A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(39)

“I died soon after. I killed myself with a silver dagger. And sometime after my death, the scroll was taken into the earth realm. I tried to do the right thing by my people and was driven mad for it. The only thing I could do to stop the demon before it took total control was kill myself.”

Layla didn’t know what to say. She placed a hand on Gyda’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“The demon is a monster. It should not be trusted. It should not be given into. You should kill yourself before it has the chance to do so.”

“What kind of help is that?” Rosa said, as she appeared beside Gyda and Layla.

“This is my time with the umbra, assassin,” Gyda spat. “I am to offer her aid and advice. And my advice is that she should kill herself and ensure that no one can ever find the scroll afterward.”

“I’m not going to commit suicide,” Layla said, utterly flabbergasted that anyone would suggest such a thing.

“Then the demon will take control of you and will destroy your life. Just like it destroyed mine.”

“That’s nonsense,” Rosa snapped. “You allowed the demon to take control because you had no one else to help. You were scared and alone, and I get that. Layla isn’t alone, and she’s not afraid to face this thing.”

“She’s afraid she’ll become a murderer like her father,” Gyda snapped back. “And if she lets the demon in, it’ll make sure of it. She’ll either be driven insane and the demon will take control, or she’ll somehow accept it and then the second it takes control, it’ll gut everyone she loves, and laugh while it does it.”

“You keep calling the demon an ‘it,’” Layla said. “Not he or she. Rosa said it can change its outward appearance.”

“No matter how the demon looks, it will always be an it to me.”

Layla sensed so much anger and fear still in Gyda, and wasn’t sure whether, even as a spirit, she would ever be able to let go of what the demon had done to her and those she loved.

“I won’t become a murderer,” Layla said. “I won’t kill for the sake of killing, and I certainly won’t allow something to take control of me.”

Rosa sighed. “You’re not helping, Gyda, you’re feeding your own fears.”

“Perfect little Rosa,” Gyda snapped. “Always capable of keeping the demon at bay, always able to have friends and loved ones. You just enjoyed murdering people a bit too much for even a demon to stomach, I think.”

For a second Layla thought that Rosa was going to punch Gyda, but instead she took a step away.

“Do you remember when I first took the scroll and came to see you?” Rosa asked. “You were all kill yourself and save the demon the trouble back then too.” She turned to Layla. “Killing a monster or doing it for self-defense doesn’t make you your father. You’ve decided that fighting leads to killing, which leads to your father. And that’s not how it works.”

“But I always want it to go a step further. I think, What if I just hurt them more? They’ll stop then.”

“You have an instinct your father cultivated, an instinct to win at any cost. He taught you from a young age that to win, you might have to hurt someone. He taught you this to survive in his world. I know that you didn’t choose to be a part of his world, but now that you’re here, you’d better figure out how to fight back and survive, or else you’ll die. Someone new will pick up your scroll, and we’ll just have to do this all over again.”





15

Layla woke up feeling tired and with a headache behind her eyes. She felt as if she’d been sleeping in a room where all of the air had been sucked out. She climbed out of bed and padded over to the window, but the pain behind her eyes wouldn’t budge. The metal frame surrounding the window glass had long since been sealed closed. Parts of the runners had a block of metal soldered to them, one on either side of the window, to give extra protection against being able to open it. Layla placed her head against the cold glass and sighed as the headache began to dissipate.

She held her hand against the frame and wondered whether or not she’d be able to use her newly discovered powers. There was no point in denying what had happened to her; it wasn’t as if she could just pass it all off as a dream. She was no longer human. She paused. “I’m not human anymore.” Saying it out loud stung more than she’d expected it to.

She knew that not being human and not acting human were two exceptionally different things. She was determined that whatever power she’d managed to acquire wouldn’t change who she was.

She stared at the metal and wondered how she was meant to get her power to work.

Just think what you want to happen, and if you’re powerful enough, it’ll happen, Rosa said in her head.

“I thought we couldn’t talk when I’m awake.”

We’re closer now. You’ve seen part of my life, you’ve seen part of the person I am. I see no reason to go on as if we can’t communicate during the day.

Layla looked around the room. “I can’t see you. I expected I’d be able to.”

Rosa appeared in the doorway to the en suite bathroom. “Is this more what you had in mind?” Unlike the clothing she’d worn in Layla’s memory, Rosa wore faded blue jeans and a black t-shirt.