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Chapter 87

* Elena *

“Do you want to call out today? Tell them you’re not feeling well?”

“No, I can’t do that to the others, they have lives too, you know, and they didn’t sign up for my personal drama. I’ll be fine, Ryder, don’t worry about me.” I had to say those words because what else was I going to say? But deep inside, I was a mess and trying very hard to hold onto my sanity.

I find myself caught up in a melee of troubling thoughts that don’t sit well with me, and there was no time to think it all through because I had to go to work and be my best in front of the cameras, not giving away any of what I was feeling. It’s enough to make me throw up.

If it were up to me, I’d go back to bed and pull the covers over my head until it all passed, but I don’t have that option. I thought I would be happy to see my enemy brought low. I’d imagined it a million times over the years, every time I hurt, each time I thought of him with her. I’m only human, after all, and someone else was married and living with the love of my heart.

She’d done such a good job of convincing the world, myself included, that they were living the picture-perfect fairytale life that it was like having the breath snuffed out of me from day to day.

But now I know that it was all a lie; I can’t help but feel just a little bit sad for her. I’ve spent a lot of time dealing with my own mental health and have studied and seen other manifestations of psychosis, and though I would never be quick to label anyone, there is definitely something not right with Janie.

The struggle I’m having is all being fought inside my mind, which can be dangerous for me as well. On the one hand, I want to say to hell with her; she did this to herself. On the other hand, I’m a woman, too, and it’s obvious that she’d been taken advantage of.

“I know you’re thinking about what happened back there, but here’s the deal, this is not your problem; it’s mine. I’m the one who brought all this into your life; you don’t need to dwell on it.”

“What’re you going to do?” I felt the tremor in my voice and fought back unwanted tears.

“I don’t know yet. I’m still too angry to think about that, but let me think about it some more, okay.”

“You promise?”

“If it takes that look off your face, I’ll do something, but it might not be what she expects. I don’t want to fight you on this, but the reality is, even though she’s broken today, if things had turned out differently, she wouldn’t give a damn about you or me, for that matter.”

“She’s only feeling sorry for herself, Elena, and I know you have a soft heart, the kind of heart that could feel for your enemies, but look at it from my side, she drugged me for five years, she helped facilitate a lie against you, a lie that tore us apart. She, along with the Hudsons, Scott, and Matt, plotted and schemed to tear us apart for the sole purpose of controlling my money and me, and they didn’t care what that did to us. Just remember all that when you start to feel like we’re not being kind to her.”

“I know, Ryder, I know; I won’t forget what she did to us. I think I’m just tired; I just want this all to be over. But I want more than anything to start our new life together without any baggage. I don’t want us to look back on this with any regret. I’m not so much worried about what people might say about me, but what about you? If we don’t handle this situation correctly, it could come back to haunt you and me by association.”

“Don’t get me wrong; I won’t do anything against my conscience, and I won’t live my life according to what the public wants or thinks; I’ve had enough of that the last five years to choke me. But whatever we do, we have got to be able to live with it. Agreed?”

“Yes, agreed.” His kiss on my temple was soothing and helped ease some of the tattered places inside.

It’s times like this that I would turn to Rachel or Sydney. But one turned traitor, and the other was upset with me. I know what Mom would say, so she’s not an option. No mother likes to see her child suffer, and it might be too much to ask her to have any kind of compassion for Janie and the others. Mary and Scott were already dead. I’m still trying to come to terms with that. No one knows where Matt is, and Rachel is in custody.

“Wait a minute; you don’t think… no, it can’t be.”

“Think what?” I looked at the two silent men up front and back at me. Although we were talking as low as humanly possible, I had the feeling they could still hear us, so I shook my head at him and mouthed the word later while pointing at them with my eyes.

Left alone with my thoughts, I felt very uncomfortable. Have you ever seen an animal achieve a feat that it shouldn’t have been able to? You experience that feeling of otherworldliness that sends shivers down your spine, and that feeling lingers and stays with you, leaving you feeling somewhat lost and just a little bit scared.

That’s what I felt now as my mind tried to convince me that the same little girl who was just on that video was the one responsible for all this. It shouldn’t be, right? Not outside a Hollywood studio, at any rate. But I can’t help but feel that I’m on the right track. But reconciling the soft, almost angelic tone of her voice with what I now know she was responsible for is hard to do.

Could she have orchestrated their deaths? But how? It’s easier to believe that their nefarious dealings had caught up with them, and for my own peace of mind, I’m going to tell myself that that is exactly what happened.

***

*Mengelini*

Lily, Nia, and I headed toward our private spot at a leisurely pace. There was no need to hurry since Daddy and the uncles were far away. Mommy and the aunts thought we were just here to do research, to ask questions, which we would, after. But first, the good doctor needed a taste of his own medicine.

“Uh-oh, he’s already screaming. I think he saw the snakes.”

“We’d better hurry then because he’d be no use to us if they get to him first.”

“You forget Lily, only one in that bunch is actually poisonous.”

“Yes, but he doesn’t know that, and the way he’s carrying on, he might die of a heart attack before we get there.”

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly, not really caring one way or the other. Sure, we wanted to question him. He’s one of the leading experts in mental health studies, but I’m sure we could find someone more reputable for our research. “If he dies, he dies, so long as he loses his mind first.”

I hate people who use their power to subdue others that are weaker than them, and the fact that the good doctor had sold his services to bring harm to someone who needed him puts him high on my list. Daddy would be proud of me if he wasn’t so stuck on my age because I was doing something straight out of the Colton Lyon playbook.

