimpered but held fast, keeping the attack from advancing any further.

I attempted to wrap the foe in my aura once more, wincing as they retaliated, a splitting headache ripping through me. From the ground, I kicked at their feet, but they were too quick, pushing Lynette forward a few steps out of my reach.

“What do you want?” I asked, desperate. Obviously, I wasn’t going to be able to overpower them, but if I could distract them long enough for Lynette to get that thing off her mouth, then no one would be able to stand against her.

“Do not interfere,” the assailant ordered. “I act on behalf of Her Grace, Adoranda Greene.”

“Liar!” I cried, kicking at the woman, but she drove her heel into my side, knocking the air from my lungs.

“Has your sister told you what role you play in her visions, Tobias?” the assailant asked, their gaze drifting to me with cold indifference.

I froze there on the ground. “What?”

Lynette struggled harder to free the blade, a trickle of blood staining the front of her dress. The assailant swept a leg under her, knocking her down to a knee. Bearing down on her from above, the blade sunk deeper into her abdomen, and she howled against the muzzling device.

“What are you talking about?” I asked the figure.

“Her visions from the Augur. Madame Greene has been logging them for years. They all involve you, Tobias. You are the key to unlock the calamity that will burn the world the ash.”

I turned to my sister, her eyes burning with fiery hate toward the assailant as they struggled for control over the blade. “Is this true?”

The veins in her neck were bulging under the strain, but after a moment, she nodded.

“You are to be the sacrifice that lights the flames, Tobias,” the assailant continued, still bearing down on Lynette.

“Sacrifice?” I echoed, looking to Lynette, her wide eyes pleading. “You were going to sacrifice me? For what? So Mother wouldn’t get her way? Gods, Lenny!”

She shook her head, losing her focus enough that the blade sunk in another inch. Another stifled groan, but I didn’t care. I needed answers.

“How… how could you, Lenny? I’m your brother!”

Her eyes shined, and with a final grunt from the assailant, they broke her hold and plunged the blade fully into her gut. But she held my gaze, eyes begging me to understand something that was beyond my comprehension.

I turned to the assailant. “Are you going to kill her?”

They nodded, yanking the blade out in one swift motion. The edge was glowing with ruby light—a Sanguine blade. The wound would sap Lynette’s magic away if it wasn’t healed properly. Lynette groaned, writhing on the ground. Her fingers were slick with blood, and they couldn’t find purchase on the edges of the muzzle over his lips.

“Are you going to interfere?” the figure asked me, poising the blade to strike the killing blow.

I looked down at my sister, my Lenny, wanting to tell the assailant to stop. But all I could see was her, leading me to this secluded area, alone, next to a freshly dug grave.

She was going to kill me here and leave me in the ground next to our father. What other reason would she have?

Tears welling in my eyes, I turned back to the assailant.

“No.”

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