Chapter 117
- Becky -
At first, for only a moment. It was just us in the mirror.
Just two reflections staring back.
The surface rippled like liquid mercury.
At first, the light shimmered faintly across the mirror's gold frame, like heat waves off desert sand. Then it deepened, black pools swallowing our reflections whole. Images flickered into view, like a projector inside the glass.
Then an image played, like watching a television screen.
A younger Josh was bloodied—playing an image as he carried Kaysi barely alive into the abyss. Evan is laying blood on the ground from the battle with his brother. And me looking at Josh as he slipped away, and I remained speechless, confused, and hurt.
"No. Don't... What is this? I don't want to relive these memories."
Josh's voice was raw with pain; I had not heard from him before.
I gripped my arms, fighting the wave of emotion crawling through me. Evan had told me little of that day—of what Josh had done, of what he had failed to do. Seeing it now, Kaysi's pain flooded into me like it was my own. The betrayal. The confusion. The anger.
"Stop! Leave Kaysi alone, you idiot." Josh yelled at his reflection.
But the mirror didn't stop; it rippled again, playing another memory.
Josh, kneeling before Father, head bowed, his voice real and desperate, the image rough to watch.
His shoulders shook, but his eyes burned with desperation. His voice was strained.
"Please," he begged. His voice cracked like a child's. "Please, not this. Becky—don't look. You're not supposed to see this."
Slam! The sound echoes, shaking the warehouse.
I jumped—Josh pounded his fist into the glass. It rattled but didn't break.
The image continued, "I'll do whatever you ask to save her. Bringing her back." Josh's words were so cold and numb, so... Meek, I will serve you if it means I can see Mom again.
The words crushed me.
I gasped, my hand covering my mouth. Your mother… All this time, it was her?
The Josh beside me pounded the mirror harder. His voice broke as tears spilled down his cheeks. "I didn't mean it! Becky—I didn't know! Please—don't look at me like that!" Blood began to smear across the surface, turning the reflection red.
In the reflection, his red hair blazed bright—then drained, turning pale white like ash. A scar split into his cheek below his right eye, raw and jagged. His head fell, shadowed by the vow he'd made.
- Sadness, my mind whispered. You never told me any of this. You never told anyone.
The Abyss consumed the following image.
The sentinel Minotaur came onto the screen.
Josh's image is playing on the screen. "This was never supposed to happen. I don't understand; you said you wouldn't hurt them!" Josh yelled at his father as he pulled the blood-filled vel knife from Evan's body.
"No... please stop!" He clutched the divine arm I'd given him when he almost died as if it would vanish if he let go. His knees buckled, he slammed one time against the mirror, and his forehead bled. He sat there, head pressed, as the image played—he knew what was next, and I believe I did too.
The Minotaur's claws raked through Josh's body, tearing flesh and bone. Josh's image replayed it all in great detail as if I were there myself. Josh screamed as his arm fell with a sickening thud to the ground. The sound echoed so violently it felt as if the warehouse wall would fall apart.
Blood sprayed. His arm hit the ground, key still clutched in lifeless fingers.
The final image.
Josh and Evan, broken, sitting together around a kitchen table, whispering.
"We can't tell them," Evan said.
Josh nodded, voice shredded, hopeless. "If they knew the truth, it would break them. We carry this. Alone.
Another secret Evan and Josh were keeping from us.
Josh collapsed to his knees. He turned his eyes, looking at mine. Tears were only forming in my eyes so as to fall. Josh's face was already stained with tears.
He looked away quickly, hoping I didn't see. His voice cracked as he whispered. "I was only trying to protect you. I never wanted you to see this."
I walked over to him. My hand was on his head as he looked at the ground. My throat burned. For the first time in many months I spoke from my heart to Josh. Babe, you wanted to protect us, but all you did was bury yourself. This was not your cross to carry alone. I am here for you—we all are.
The mirror rippled again, this time much more violently. We backed up from the mirror.
The mirror formed and shaped like liquid, taking the form of a figure as they stepped out.
Tall, dripped in silver from head to toe that rippled like the element of water. Their hair covered in liquid, beautiful, flawless eyes, black as obsidian, swallowed all light like a void.
Her lips curved into a smile as she walked closer to us. Voice smooth like a warm whisper on the wind. "So much pain. So many secrets."
Josh staggered back, fire guttering. His face was pale. "No...no, I can't fight you. Josh lost his footing and fell.
The demon closed in with a purr. Her form rippled. Her face leaned in to Josh's so close that she breathed the same air as him.
And suddenly—
Kaysi stood before us, eyes hollow, skin burned and blistered.
"You lied," she cried, voice sharp as broken glass. "You promised Becky you would protect me. But you left me in a hospital bed—burned, cold, shivering, fighting for my life. You tell yourself I'll be okay. You lied to yourself, Joshua!"
Josh's face twisted in grief. "No—I didn't—I stayed until you were safe—I didn't leave you."
Josh lost as if it were really Kaysi standing before us.
"Josh! You can't let her get into your head." I shouted.
But the demon shifted again.
Her voice was soft, sweet, and seductive. Me! "If you strike me, you will strike the one who saved you. Gave you your arm. The one you said carried a piece of me inside you." She leaned closer, voice velvet. "You wouldn't hurt me, would you? You love me. I am a part of you."
Her lips are almost touching Josh.
Josh was frozen breathless. His fire dimmed to embers. His hands trembled.
"You wouldn't want to lose me." Her smile widened as she bound her spell to Josh—a predator's grace as she spoke slowly, inching closer and closer. "You don't want to lose me and be alone. Do you!"
The air split. The mirror behind her exploded with a deafening crack, shards bursting outward like shrapnel. Shards spinning like blades in the air.
I gasped, rushing between her and Josh, raising walls of ice. The shards passed faster than I could form them. The ice covered Josh in the nick of time. I wasn't so lucky. The slice through the air cut my face, lip, and arms. Warm blood streaked across my skin as I staggered back from the pain. Blood dripped onto Josh below.
Josh's powers roared, bursting from his body, wrapping us in soulfire blue flames as his body shook with hesitation.
The demon's laughter rippled the shards that floated in the air.
"Why raise your hand against your loved one?"
The shards circled, gleaming with reflections, each piece showing the faces of everyone we knew.