Cranice Mate
But maybe I can change that.
“Listen to me,” I say, but I’m not talking to the people in the room. I’m talking to the power itself, trying to reach it through the chaos in my mind.
“You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to take. I’m not going to hurt you.”
The power pauses for just a moment, like it’s listening to me, but then it surges forward again with renewed hunger.
“She’s talking to herself,” I hear Serah say. “The power is making her lose her mind.”
But I’m not losing my mind. I’m trying to save it, and Tristan’s life along with it.
I need to go deeper. I need to find the source of this thing and talk to it directly.
H
Closing my eyes even tighter, I let myself fall into the darkness that the power has created in my mind. I stop fighting against it and let it pull me down into whatever place it comes from.
The physical world around me disappears completely. I can no longer hear the voices of my family, can no longer feel the mattress beneath my knees or the air moving through the room.
I’m falling through layers of darkness, each one deeper and colder than the last, until I find myself standing in a place that’s not really a place at all.
It’s dark here, darker than anything I’ve ever experienced, but somehow I can still see.
It’s like the darkness itself is a living thing, pressing against me from all sides, trying to smother me.
I’m in what looks like a vast empty space, with no walls or ceiling or floor that I can make out.
Just endless black stretching in every direction, going on forever and ever with no end in sight.
The silence is complete and oppressive, like being buried alive. No sound, no movement, no sign of life anywhere.
And then I hear it.
Crying.
Soft, heartbroken sobbing that echoes through the darkness like it’s coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
It’s the sound of someone who has given up hope, who has been crying for so long they’ve forgotten what it feels like not to cry.
1 start walking toward the sound, my footsteps making no noise on whatever surface I’m walking on.
As I get closer, the crying gets louder, more desperate, more filled with pain and loneliness.
Finally, I can see a small figure huddled on what might be the ground. It’s a little girl, maybe six or seven years old, with long dark hair that covers most of her face.
She’s wearing a simple white dress that looks like it was once beautiful but is now torn and dirty.
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17:52 Tue, Jan 13 GRM.
Chapter 218
Her small shoulders shake with each sob, and she has her arms wrapped around her knees like she’s trying to hold herself together.
“Hello, I say softly, not wanting to startle her.
The crying stops immediately, as if someone has just turned off a switch. The little girl looks up at me with eyes that are far too old for her young face.
They’re my eyes, I realize with a shock. The same green color, the same shape, but filled with pain and loneliness and despair that makes my heart
“Who are you?” she asks, and her voice is small and scared and fragile.
“I’m Athena,” I say, moving closer slowly and carefully. “What’s your name?”
“I don’t have a name,” she says, and fresh tears start flowing down her cheeks. “Nobody ever gave me one. Nobody ever wanted me around long enough
to give me a name.”
I sit down next to her, being careful not to move too fast or do anything that might scare her more than she already is.
“How long have you been here?” I ask gently.
“Always,” she whispers, and her voice breaks on the word. “Since the beginning. Since the first time they were scared of me.”
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
