Touched by Darkness (Young Creator Trilogy) (22 page)

“Maximus, tell me you didn’t
have an affair with my sister.” With shock, I look at Aunt
Tisi, who is floating of the ground, her hair flapping around her face and partially hiding it.
Everyone stops moving at her words, they are spoken so softly.

“My love
, I—”
“Don’t my love me,” she shouts before he can finish. Her face is now visible and I see
that her eyes have turned black. “Did you sneak off to be with her?” She points a finger in
Allecto’s direction. “Did you and Allecto make these two abominations?” I take a step back at
those words, shocked. I know that she must be hurting, but this… I just don’t understand.
“I’m sorry,” is all it takes from Maximus to confirm her question. A scream filled with
pain and sorrow leaves Aunt Tisi. She sounds heartbroken, betrayed. Ican’t even begin to
imagine what she must feel like, and she has no one to comfort her. Her black eyes turn to me.
“Aunt Tisi, I’m so sorry. I had no idea, just know that I’m here for you.” A harsh laugh
escapes her.
“You and your sister are an abomination. You should not be alive! You will pay for your
existence. Humanity will pay for their fake promises, you just wait. I will bring the apocalypse to
this land that you call your home. Then, when everything has been ripped from you that you care
about, I will return you to the earth that you were born from.” I gape at her, not knowing what to
say. She has become like another mother to me, someone that I have trusted and come to love.
Before I can say anything else, she points her hand in Maximus direction and starts making a fist.
Maximus begins gasping for air; she is going to kill him. I have to save him! We all make
mistakes,and even though I hate what he has done to her, he doesn’t deserve to die. Plus, he is
my father.
“Don’t do this, Aunt Tisi. I know how much he has hurt you, but just consider what
killing him will do to you. It might feel like the right thing to do now, but do you want to live
with the decision forever?” I plea with her.
She turns her dead, black eyes in my direction,but doesn’t acknowledge my words.
Instead, she continues to strangle Maximus. I can’t let her do this, so I look at two of my winged
lions and ask them to take her far away. They rush her, and before she can regain her senses, they
are off in the black sky. I know that she will be back soon, and we still have to finish this before
she returns. We need to get out of here.
I walk over to Keagan and lean in close to whisper,“We need to do this now. Finish her
while she is absorbed in the energy.”
“I can’t kill her when she is defenseless.I’m a warrior, not a murderer,” Keagan says out
loud, which gets us questioning looks from Chris and Nick.
“Do you think that I want to watch you kill my sister? No, butit’s what we came for and
this is going to make sure that there is no more bloodshed. Look around, do you think that Riley
can go another round with those undead freaks? Finish it, Keagan!I just want it to be over.”
“It’s not right,Trish! I will not kill outside of battle.” He shakes his head and backs away.
I’m pretty frustrated, but decide that I have to respect his decision. I know that this will
forever scar me,but I know it’s the right thing to do. I just lost someone that I really care about
and I’m not willing to lose anyone else. Haddie is still on her knees, the power from Allecto
being transferred to her. Now might be the only chance I have before Haddie kills us all. With
Allecto’s added power, who knows what she is capable of. I start moving toward the discarded
whip when a hand grasps my arm. Turning around, I find that it’s not Keagan but Chris who is
stopping me.
“You can’t do this!”
“I have to! Didn’t you tell me that we had to balance the dark and light? Trust me, I don’t
want to do this. It just feels like there is no other choice,” I tell him while tears stream down my
face.
“Let me rephrase that. You don’t have to do this. The balance has shifted with Allecto’s
death. If you killed Haddie then the balance would shift too much to the light.” He gently pushes
me away from Haddie. “We should leave before your aunt returns.”
“I don’t understand, how can the balance have shifted? Aunt Tisi turned to the dark side
… even with Allecto’s death, the dark would be stronger,” I say as he leads me toward the van.
“Technically, your Aunt Tisi hasn’t done anything that makes her dark. Therefore, the
two sides are nicely balanced. As far as your sister goes, we don’t know how the new power will
affect her. Killing her may not be the answer right now. I believe the best thing to do is just wait
and see what choices they make.” We pack into the van, and when I glance out the window I see
my five winged lions looking in. I brought them to life, and now I have to decide what to do with
them.
Getting back out, I walk over to one of them. I run my hand through the soft fur of its
neck and the huge cat starts to purr, rubbing its giant head against mine and almost knocking me
over. Its tail twitches back and forth and its claws are digging into the soft ground. The wings
that I saw span at least ten feet are now neatly folded along its back. They are just so big, I have
no idea what I should do with them.
“Wouldn’t they be cute if they fit into the palm of our hand?” Riley comes up next to me
and starts petting the winged lion also.
“That’s a great idea, it will be a lot easier to hide them. Thank you,Riley.” I imagine all
of them small enough to fit into our hand and watch as they shrink. The little guys run to the
person I told them to protect, and curl up with them in the van. I have to say, I wish there would
have been one for me.
I look back to where Haddie was and find that she is gone. I really hope that I won’t
regret walking away from her when I had the chance to end it. At the same time, a part of me is
happy that my sister is still alive. There is always that little bit of hope that she will change. I
know that it may be wishful thinking, but I believethat’s what makes humanity so special …
always hoping for things to turn out good.