Daddy probably would’ve sliced him up some first to attract the venomous pets we keep back here, so I’m actually being a bit more humane. We reached our vantage point and looked down into the little clearing where the good doctor was trying his best to avoid the snakes that surrounded him.

“Shoot!” We all three released an arrow in his direction, which sent him hurdling through the brush behind him. Too bad for him, the shrubs that enclosed the area offered no recourse, but we watched as he ran into them, knowing the hell he was going to face in the next few seconds.

His screams grew in volume as he tore at his skin, only making it worst. The deadly mix of Comocladia Dodonaea, Acacia retusa, Manchineel, and Pencil Euphorbia each served a different purpose. From skin irritation that was more horrendous than it sounds to blindness, the little garden shrubs that we had planted with great care were being used for the first time.

If Daddy knew what we had done, he’d have a fit, even more so when the uncles returned with the new species of plants we’d sent them after. By the time he returns, they’ll be in the ground, and if I can’t talk him around, there’s always Uncle Hank.

We spent the next ten minutes tormenting the good doctor in no hurry to give him relief. Elena Gianni had been trapped in her mind for a very long time because of him and his so-called treatment. What’s a few measly minutes that he can’t bear?

“Again!” Each time he found an opening or thought he had, we shot a barrage of arrows at him, which sent him scurrying. The only places he had to run were either into the death shrubs or the snake den. His screams sounded more and more desperate. “Nia, did you bring the candy bars? I’m famished.”

I handed out the bottles of water I’d brought along for the small trek, but it was needed because this time of day on the island is extremely hot, which is why we chose now to carry out our little game. Between the excessive heat, the snakes, and the shrubs, the good doctor would start to slowly lose his mind.

“How long are we going to leave him out there?”

“Why, Nia, are you feeling sorry for him?”

“No, but it’s hot as Hades.”

“Ah, speaking of Hades, we have to talk Daddy into taking us to the Acheron River in Greece, don’t forget.”

“And what pray tell are we going there for?”

“I told you, Lily, it’s one of the gateways to Hades.”

“Can we stick to one thing at a time?”

“We can, but that place is suspect along with the other three so-called gates to Hades. I think they all play a part in this. Remember what the notes said?”

“Don’t mention the notes. If your dad finds out we took them, there’s going to be hell to pay.”

“We put them back, Nia.”

“After you copied them.”

“Well yeah. But anyway, the notes said that in the fourteen and fifteen hundreds, it was those types of places the monsters used for their rituals and sacrifices. Who says their offspring isn’t still doing the same?”

“I don’t know; that seems like a bit of a stretch.”

“Why, Lily, aren’t we the offspring of the ones who’ve been hunting them down for centuries? Who’s to say they haven’t inherited the same information and are now carrying out the same evil? Children have never stopped going missing and being subjected to all manner of horrors at the hands of these beasts.”

“Uh-oh, pay attention; I think he just rubbed his eyes.”

“Good, now he’ll be blind. Time to move in.”

***

* Lyon *

“Look at this shit. I hope your wife is watching the weather, Flanagan; this Hilary bitch is about to show her ass. I told you fucks some shit was going to wipe this place off the map.”

“What’re you a meteorologist now?”

“No, but who dafuq ever heard of a hurricane over the desert?”

“We’ll be flying over the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea; there’s no danger to us.”

“We gotta get outta here first, Mancini, you ass.”

“Whatever, I think we’ve got bigger problems than the weather. I did some digging, and the doctor’s missing.”

“What doctor?”

“The one who they paid to mess with Elena’s head.”

“Shit, does Mengele have him?”

“I think so.”

“Well, he’s fucked.”

“Knowing her, she wants to pick his brain.”

“Yeah, after she fucks him up. That’s what I would’ve done.”

“So you do admit that she’s just like you. That’s what scares you, isn’t it.”

“I’m not admitting shit, and don’t lump me in with that nut.” I thought I told her not to play with her food. Damn, fucking kid has gone rogue.

I always threaten to pack her off somewhere, but maybe I should be the one to find myself a monastery somewhere to hide. I’m sure I can pay one enough to let me bring Kat along with me. I need to get the hell away from Mengele before she unleashes whatever the hell she’s got cooking on the world.

I’m no longer under the delusion that I could rein her in; it’s too late for that. I thought I could control her, that as long as I kept a careful watch, I could keep her from going too far, but her mind, like mine, has no give. There are no grey areas, only black and white. Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and she’s both judge and executioner.

“I should’ve realized after the deal with the senator’s aide that there was no going back for her.”

“Hey, Lyon, don’t do this to yourself. We both knew what she was, what she would become. We’re just here to guide and protect; that’s all we can do.”

“Do I sound that fucked up that you’re placating me?”

“All kidding aside, I can only imagine what this does to you. Not only because she’s your kid but because you know her mind better than anyone, so you know what she’s capable of. That’s why we needed to come in, and you needed to take your place. You couldn’t have contained her on your own; you wouldn’t have had time for anything else.”

“I know you’re right, but dammit, she’s just a kid. This is why I’m not mad at Char for not bringing me in. I was allowed to have a childhood. But what about my Catalina? Why did she have to be born with a mind like mine?” She’ll never know a moment’s peace, not as long as assholes roam the earth. Wherever there’s injustice, especially against kids, she’s going to jump into the fire. And I did this to her; I passed this on through my genes.

“Where are you going, Colt?”

“I’m going to buy my kid some more dolls.”

“It’s a little late for that bro.”

“Fuck off, Flanagan; your kid is in this too. Don’t forget.” Bunch of murdering little shitheads.

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