Page 124 of Ashes and Lilies
“But Daniel—” the knife-wielding witch began.
“This works out better anyway,” Daniel said, waving away their protests. “Bring them both.”
My legs shook as the pressure retreated and the burning stopped.
“Let’s go.” The man holding my arm pulled me forward, and I fell into step beside him. Finn glared at his back the entire way.
We went down an elevator, and the air turned colder as the doors opened into the barely lit basement. Overhead lights flickered as we stepped onto the black and white floor, and Daniel paused outside the mortuary doorway.
“Put them in here,” he said before he moved toward the room next door. “We’re almost ready. Let them say their final goodbyes, or whatever, I don’t care.”
The tile was cold under my bare feet, and I was shivering as I was pushed into a chair. The hands that bound me against it were rough, causing my arm to jostle and my nerves to scream. Finn, similarly, was seated across from me.
“There’s no use trying to escape,” the man who tied me said, standing at the door. “You’re shit out of luck.”
My heart pounded as he shut the door, leaving us alone.
What had I done? There was no way this was going to end well.
Now that this was so close to happening, I couldn’t breathe.
“Bianca.” Finn touched his toes to mine. His face was set in earnest determination as he spoke. “You cannot check out.”
I blinked at him.
“Do you understand?” he asked. “You need to stay present.”
Hesitantly, I nodded.
“I—” I began, looking back to my knees. “It’s my fault.”
“What?” Finn asked, and the surprise in his voice prompted my attention.
“You were doing something earlier,” I explained. I knew I was the liability. “You could have beat them, and now you’re trapped here with me.”
“Just stop,” Finn replied. “The only thing that’s yourfault is your refusal to take your medication.”
My breath caught. Why was he bringing this up now, on the evening of my demise?
“Will you just let that go?” I told him. “I’m fine.”
“Are you though?” Finn wrinkled his forehead as his voice rose an octave.
“Yes,” I told him. “So stop acting like you know everything about me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Finn retorted. “Idoknow everything about you. You’re scared of the dark. You can’t swim for shit. You secretly read boy’s love comics. You hide all sorts of shit from your doctor. You’ve got a scar on your thigh that you’re incredibly self-conscious about—”
“Hey, how do you—” I began, but he ignored my protest.
“—and you need your medicine becauseIcan’t use my use my abilities otherwise,” he finished, and I stopped breathing.
I bit my lips, my eyes watering as I looked at the floor.
“I—I don’t understand,” I said. “Why would the medicine—”
“Because of your insane habit of sacrificing yourself,” Finn replied. “Which is screwing us now because, apparently, your plan is to let them eat you. Good job, now they’ll only get even more powerful.”
“They won’t,” I told him.
