Page 120 of The Forsaken Heir
A long pause followed, long enough that for one terrifying second, I was worried the Wellspring had gone to sleep or fled or something else altogether. When it finally spoke again, I let out a sigh of relief.
“You come…to be accepted…by us. We sense that you have already…been cleansed in a ceremony…of light.”
I thought back on the strange things I saw when Jolon confirmed my identity. “I have.”
“Then…this…should be…familiar to you.”
With no preamble, the light around me brightened until I had to squeeze my eyes shut. Even then, the glare shone through my eyelids, blinding me. It felt like I was still staring directly into the sun?—
“Elle, come down for breakfast. It’s ready.”
“Coming!” I hurried out of my room and down the stairs.
When I arrived in the kitchen, Mom and Dad were sitting at the table. My two brothers and my little sister were already eating. Freddy had a comic book open, and Bastien was craning his neck to read it as well. A few dolls sat beside Sophia’s bowl of oatmeal, and she was diligently trying to eat without smearing the porridge over her entire face.
“Here you go,” Mom said as she put a bowl down on the table.
“Thanks.” I took my seat and pulled the bowl closer, but my stomach turned when I saw what was inside it. Thick crimson liquid, viscous and bubbling. Blood.
“You need to eat up,” Dad said, not taking his eyes off his newspaper.
“What?” I looked up. My siblings were no longer children but adults.
Freddy and Sophia gazed at me sadly, and Bastien had a wicked grin on his face.
“Your blood is impure,” Mom said, dropping a spoon into the bowl of blood. “You need to eat this to make yourself pure again. To shift. To become atruemember of this family.”
I shook my head and backed away from the table. “I don’t want to.”
Mom jammed her fists into her side, and sneered at me. “You were always so difficult. The first born, and such a pain in the ass.”
Deep down, I wanted to shrivel up and die, to lower my eyes and tell her she was right. Not this time. Never again. I’d had to listen to this too often.
“No, Mom!” I screamed, kicking my chair aside and walking up to her, pressing my chest against hers. “I’m not the pain in the ass here, you are.”
Bastien’s grin faded, and his eyes went wide with shock.
Dad slammed his paper down and rose from his chair. “You won’t speak to your mother like that, young lady!”
“Oh yeah?” I picked up the steaming bowl of blood and threw it at him.
The bowl spun end over end and slammed into his face. When it did, the room filled with bright blinding light?—
“You must choose,” Delphine said.
Blinking in surprise, I turned to find her, Cassius, and Lorraine from the sewing shop. Three parental figures smiling at me.
“Choose what?” I asked. “Where am I?”
“Choose,” Lorraine said with no other explanation.
“Open the box that you wish to follow,” Cassius said, sweeping his hand toward the three small boxes that sat in front of them.
I walked toward the boxes. They all looked the same: wooden, inlaid with carvings of nature and animals, and a small gold clasp.
“Follow? What am I going to follow?” I said.
“Simple,” Delphine said.
