Page 102 of Secrets & Curses of Fate

Her words pulled me from my trance. My mother began sobbing, but I did not feel sorry for her. My father was an evil man, but she was heartless to let him beat me for years. All I could think about was a life without my father in it, and it sounded fucking great. I turned to him, and he looked over at me with terror. There was a pleading in his eyes.

“I hope the gods show no mercy on your soul,” I hissed.

This made Della smile.

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” she answered back as she walked menacingly toward my father again. He backed himself against the wall of the house, not even trying to fight her. Della’s words rang in my ears: Don’t worry, I won’t.

Suddenly, her silver tattoos blazed to life, and her star mist shot out from her hand as she reached forward, sinking her now-incandescent fingers into my father’s chest, smiling wickedly and staring into his eyes. When she pulled it back out, she was holding a fuzzy-looking light in her fist. It seemed to struggle in her grasp for a moment before she squeezed her fist shut, crushing the light until it sparked out. When she opened her hand, a few wisps of gray smoke and dust escaped, floating away on the wind. I could not believe it; she had literally ripped his soul from his body.

I watched his eyes turn vacant as Della stared at him until his body fell to the ground. My mother began wailing, but Della turned to me, her eyes back to the color of stars. She approached me cautiously, like I would spook from her.

She whipped around and faced my mother, who was too busy crying over my father’s dead body to care if I was alright. Della stood without blinking. Her steps were quick, and before my mother realized it, Della was standing over her. My mother was pleading for her to bring my father back.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be joining him in hell,” she promised, then she leaned down and said something to her that I couldn’t hear.It had to have been the same thing she told my father because my mother’s eyes instantly jumped to my face and bored into my own.

Before she could react, Della reached forward, just as she had done to my father. With the same star mist shooting from her hand, she slowly reached in and ripped the soul of my mother from her chest. Once again, she squeezed the pulsing, fuzzy light in her hand until nothing remained but gray smoke and dust that blew away as my mother’s body fell at her feet. Della was very still. Her gaze didn’t move from my dead parents at her feet, breathing heavily and trying to calm herself down. A moment later, she turned slightly toward me, her eyes full of caution. She took a hesitant step but stopped when I stepped backward. Who the fuck was she?

Her eyes took in my movement, and she didn’t try to come closer.

“Do you think I’m a monster?” she asked, her face filled with regret.

All I could do was stare at her, blinking with confusion. Who the fuck was she, and how had she done that to them with such little effort? Della opened her mouth to say something, her hand slowly reaching toward me, but I flinched like she was about to rip the soul from me too. It was just a reflex, but I could see that my reaction devastated her. Tears filled her eyes as she frowned at me.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered before turning and running from me. Before I could follow her, she disappeared into her star mist.

I sat on the ground for quite some time, trying to comprehend everything that had just happened. After the shock of it all started to wear off, I realized I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. But by then, Della was long gone. My eyes drifted to my parents, and relief filled me because we wouldn’t have to suffer from their abusive hands ever again.

I walked to the shed, grabbed a shovel, and started digging a hole to hide their bodies. I couldn’t have Remiah seeing this. It took hours, and when I was done, I walked to the edge of the nearby lake and cleaned myself up, still unable to get Della’s broken-hearted face out of my mind.

Chapter 26

Haden

Della didn’t come back. It had been weeks since she saved me, and I felt… odd, like something was wrong with me. I felt her loss more than I did for my parents. My chest felt as if there were a hole in it where my heart should be. Rem had been shocked but relieved when I told her what had happened. We hadn’t spoken of our parents since.

I lay in my room as Rem left to go meet Mikel somewhere. I had been out in the woods every day and night, trying to get Della to come back, calling for her. But she ignored my begging.

I prayed to the stars, the heavens, the hells, and whatever gods would listen to make her come back to me. What if she never came back? I shook my head. I could not even fathom a life that she was not in. That sounded so terrible that I felt ill at the thought. I rubbed my chest where the insistent tugging wouldn’t stop.

My eyes fluttered shut, but a small noise made me sit up slightly in my bed. A moment later, I felt her. Della was closeby, but she was lurking somewhere. She sounded like she was crying. I stood and looked out of the window and was surprised to see her standing in my yard.

Relief filled me, and I hurried outside, hoping I didn’t miss the chance to speak to her. As I stepped out, Della watched me sadly. I started taking a step toward her, but she stepped back.

“Where have you been?” I demanded. “You disappeared.”

My anger confused her.

“I was giving you time.”

“I called for you, and you ignored me.”

This made guilt fill her pretty eyes. She had heard me and still hadn’t come.

“I was busy.”

I took another hesitant step toward her but stopped when she looked like she might disappear again. Her eyes shifted to the spot where I buried my parents.

“Why did you leave?” I asked.

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