See How She Awakens (The Chronicles of Izzy #4)(39)

With a deep breath, I plunged out of the dreaming to stand in front of the old manor, the white pillars extending ever upward. The place that had once been my home now felt altogether different. The air was stagnant, the stench of burnt flesh held heavy in the air. Where once there had been birdsong, there was now silence. Death breathed its frosty breath on the accursed ground. There was nothing left of the Council I’d once known. Here, I would find desolation, and I would have to welcome it. Embrace it.

Leaden feet led me to the door. There was no other way. Molly had shown me all I’d needed to see. One way or another, the end was coming. My hand clasped the door, opening it on a loud creak. The sound echoing throughout the silent house.

Moving deeper into the house, I paused as I passed a mirror. I wanted to be sure I’d concealed the mark on my face. My haunted eyes stared back from the reflection, the darkness swirling within the depths of the blue. I’d woken it up, and now it anxiously waited. I could feel it expanding within me, preparing itself excitedly for what was to come.

I stepped away from the mirror and pushed myself further down the hall. The pungent smell of death stopped me in my tracks as I passed a room. Countless piles of ash lay around the intricate circle I’d seen in my vision. Dried blood stained the floor where innumerable Seers had given their lives in the pursuit of the Council’s supposed justice. No more. No one else would die for them, for this.

“You are not welcome here, Abomination,” Brutus’s voice shouted from behind me. Seriously, the man needed to get a hearing aid or something.

“I come seeking the truth.” Not a lie. I wanted to hear it from them. Not in some vision, but in person.

“There is nothing for you here,” he sneered.

I let the darkness seep out, letting it take hold momentarily. I could do this.

“There is vengeance here. Would you deny me that?” The darkness pulsed in my veins. I could only imagine how I looked to Brutus, but something in his demeanor changed.

“Who are you shouting at?” Damali nagged as she stepped out of Isadora’s old office, pausing in her tracks as her eyes landed on me, calculating. “Why have you come here?”

“At every turn, I’ve been betrayed by those that supposedly loved me. I’ve given everything to maintain the supposed balance, yet here I remain. So I say, f*ck the balance. I want every person that has ever misled me—betrayed me—to feel the pain I feel. I want them all to burn.” The darkness grew stronger with each word.

You will lose to me, Izzy. Don’t fight it, let me in.

The darkness was stronger than it had ever been. The months of training had done nothing to prepare me for this. When I’d let the floodgates open and poured out every repressed emotion, I’d released something much worse. The vision of what I might become played out in my mind. I couldn’t let the darkness prevail. I had to remain in control.

Thoughts of the Seers and Guardians waiting in the dreaming buoyed my courage as I was led into the Council leader’s office. Brutus and Damali both eyed me warily, unsure of what to make of my sudden reappearance. They didn’t trust me. Which meant I would have to let the darkness take hold even more. If I did, I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to fight my way back.

Francesca lounged on a couch, doing that stupid toe thing of hers, tracing circles on the ground, while Eric stood by the fire staring into the flames. My entry drew both of their attentions. It was time to put on a show.

“Why have you returned?” Francesca’s confused look reminded me of a child. “Did we have an appointment?”

So she’d finally gone off the deep end completely. I knew it was inevitable.

“I’ve returned for one reason, and one alone. I’ve seen what you are capable of. I saw it the day I absorbed the darkness,” I pressed on, hoping I could convince them of my sincerity.

“What do you mean?” Damali, the obvious brains behind this venture, asked.

“You are the orchestrators of all that is coming. The darkness will rise, it is inevitable.”

“What is your interest in this matter?” Eric’s fingers thrummed against the mantel.

“I want them to pay.” The truth, I did want someone to pay for all I’d lost.

“So you too wish humanity to pay for their sins, their disgrace?” Francesca asked.

Laughter pealed from me, fueled by the darkness.

“The Order will pay.” I let the darkness take hold a little more. I had to convince them. This was the only way.

“That is not our agenda.” Damali turned to walk towards her desk. “The darkness will purge the world, bring justice.”

I laughed again, the chilling sound stalling Damali’s steps. “I am the darkness.”

The moment the words left my lips, I felt myself slipping. The darkness was taking hold. Panic began to well inside of me as visions of the Revenants rushed forth, their warnings playing over and over in my mind. I wasn’t strong enough. The darkness would consume me; I was powerless to stop it. Laughter rolled through my mind as the darkness snapped itself into place, pushing me to the side.

I warned you. You never should’ve fought this. It was inevitable.

In that moment I knew, the whole time I thought I had taken control of the darkness within me was a lie. The darkness had played me. Every step I’d taken, every move I’d made, had led me straight to where the darkness had wanted me to be all along. The world would burn, and I would be the catalyst.