I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't think.
All I could do was stare at her, Pixie on the floor, her skin cracked like dried clay, eyes dripping with blood.
The girl who used to tease me, who always stayed by my side, who laughed in a way that made even the heaviest days lighter, she looked like a corpse dragged out of the underworld.
And Venus…Grandpa Venus…stood in front of us, arms crossed, speaking like this was all part of some twisted plan.
"The only way," he said, his voice steady, his eyes heavy. "This was the only way I could justify killing her, Noah!"
My heart snapped as I let out a loud shout.
"WE COULD HAVE THOUGHT OF N ALTERNATIVE!
WE COULD HAVE SAVED HER—"
I felt something inside me collapse, and then something else replace it, a storm of heat, fury, and despair that I didn't even know I had.
