43. Pandora

I’d come to Odyssey Bluff earlier in the evening to get some time with Nebula to celebrate my success in feeding. Although I had no interest in joining her, Dreadful had evidently told me the truth: there was supposed to be a shooting star tonight. I originally wanted to see it with Nebula, but there wouldn’t be a chance to see the shooting star tonight because of the thick rolling clouds blocking the sky.

I’d always wanted to know what rain felt like when I was in the cellar, and since being free, I had yet to experience rain. But with summer coming to an end, autumn brought thunderstorms.

Tonight, the desert was alive with a violent storm, the kind that transformed the arid landscape into a display of elemental fury. Lightning forked across the sky, and thunder rolled over the sands like the drums of the Fates.

I inhaled the scent of minerals and rain heavy in the air. The patter of rain hit the lake water soothingly as I sat on the sand with Nebula in my hands. Cold droplets kissed my skin, and I smiled.

Dark goo spilled out onto my palms as his soul manifested. “This is better than the shooting star.”

“It really is,” I murmured, voice barely audible over the storm above us. “It’s like there’s something magical about the rain. It’s like it’s washing away my soul’s sorrows, leaving everything fresh and new. Fates, it’s everything I thought it would be.”

Nebula hummed with a spectral energy, and a voice, not disembodied like usual but soft and purring like the kitten Nebula once was, echoed in my mind. “I remember our talks in the cellar, Pandora. The rain was our calm; the drumming on the doors meant she wouldn’t come. You were right. We get to feel it. We’re free now—you’re free.”

I stuck my toes into the wet sand as a shiver wracked through me, but I smiled brightly. The cellar with my mother was just a memory now. Mother was just a memory. “Everything’s different now, Nebula. Back then, the rain was a promise of the outside. Now, it’s proof of the life we are able to live.”

“Yes, it is.”

I admired another strike of lightning. “I finally figured out how to call on my powers today in class. It’s like I’ve tapped into the very pulse of my existence.”

“I knew you could do it, Pandora. You’ve always had the strength inside of you. Your magic is a part of who you are, a gift as natural to you as the rain is to Kalista.”

My heart swelled as my thumb glided over his soaked skull. “There’s more. I’ve found connections, like the ones I used to go on and on about having after reading Fate Hollow Academy. Hunter and Reed make me feel safe and cared for, and I’ve kissed both of them. I can’t choose, and I don’t feel like I have to. Isn’t that crazy?”

“Love is unconditional, Pandora. You wouldn’t have a pull to both of them if the Fates didn’t intend for it.”

I hugged him close, energized and full of love for the life I’d been given. “Thank you, Nebula. Thank you for always believing in me. I couldn’t have made it away from Mother’s abuse if it wasn’t for you.”

Nebula’s dark presence surrounded me, and it was like home. “Pandora, you’re full of passion and power. I’m so proud of you and everything you’ve accomplished.”

His soul receded back into his skull, the energy dimming to a soft glow as Nebula fell asleep.

I carefully tucked him back into my bag and put the strap across my body before closing my eyes and then looking up to the sky. The wind whipped my hair around, damp pieces clinging to my cheeks. The rain pelted my skin—each drop a cold pinprick against the warmth of my flesh. It was the most peace I’d ever felt in my entire life, aside from kissing the two men I couldn’t stop thinking about.

My heart thrummed in my chest at the thought of them.

A sudden laughter, sharp and unexpectant against the thunder, struck a nerve in my being.

My breath hitched as I jerked my head toward the academy.

Shadows detached themselves from the the direction of campus—a group of nobles, their silhouettes stark against the intermittent illumination from the lightening in the sky.

Dreadful, a figure of elegance even in the disarray of the storm, led them. Her blue eyes glinted with a cruel mirth that cut deep. “Were you too good to join us tonight?”

“Yeah, Nightwind was so sad you didn’t show,” Voidfire teased, her voice filled with hate.

Before I could react, multiple hands grabbed at me, pushing me down and ripping me from the peace I had felt. The shock of the cold, wet sand scraping against my skin was nothing compared to the fear that gripped my heart.

Blows rained down upon me, each strike a bolt of pain that seared through my flesh and tore at old scars buried deep within my past. I didn’t even know how many there were.

Blood welled in my mouth as fire blasted under my skin, but I cradled my bag close, making sure they didn’t hit Nebula in their attacks.

Their mockery as they punched and kicked at me triggered memories of my mother”s cruelty—the heavy chain attached to my ankle as it rattled over the stone, the sharp lacerations of her shadows, and the pain that settled bone-deep.

They didn’t stop until my magic reserves dwindled, and I stopped healing from the blows, and then they beat me more.

My magic didn’t awaken so I could fight back, and I believed it was the fear that triggered inside of me blocking it. I could almost feel the suffocating darkness of the cellar clinging to me again.

“Why?” I choked out, coughing up and spitting blood onto the wet sand, my voice raspy from the larynx damage that had never fully healed. They’d stepped on my throat several times through the attack, and it burned.

“You don”t belong to nobility, regardless of Daddy Death. You”re nothing but scum, and he should be as ashamed of you as we are,” Dreadful hissed, her words like venom before her booted heel jabbed into my side.

