The Devil's Prey (The Demon Within) (17 page)

He smiled at my compli
ment. ‘I guess it is my demon side- cheeky and devilish.’ He was rolling on the floor with laughter, and I threw a pillow at him. ‘
Amanda, shut up! I have the worst hangover the world has ever known, and you are not helping. Please tell everyone to lay off the phone calls!’
I told her from halfway across the world.

‘
Not a chance, Summer Burns! When you get back, you are in so much trouble!’
Great.

‘
Well, I have punishment here for staying out until 4:30am, so leave me be. I am training.’
I told a white lie to get her off my back, and it worked.

‘N
ow you, Mr. I-Am-So-Funny…’ I grabbed the wind with my mind, and whipped him in the ass with a strong gust. He laughed.

‘T
hat is for sending the pictures.’

‘Oh
, burn…someone has some sass. I like that.’

‘B
ite me.’ I rolled out of bed and onto the floor, pulling the blankets with me. ‘Do I really have to go?’ I groaned.

‘Y
es, because I think he is on his way up.’ Michel disappeared, and Liam walked into my room, looking at me with an amused expression.

‘S
o how many drinks did you have?’ was the first question he asked.

‘Umm, twenty-six…
I think. I sort of lost count after three.’ I got up slowly, and swayed a bit.

‘Ok’ he said,
still looking highly amused. ‘Well then, we have a hard training session. Come on, get dressed and cleaned up.’ He left a bottle of water on the bedside table, and walked out. ‘See you there in ten.’

I start
ed to hear voices whispering my name. ‘Stupid hangover,’ I murmured. I got dressed and headed down to Liam.

‘H
ey, Liam, can you hear that? Something is whispering my name.’ I looked around, but could only find us.

‘N
o, I think that is just you. Anyway, today we are working on you controlling the weather. Let’s begin.’

Four hours and lots of screaming later, I could
finally make and control wind reliably. I could also make it rain and summon up lightning.

‘I like light
ning. I can strike wherever I feel like it.’ To prove my point, I made lightning strike a tree.

  ‘T
hat is good, but we are done for today. You have the afternoon to yourself. Spend it wisely.’ I walked out of the room, feeling proud of myself and what I had achieved, despite the hangover. I found my way back to my room and lied on the bed.

‘Hard day
, I guess?’

‘Michel
, shut up.’ I rubbed my still aching head. ‘Please let me sleep.’ I rolled onto my stomach.

‘N
o, because I am taking you out.’ I couldn’t see him, but I could tell he was excited.

‘N
o. Leave me be.’ I lied there for a bit before Michel got bored and rolled me over.

‘Michel
, I said leave me alone,’ I told him, half-asleep already. I felt a set of warm hands on my stomach, touching the one cold spot on me.

‘S
ummer, is this where…’ He ran his hand over my scar, and I shivered.

‘G
et off me.’ I jumped up and pulled down my shirt. I walked towards the door, but Michel grabbed my arm.

‘S
ummer, what is this?’ He flipped over my arm and ran his hand over the words.
‘I am coming for you.’

‘Let it go, it is nothing,’ I snapped. I had almost forgotten about the words, and hadn’t realized that they had not yet faded completely.

‘This is the message-
or at least one. They are engraving it into your body.’ He ran his fingers along the words again. ‘Why does nobody know?’ He let go of my arm, and I didn’t answer.

‘T
here is one on your leg, too. I saw it last night. Don’t look at me like that. I can feel the power, Summer, pulling me towards it.’ He crossed his arms and took a step back.

‘W
hat do you think would happen if anyone found out? I would be under constant watch! Like I need that in my life! And I would like it if you would leave.’ I tried to push him out, but he was resisting me.

‘No wonder you are so troubled
, Summer. You have a constant reminder of what happened to you.’

By that point I’d had it with him.
‘I said get OUTTT!’ I screamed, and he flew through the window. He didn’t have enough time to jump, and fell to the ground. I stopped, horrified by what I’d done. ‘Michel!’ I screamed, and ran down the stairs to the lawn. I saw Michel lying on the ground, not moving.

‘Michel
, Michel.’ I ran over to him. ‘Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead!’ I couldn’t hear him breathing. He lied so still on the ground. ‘Come on, Michel, don’t die. Please! I need you!’ I cradled I his head in my arms. ‘MICHEEELLLL!’ I screamed into the air. Tears were running down my face.

A storm was forming
over us, and I knew that I was manipulating the weather. Lightning cracked the ground every time I screamed, and every tear that poured down my face created ten thousand in the sky. I lied on Michel’s unmovable chest and cried. I closed my eyes. I killed him. I killed my only friend, the only person who really understood me, the person that I….

I open
ed my eyes and looked around. I saw a sea of bodies lying on the ground. I stood up to see Ethan at my feet. Then I saw Amanda and Lauren, and in the middle was my mother. They all had been killed- everyone that I loved in my life was gone. I felt like I was all alone. I fell to my knees to scream into the empty sky.

Light
ning was going off everywhere. It stopped only when it began to snow. A soft blanket fell to the ground, starting to cover up the bodies. I tried to make it stop, but it only got worse. ‘NOOOOOO!’ I burst into full fury, and it it burned away the snow around me. I could feel myself shaking from the cold.

‘Look what I can do to everyone you love
, with a simple snap of my fingers.’ The voice was high-pitched.

‘S
tay away from them!’

‘S
ummer, wake up.’ There was a different voice in the room.

I felt like I’d been
jumped out of my world and back into reality.

‘S
ummer, I need you to calm down, ok?’ Liam was talking to me. I looked around. Why was my room covered in snow? I felt someone place their hand over my mouth.

