Chapter 3

3

My mother didn't blink. She refused to sign his lies.

Lawrence growled and shoved her off the bed. She was so weak that she hit the floor and passed out instantly.

"Mom!" I screamed, shielding her. "She's sick! How could you?"

"She's stubborn!" he barked. "It's just a paper!"

He called for his security guards. "Beat her until she signs it."

"Don't you dare!" I stood up, my eyes flashing.

"If you touch her, Lawrence, I'll release every spirit-beast I have. I'll make sure you never see that Senate seat again."

He flinched, knowing I had power he didn't understand.

But he had more men.

"Sign it, and I'll give you some cash to go back to the woods. If not, you're never leaving this house."

He stormed out, locking the door.

I stayed by my mother's side and packed faster. We had to get out tonight.

Suddenly, Alaric and Lydia showed up again, breaking into the room.

"Take it out now!" Alaric roared. "I'm not waiting another second!"

"She's unconscious, you idiot!" I yelled back. "Have you no heart?"

My mother groaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"Mom, stay down!"

She shook her head and looked at Alaric. "You want it? Fine. I'll take it back."

"No, Mom! You're too weak!"

She squeezed my hand. "I'll be okay, Elara. The spirit has eaten enough poison. It's tired now."

Thirty minutes later, Alaric left with a smirk, and my mother held a small, black glowing stone in her hand.

"Is it over?" I asked.

She nodded weakly. "But he's still cursed. Without the shard, the silver poison will come back soon. He's a dead man walking."

"That's his problem," I said.

We tried to sneak out of the mansion, but Lawrence was waiting.

He had us bound and thrown into a damp, freezing basement.

"You're not leaving until that paper is signed!" he yelled through the bars.

It was the middle of winter. I huddled against my mother, wondering how the man who used to read me bedtime stories had become a monster.

We were stuck there for three days without food.

On the third day, the guards mentioned it was the day of the Senator's grand wedding.

I shouted through the door, "Fine! My mother will sign it! Just let us out!"

My mother looked at me in shock, but I gave her a sharp wink.

When the guard opened the door with the ink and paper, I didn't reach for a pen.

I released a swarm of stinging spirit-wasps I had hidden in my sleeve.

While the guards were screaming and slapping at their skin, I grabbed my mother and ran.

We sprinted through the rain toward the river at the edge of the city.

The guards were right behind us.

The river was bloated and violent from the storm.

I looked at the water and then at my mother. "Do you trust me?"

She gripped my hand and nodded.

We jumped into the freezing, churning waves just as the guards reached the bank.

They searched for hours, but the current was too strong.

Back at the mansion, Lawrence was celebrating his new marriage when a guard burst in, pale as a ghost.

"Sir! Sasha and her daughter... they jumped into the river. They're gone. There's no way they survived that water."

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