My vision darkened as I cried out, the sound barely a squeak through the blows and thunder. My hot tears mixed with the cold rain as the agony from each hit reverberated through my body.

Their fists were relentless as the storm raged on above. My world narrowed to the pain and the suffocating grip of my past.

I was in the cellar, chain hooked to my ankle, the darkness absolute, and the pain my constant, only flashes of Mother”s sneer showed with every roar of thunder. The physical assault was only a brutal echo of the psychological wounds Mother left me. Each strike was another tick on the list of my abuse.

The fight left my soul in waves, each hit taking with it a piece of my resilience. The wounds stayed, agony exploding inside of me over and over again. The taste of iron filled my mouth again as I lay on the ground, the cold, wet sand beneath me mingling with the warmth of my blood.

I didn’t know how long I was there, but the next thing I knew, the blows had stopped, and I was alone in the storm, bleeding out onto the sand.

My brain couldn’t comprehend what had just happened, but the pain was too familiar.

I slipped my hand down into my bag, the same way I used to sneak my hand into the crack in the floor of the cellar to check on Nebula. His skull was perfect under my trembling fingertips, and a painful sigh of relief escaped me.

The rain had stopped, but I was still soaked with rain and blood—and numb at this point.

Somehow, I dragged myself back to campus by sheer willpower. It was still dark, and thunder still rolled through the sky. I collapsed under Occult Arch, blood pooling around me, but then, I lost consciousness again.

Time lost meaning as I drifted in and out of consciousness, the line between nightmare and reality blurring. Had I been visited by that red-headed drude again? Did that really happen when I was supposed to be safe?

When clarity returned, I woke to the imposing figures of Dex, Hemlock, and Skel hovering above me.

“What the fuck happened?” Hemlock barked, tossing the bottle in his hand against the arch. The glass shattered, and the remaining liquid splashed on the sand.

“She’s covered in blood,” Skel whispered as if my appearance scared him to his core.

“Who the fuck is dying tonight?” Dex asked, a murderous rage simmering in his eyes.

“Take her to Sunstone Revive—now,” Hemlock growled the order at Dex.

He listened, his shadows slipping around me like a warm cocoon, so unlike the shadows Mother wielded. Dex’s shadows were different. They didn’t drip, and they knew how to be kind. I wondered if Dex truly knew kindness.

I was moved to Sunstone Revive—the place Dex and Skel had brought me before when they scared me. The place of healing where the stones” magical energy could mend what was broken.

The warmth of the healing took hold, but my recovery was agonizingly slow. It was as if the stones” glow fought against the darkness that had been forced upon me once again. Like it knew the psychological damage it brought to the surface of my soul.

“Why isn’t it working?” Hemlock shouted, his anger palpable through the air.

“It’s fucking working,” Skel hissed, smoking his pipe. His mouth rarely left the mouthpiece as he stared at me like I was dying.

“But it’s slow,” Dex whined lowly. “What the Fates happened to her?”

“Does it look like I fucking know?” Hemlock asked sarcastically, without slurring his words. “This shit is sobering my ass up, and I don’t like it.”

For the first time since I’d known them, I saw a glimmer of care in their eyes.

As my bruises faded and cuts were still closing, I sucked in a dramatic gasp. “Thank you,” I croaked to them before my throat practically closed off.

“Who did this to you?” Hemlock pressed, stomping over the sunstone and pulling me to my feet.

Everything still ached, and the warmth of healing still spread through my bones.

“Come on, Pandora, tell us,” Skel pleaded, his desperate voice echoing through the night.

Dex’s face screwed up with frustration, and he pushed Hemlock away from me before cupping my face in his hands and glaring heatedly at me. “Who fucking did this?”

I shook my head, tears welling in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks over his thumbs. I opened my mouth to tell them, but agony flared through my throat, and it seized.

“Fucking tell me, Pandora, so I can go and fucking end their pitiful existence.” His gray eyes were glowing silver.

All three of them were in full demon form, shaking in absolute rage.

I tried again, but my throat spasmed painfully. My fingers wrapped around my neck as I tried to will the words out.

“Names, princess, we just need names,” Skel urged, taking another hit off his pipe.

Dex let go of me and stumbled back, shaking his head. “I’m going to find out with or without your words.”

More hot tears poured down my face, and I sobbed, shaking my head back and forth.

“You think you”re too good for our help?” Hemlock accused, his voice a low growl. “Really, Gravesend?”

I lowered my head, realizing that they didn’t understand. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t tell them. I couldn’t form any words right now. It was excruciating to even hold my head up at this point.

“We’ll take care of this for you if you’ll just let us.” Skel raked a hand through his hair, careful not to hit his horns.

Tears streamed down my face, hot and burning, but I just shook my head. My larynx had suffered more damage from the attack, and until it healed, I literally couldn’t speak.

With a huff, the three of them shot me frustrated, angry glances, then left me in the healing glow of Sunstone Revive.

I fell to my knees, and my body slowly knitted itself back together. Just because I had escaped Mother’s grasp didn’t mean the pain was over. The scars might’ve healed, but the memories remained, etched as deeply into my soul as the marks engraved in my skin.