Page 3 of Echoes of the Banshee

“Sister? Why did you put me in that dungeon? Why did you…” My voice falters.

“We tried to wait. Hoped you’d grow stronger. But time ran out. It hurt us more than you, but we had to. This is your destiny.”

“No,” I gasp, shaking my head to try and focus. “This isn’t my destiny. I have a life. I am… going to live.” The words taste foreign, like defiance is a language I was never taught.

Vivien cuts me off sharply.

“No, you don’t. This was always your destiny. You’re an orphan, Adora. No one wanted you. We took you in. Gave you purpose.”

I spent years trying to please them, clinging to the hope of earning their affection, believing that if I tried hard enough, I’d earn a place in their hearts.

“And now, you can repay us.”

The weight of their lies squeezes the air from my lungs. “Repay you?”

“Anita is dying,” Vivien says, her voice distressed. “She needs your soul.”

“No,” I whisper, yanking at the shackles as though they might finally break. “I need it… I need my soul.”

“You won’t need it when you’re dead,” Vivien taunts. No. No. “And we love you. This is how you can show us your love.” She leans closer. “Your soul is already free of your body. Now you just have to step away, and it will all be over.”

The weightlessness from the potion sharpens. It isn’t shock. It’s not fear. They’ve untethered my soul.

My heart thuds like it’s trying to warn me. I search their faces for the punchline, for mercy, for anything. Anita glances to her left and I follow her gaze.

A pyre.

The cold gnaws deeper at my bones as I realize the truth. I’m not just going to die. I’m going to burn.

“Don’t make this about you. Give us your soul and we won’t have to do this. We don’t want to have to hurt you. This isn’t about punishment, it’s about love.”

Vivien’s words swarm my mind, but this time they don’t land.

They did this to me.

Tortured me, untethered my soul.

They’re going to kill me.

Because I loved them.

I’m weak… but I stand.

“No,” I assert, finally accepting what’s been obvious all along. Anita isn’t dying. This was never about love. My whole life has been a manipulation. “You never loved me. You just broke me until I’d say yes.”

Pain blooms on my cheek, followed by the crack of a whip. My legs threaten to cave under its weight, but I don’t fall. Never again. The blood pools at my toes.

Vivien’s smile turns predatory.

“Enough,” Anita says. “This is how it has to be. Your soul shard belongs to me, and if you don’t give it willingly…” She pauses to savor the final blow. “We’ll help you.”

“I won’t give you my soul!” My voice is full of a courage I never thought I had.

“Your pain ends when you give your soul to Anita.” Vivien’s words drip with malice, each one burrowing deeper.

My heart plummets as they chain me to the stake. The shackles chafe my already tender skin. Lazlo’s voice comes through the connection in our minds. “Thea? Where are ya? What’s happenin’?”

“They’re killing me. I love you, Lazlo,” I send back.