We are on our way back from France. My second time on an airplane. This time
I’m sitting with
Nick, Trish, and Riley. We talk excitedly about all of the things that we saw over the last week.
We spent it in Paris and Chris thought that we deserved a break and to have some fun. For the
first few days it was as if everyone was walking on eggshells waiting for something to happen.
Wondering if Trish would be visited by Haddie, or if Tisiphone would show up and try to hurt
Maximus or Trish. However, everything was quiet, and once we realized that we took full
advantage of it. Trish wanted to check out the Louvre again, retelling the story of the
Underworld as we stood in front of the Mona Lisa. Riley wanted to visit each bakery in Paris,
which ended up being impossible; there are way too many of them. I have to say that the baked
goods really grew on me, and I’m going to miss them when we get back to Dalton.

It’s amazing how much things have changed over the last few months. I remember the
day that my dad broke the news of me going off to attend Dalton Academy. I was angry and so
upset that I would be taken away from my Guardian training, but now that I look back I know I
have learned and grown more since I got to Dalton Academy than the entire time that I was in
Haven.I’m actually looking forward to getting back to Dalton; I think I will enjoy the experience
this time. Nick is going to attend Dalton with us, his father thought that it would be a good idea
since he is teaching at Dalton anyway and they would get to spend some time together.

I look at Trish and smile when I see her talking excitedly to Nick and Riley. She is full of
life and seems so happy, momentarily forgetting about everything and just enjoying herself. It’s
really good to see her like this, but I know that things will change when we return to school. The
bullying that she has to deal with is horrible, and I know that it’s my fault that she’s in this
situation. I’m just glad that she has the friends that she does; they are real friends and stood by
her side when she needed them the most. We have six more months until graduation and I know
that it can pass by really slow when things are hard. I have to figure out a way to make things
better. Trish has so much on her plate, and we all know that the quiet is only temporary. This last
week was awesome. I know that things don’t have to be bad at Dalton, I just have to fix
everything.

Dalton is the same as it was when we left two weeks ago. As soon as we walk onto
campus I can feel the tension in Trish. Nick and I flank her as we walk through the busy school
grounds; words like whore and slut are yelled at Trish. The happiness that was there just hours
before has been replaced by sadness and her shoulders are slumped in defeat. Screw it, enough is
enough. “Wait here,” I say as I walk up to a table and jump on it. Trish is watching with wide
eyes.

“Can I have everyone’s
attention please?” A hush falls over the courtyard and all eyes are
turned to me. A few people have their phone out and I bet someone is going to be filming what
I’m about to say. People are always looking for drama. “Everyone has been giving Trish a really
hard time about that stupid video. What I said was mean and cruel, and what happened after the
video was released was just horrible. No one should go through something like that. You all want
to know the truth? Trish and I had been dating and she broke up with me. I was hurt and angry,
so I said some things that I shouldn’t have, which was wrong on my part. Trish was able to
forgive me for my actions, even though she has been suffering from the cruelty of people that
don’t even know her. She is an amazing person that would do anything for her friends and
family, and I need ya’ll to leave my friend alone. Do you all understand me?” A hush has fallen
over thecrowd. “Good, I’m glad that you get the message. No more bullying.” I hear someone
repeat the words and next thing I know the entire student body is chanting the words. I get off the
table and walk over to Trish, who gives me a hug and smiles at me, tears glittering in her eyes.
She mouths,‘Thank you’ and hugs me again. Nick high fives me and then we are surrounded by
all of Trish’s friends who hug her.

“Where have y’all
been? We were so worried,” I hear Chelsey ask Trish. The petite
blonde has tears in her eyes and is hugging Trish like there’s no tomorrow. The rest of her
friends are also in tears. I still can’t stand watching girls cry, so I nod at Nick and point toward
my dorm.

“Yeah
,let’s go,” he tells me. I meet Trish’s eyes over the othergirl’s heads and wave her
over.
“I’m gonna get Nick settled in. Looks like we have some explaining to do about our
absence. Guess that Tisiphone isn’t covering for us anymore.”
“Do you want to meet up later and go for a run? I could really use it.” I can’t help the
shit-eating grin that splits my face.
“Yeah sure, I’d like that,” I reply.
“Okay, let’s meet up outside the dorm in an hour. It will give me a chance to catch up
with Chelsey and the girls, and you to get Nick settled in.”
“Sounds good,” I say, hugging her. She melts into me, and I do a total creeper thing and
smell her hair. My little sidekick must be getting squished because I feel him wiggling his way
out of the top of my jacket. I really like the little guy, and decided to call him Jack. Trish gets a
lick to her neck from him and jumps back, but starts laughing when she spots him.
“Is he going to be going,too?” she asks.
“Where I go, Jack goes!”
“Jack?”
“Yup, that’s what I decided to name him.” She laughs again and I wish that I could keep
her like this forever. Happy and carefree, not the eighteen year old with the weight of the world
bearing down on her shoulders. Her green eyes are sparkling in amusement and she rubs the tiny,
winged lion’s head. I plan on taking every opportunity to spend time with Trish, and the people I
care about. I want to enjoy the time that we have before the next crazy thing happens. I know
that with what Trish is, things will never be simple because there are forces out there that want to
destroy her for her power. Not only that, but there is also a new power in my blood, something
inside of me that Ican’t explain. However, it is itching to break free. All of these things seem to
be against us,but I don’t care. All I know is that I will do whatever I have to, to make sure that
nothing happens to Trish. I care too much about her, and I will always stand by her side.
Regardless of what we have to face next.

Christiane lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband, Nick and son, Bentley. She loves
to read and daydream which inspire her to write her stories. She loves the outdoors, and
spending time with her family.