Page 52 of Secrets & Curses of Fate

“You're his son; you can help pay it off.”

“The fuck I will. That bastard can pay off his own shit; I will not be responsible for his stupid ideas. Give me my money back now, or you’ll fucking regret it.”

The two men with him looked at me like I was an idiot.

“You can either give us this money, or we will take payment a different way.” The way he said it put me on high alert. What did he mean by that? Before I could ask, he smiled.

“Your sister is pretty. I’m sure we could work out an arrangement.”

Disgust filled me. I guess he was dying tonight.

“Take the money,” I demanded.

“That’s what I thought. But maybe I will offer that deal to your father, since you pissed me off. Gods know, he would probably agree to it.”

“If you even look at Remy, I will rip your eyes out and make you eat them.”

Without warning, Barron punched me in the face, making me fall to the ground. I didn’t fight back. It wasn’t the right time, but soon he would feel my wrath. Barron and the two men with him laughed as they walked around me and headed up the street.

I watched them, imagining all the ways I would hurt them. Lightning scattered across the sky, and instinctively I looked for the woman. My violent storm. It had been a clear day, but this storm had come out of nowhere. I didn’t see her, so I stood and headed home, no longer hurrying. I was late, and now I knew what would be waiting for me when I got there.

When I saw my shitty home, I glanced around, hoping that woman wasn’t watching me from anywhere. I would die of embarrassment if she saw that our house was missing parts of the roof and the wood on the sides was crumbling away. One day, I would build myself a house that felt like a home.

Taking a deep breath, I headed inside only to be instantly met with a sucker punch to the stomach by my father. I fell to my knees and tried to take a breath in, but it was useless. I was on the ground gasping for air when he backhanded me. My head snapped to the side at the impact.

“Where the fuck have you been?” he sneered.

“Barron stopped me and demanded that you pay your debt.”

My mother was in the kitchen, staring out the window. She didn’t do or say anything to help me. She never did.

“Well, you’re old enough to start helping with household bills.”

I clenched my fists. My eyes were changing color as my frost magic desperately tried to explode from me.

“What’s wrong, boy?” My father taunted me. “I can see it in your eyes; you have something to say, so say it.”

I said nothing.

I never did.

“For once since you’ve been born, you’ll be useful for something.” He smiled. His eyes traveled over the frost clinging to my fists. “Disgusting elitist.”

His words didn’t hurt me as much as he had hoped. When you hear the same things your whole life, you start to see the truth of them, and I was under no impression that I was worth anything to anyone but Remy.

“Get out of my face,” he spat at me.

I stood and went to my bedroom, which was basically a closet with a small window. Shutting the door, I moved my dresser in front of it so he couldn’t get in later when he was drunk beyond reason. I began pacing back and forth in the small space. Rage was consuming me, and I tried with everything inside of me to control myself because I knew what would happen.

The village had practically shunned me when I developed my elite magic, but they didn’t know that there was something much more sinister that lived inside of me. Another side of me that was pissed off all the time. The void loved to come out and take care of all of my problems. He would come out tonight and take care of Barron; I knew he would. The words of both Barron and my father were enough to make me lose control. Running my fingers through my hair, I knew I needed to get out of there before I did something I would regret.

Not even Remy knew what happened to me when I became this angry. She would think I was a monster. No one would love a monster like me.

I climbed out of my window and quickly ran to the woods. The shift was quick. I normally felt too much of everything, but when this…other side of my personality took over, I felt… void. It was like another person stepped into my mind and took over, someone more… deadly.

When I was him, I did not think about the consequences of my actions, I did not have a moral compass, and I did not fearanything. I was dangerous. The shiver that ran up my spine every time this void took over was the only indication that I was given of the coming change. And no matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t control who I became. Because once he was in control, I was pushed deep in the depths of myself, unaware of what was happening.

It was like he was protecting me from remembering the horrible things he did. I didn't mind because he would share important things with me when needed.

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