AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"The tables have turned, brothers," Altair replied.
"He couldn't have..." Morpheus stated, trying to repeat the same spell Altair did back in the wheat field. His attempted to get us into Shadow World failed too. It was as if Apollyn had put up some kind of barrier to prevent us from returning. "She wouldn't have..."
My fury was finding an outlet in my words. "She did it. Just as I predicted—she went against us and sided with our bastard father. She has betrayed us," I said, anger unleashing inside me.
Altair shook his head. "She would never."
He remained unaware, but I was all too aware. No matter how much pain I felt, I still couldn't bring myself to hate her. I had been a fool to fall in love with the woman of my dreams, only to have her taken from me. And I still loved her, craving her more than the damned thirsted for a glass of icy water.
"He cannot keep her. She belongs to us," Morpheus declared.
"Sadie has made her decision," I said. "Brothers, that will won't stop us from continuing to raise hell now, will it? Father will learn the hard way. He of all people should know: puppet rulers aren't true rulers at all."
Chapter 24
Sadie
Ilonged for the presence of Altair, Morpheus, and Dominik, and although Apollyn's warnings were full of fear and dread, I couldn't stop my mind from thinking about getting closer to them. It felt like a pull that I could not break, threatening to take me down a path that I could not escape.
I couldn't even focus on reaching my sister with my loneliness getting the best of me. When our parents passed away, we both ventured out on our own to confront our struggles. This was our destiny, maybe. We each had to deal with our dilemmas. Alone, maybe.
I tried everything I could to communicate with my men. I tried to place my demons back in Nebulae where I could visit them without Apollyn knowing, but it didn't work. Every time I tried to cast the spell, it failed.
I knew I had to allude Apollyn somehow. The idea of being trapped in Shadow World forever, bound to Apollyn, was suffocating. I had to find a way out. Would it take days? Weeks? Months? An eternity?
I made my way to the east side of Shadow World, where I had raised the defunct demon horde. The pit was still there, a deep void that seemed to swallow up all the light. I approached it, myheart pounding, and peered down into the darkness. I wondered where it led. Probably to some treacherous level of hell.
While glancing deep into the pit. I had an idea—one that would bring my men back to Shadow World. I knew they would confront their father if they were here.
I collected up bits of dark matter left over from the horde raising spell. Over and over again, I tried, but every time I cast the spell, all three men were shoved down into a vortex and blasted right back to Earth. It was as if the spell was being blocked on execution. Apollyn had no desire to reunite with his sons. It was clear he wasn't ready to confront them after his actions. I could only describe this as cowardice, but I'd come to learn there were many sides to Apollyn in the recent days, so it felt wrong to label him as such.
What I did know was that if he wanted to kill me, he would've done so a long time ago. He would've done so when he first encountered me plotting with the cave witches.
Knowing that, I did something Apollyn warned me against. I teleported to Earth despite him forbidding it.
As I materialized on Earth, my heart racing with anticipation, I could feel a piece of my former self peeling away. But I didn't care.
I landed on the front lawn of the old manor where my parents lived when they were alive. The manor passed down from Regent to Regent upon transition, but since there was no Regent, I was met with a property which seemed desolate and abandoned. There was a sign next to the driveway which read: Private Property. Keep off the Lawn.
My guess was that the coven had not met in this place since they'd split up some few months prior. Had it all started when Finn thought he'd take control and steer the coven with his malicious intent. But maybe the trigger went back even further. He certainly had not been the only reason for the current stateof affairs. Could it have been my sister's vanishing? Me pulling away from the group? The death of my parents? A fresh ally they had made? Or maybe an adversary they had angered? What triggered all of this and led us to where we are today?
The eerie silence was followed by something else. A switch change in direction of the wind and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. Suddenly, I heard footsteps and turned around to see six wolf shifters behind me. Their growls were low at first and when they started bucking in my direction, it became evident that they had some ill-intent.
I had no chance against so many and so I was forced to flee. I ran into the woods surrounding the property, their barking following close behind me. As I raced through the trees it became harder and harder to hear them, as if their voices had been muffled by something or someone else.
I stumbled on a rock and crashed face-first into the hard dirt, a sharp pain ringing through my skull.
I looked up, gaze cloudy, but when my vision cleared, that's when I saw it. The bodies of three wolf shifters lay strewn across the ground, lifeless. They had been ripped to shreds.I didn't do this.I wasn't even close to them when they died. And the six shifters that were chasing me had just caught up to me, surrounding me. They growled and bucked. The fear that had been fueling me suddenly turned to confusion. Who or what could have killed these shifter?
I kicked my legs out, keeping the shifters at bay while looking around for any signs of the previous killer, but the only thing I could hear was the sound of my own labored breathing and the nasty snarls of the wolves.
Suddenly, my survival instincts kicked in. I got up and darted off, picking up my pace, unsure of where I was going, but knowing I had to get as far away from this place as possible.
I felt the weight of one of the wolves as its teeth dug into my ankle. I screamed in pain and spun around in aggravation. Anger swelled up inside me like helium being pumped into a ballon. I was tired of being bitten—marked.
With a flick of my wrist I took down all six wolves, snapping their necks like brittle sticks and sending their lifeless bodies crashing to the ground. My strength had taken control. My powers had taken control me.
Taking down the wolves like that wasn't something I had done in the past. Apollyn told no lies about me changing every time I accomplished teleportation here. And what scared me the most was that I didn't care.
