Page 5 of Wings of Lies
I looked down at my hands, bringing them closer to my body. They flickered with white flames but weren’t hot. How in the world were they going to help me?
“Can you manifest keys?” I asked. Damn it, I was losing it.
For the sake of trying everything, I put my hand on the doorknob and said, “Unlock.”
It didn’t unlock. So, she was lying. Or, yet again, I was crazy.
“Open,” I said, trying again.
The flames danced around my hand and the cool knob, achieving nothing. No surprise there.Was this even real, or was I hallucinating?
Suddenly, metallic fumes filled the small space, stinging my eyes. I blinked as the doorknob melted into a pool of molten metal, then disintegrated into particles of glowing ash.
I sat there, trembling as the flames sank back into my skin.
This couldn’t be happening.
But I didn’t have time to understand. The door was unlocked. I could escape and find my mom. Once I found her, everything would be back to normal. It’d be okay.
I shifted, letting my legs dangle over the table, and felt a tug in my groin. Damn it, the catheter. Tensing, I grabbed the tube and slowly dragged it out of my body. I clenched my teeth. Black specks clouded my vision as it popped out, and the sensation worsened when I attempted to stand. Numbness shot up my limbs, and I collapsed against the table, blacking out.
Chapter
Two
There were three things increasingly odd about this dream: a purple hue tinted my vision, I invaded the body of a younger version of myself, and the dream seemed familiar.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to slam my door in her rigid face. The urge tore at my insides, burning and lashing out, growing more destructive as it gained momentum. I punched the wall. The pain cleared my head enough to resort to smashing my face into my stupid frilly pillow and screeching.
How could she?
All I wanted to do was to go into town and see what all the fuss was about. But no! I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere alone, and I couldn’t go with her because she didn’t trust people around me! Or she didn’t trustme. So, I remained stuck here, stuck in this damned house.
Was she punishing me? Was this still all because of him, and what happened?
The first three years, I understood. We were on the run, jumping from town to town. I followed her lead as she protected me. The Binding Rune locked away my powers, reduced me to a human, and helped to keep me hidden. But we had no stability and no way of contacting anyone. So, the lack of friends or the friends I left behind when he found out I went to public school hadn’t bothered me.
But now, after months of being in the same place, still blocked and safe, she continued to isolate me.
I couldn’t even use our phone to call my old school friends. It was for emergencies when she had to go into town and left me at the house. She suffocated me, keeping me captive, surrounded by fields and livestock. My only entertainment included movies, books, and animals that didn’t talk back. There was no one else. Public school was now forbidden. She always said, “It wouldn’t be safe,” “We can’t, Lucy,” “What if the rune or amulet stopped working and you had an incident and he found us?”
Fine. Her logic made sense. Kind of. But not even allowing me to go into town with her? I was to be sequestered, never to see anyone else ever again?
Would this forever be my life?
The thought put pressure behind my eyes.
This wasn’t living!
I slammed my face into the pillow. My head and skin throbbed. Tumultuous emotions tore into my soul, sending a painful pressure and an itch from the top of my head to my toes. That should’ve concerned me, but I was so overcome by the foreign feelings I didn’t think about it.
I squished my face harder into the pillow, nails ripping at the chiffon fabric, and let out another screech. This time, it helped. The release eased some pressure on my muscles.
“Lucy!”
My head whipped up at her voice, eyes widening, unable to fully comprehend the situation as I gazed around.
I glanced at my wrist. The black rune had faded to white, resembling a scrawling scar. I had felt the pressure and itch, but I assumed the release and the lessening of my anger had come from the amulet against my chest, which should’ve been the color of the elderberries surrounding our house. Instead, my release came from the white and purple flames engulfing my body and bed.