‘
We need to make her stop, Liam,’ the woman who was covering my mouth said. I managed to get her hand away.

‘I killed him
, I killed them all!’ I felt tears still running down my face, and I could see it was snowing outside.

‘I killed Michel
! I killed him!’ I was becoming hysterical, and I jumped out of bed. ‘He is dead, and Ethan and Amanda, and…wait!’ I had picked up my phone, but the woman took it away from me.

‘S
ummer, what are you going on about?’ the woman asked.

‘I need to find them
! I need to find them all!’ I looked outside to see snow on the ground, and my heart sank.

‘NOOOOO
!’ I screamed, and lightning hit the ground. ‘MOOOM!’ I ran out of the room, downstairs, and outside into the very cold night. I started to claw my way through the snow. ‘I killed them!’ I kept sobbing. The weather had dropped at least to minus three degrees, but there I was, clawing my way through the snow, oblivious to the very real possibility of frostbite.

‘S
ummer, no one is here. You need to come inside.’ The woman took hold of my hand, but I yanked it away.

‘N
o, I have to find them!’ I kept looking in the snow.

‘G
rab her now.’ I heard Liam’s strong accent from behind me, and I felt hands grab me.

‘NO
OO! LET ME GO! I HAVE TO FIND THEM!’ I screamed as they hauled me back inside.

‘W
e need to sedate her to stop her powers.’ Liam was talking.

‘I
s there any other way?’ the woman asked.

‘N
o. From what I’ve seen, it is the only way.’ I felt myself being thrown onto the bed. ‘Summer, when you wake, everything will be fine.’

I felt
something sharp pierce the skin of my left arm. ‘Wait, what is this?’ Liam exclaimed before my vision went blurry.

I kept drifting in and out of consciousness. S
ometimes I could see Liam. Other times, I was alone. Occasionally I could hear people whispering and touching the scars on my stomach, leg and arm.

‘P
oor child, she shouldn’t have to suffer like this.’

‘I know it is cruel
. That’s why I am trying to help her, but her mind is closed like a book.’

‘W
hat about Ethan, or this Michel kid?’

‘Y
es, Ethan, but Michel is just some kid from school, and from what I have seen, no one knows about any of this.’

‘W
hat will you do once inside?’

‘I hope to find out what she knows
, and try to ease her pain.’

The voices paused, as if in thought.

‘She believes everyone she loves is going to die because of her.’

‘D
o you believe this?’

‘I don’t know what t
o believe. This is a rare case. Firstly, out of all the pure fairies I have taught, none of them had the ability to make their dreams real- and secondly, all the others are quiet and shy, but she is loud and has confidence. She might be the key we are all looking for.’

There was a silence
again.

‘I think she is coming around
.’

‘Ethan
,’ I moaned.

‘S
ummer, this is Liam talking. I need you to listen carefully. You are at the house, in your room. I am going to try to access your mind about all your scars. If you want, you can open up your mind, or you can tell me when you come around.’ I slipped back into a sleep. I could feel someone poking around in my head, and I tried to search for the source, but I couldn’t. I could feel a memory tear open- it was the first time I met Ethan. Warmth filled my mind, but was replaced with confusion. Another memory was tearing open, the one where I find out about my dad, and when I opened the box to find his letters. The memories kept tearing open until suddenly the intruder paused.

I knew what memory we were at. It was the one I kept locked up
so tightly that no one could get in, but I could feel it leaking into my mind very slowly. I tried to wake up, but nothing wanted to work. I screamed into my mind, but the memory was open. It started from when I felt like my chest was exploding, seeing Andy watch me as Lucy escaped my body. Running for my life as I was being chased. When Ethan was in the hands of Andy, and I was forced to fight with whatever power I had left.  When I was being hit by dark and powerful fireballs. When I killed Lucy, and when the knife plunged into my stomach, and Ethan was screaming my name. I wanted the memories to stop, but they kept going. The pain I felt when leaving my body, and then coming back. The last bit of memory from when I was in recovery.

The memories stop
ped for a long moment.

My brain wa
s about to explode when they started again. The message engraved into my arm- me trying to heal it, and the effect it had on me. When I went crazy at school, and when the second message appeared on my leg. Me making captain, along with the first time I used my powers, and the message written in my blood on the paper.

I knew the memories had
finished, because I could feel the intruder leaving my mind. The memories I kept out of reach were any involving Michel. I could feel the intruder come back into my mind. I felt my memories relaxing, becoming less painful, but then it all sprang back into place, like a rubber band. This time, when I tried to wake, my body let me.

When I open
ed my eyes, they immediately filled with tears of pain and hurt. I could see that Liam and another woman were in the room with me. ‘Summer, how are you feeling?’ Liam asked.

‘I don’t know
, because some intruder was in my head, opening up every goddamn horrible memory I have locked away- and now all I am filled with are these memories I kept locked away for a reason . So I don’t know what I am feeling, because I am feeling a thousand different things at once!’ I finished talking when Liam sat next to me.

‘Summer, that was me in your head. I needed to understand what is going on with you. I tried to ease the pain, but it did not work. How did you know someone was invading your mind?’ 

I stare
d at him. How dare he open wounds I didn’t want open? ‘I don’t know. I just felt every memory burst open, and I had no control over them.’ I wrapped my hands around my body to stop myself from shaking.

‘Summer
, we are going to leave you alone, ok? But we need to start having daily meetings until you go back home.’ He nodded my way, respecting that I wanted to be alone. The thing was, I didn’t think I could be alone. I tried to call Ethan, but he did not pick up his phone. All I got was voicemail. I also tried to get ahold of Amanda, but again, all I got was voicemail, so I called the one person who will come and understand.