A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(75)

“No?” Terhal asked with a laugh. “You think you have a choice here?”

“You’re lying.”

Terhal couldn’t have looked smugger if she’d tried. “I can’t lie. If you accept the spirits and me, this is your future.” She took a deep breath. “Inhale the burning-flesh smell, there’s nothing quite like it.”

Layla turned and ran toward the house, just as another Layla walked out of the rear doors, flames licking at her feet. The second Layla held the scruff of Chloe’s collar in one hand, dragging Chloe behind her.

Layla froze as the other Layla stopped only a foot in front of her and dropped Chloe’s bloody and battered body to the ground. “She deserved it,” the second Layla said, her voice full of darkness.

“I would never do this.”

The second Layla laughed. “You will torture and maim and kill, and you’ll do it all because you let the demon inside.”

“Drenik,” Layla corrected.

“Semantics. This is your destiny if you accept Terhal. The murder of your friends and loved ones. You’ll make our father look like a saint in comparison. You’ll watch the world burn at your feet and you’ll love every second.” Just then the door opened and Jared walked out, tossing several marbles back into the house, which exploded. “You’ll corrupt or kill. That’s all you can do.”

“I won’t,” Layla told her. “That’s not who I am.”

The second Layla laughed. She spun a complete three-sixty, raising her arms as she did. “All of this is what you are. You just don’t know it yet. You think you’re safe from Terhal’s influence, you think you can beat her if you accept her. The second you get a taste of true power, you become everything you always said you hate. It’s intoxicating.”

“I don’t think so,” said a familiar male voice from inside the burning house. How Layla could hear it over the sound of the building breaking up, she didn’t know, but it was as clear as if he was standing beside her.

The second Layla turned back to the house and hissed as Dr. Grayson walked out of the flames. Layla remembered him from her time in the hospital, when she’d found him to be a pleasant and kind man. Clearly he was yet another way for Terhal to play with her mind. Grayson stopped next to Jared and tapped the boy on the head, making him vanish from view.

“Let’s not make this any more complicated than it needs to be,” Grayson said.

“You are not welcome here,” the second Layla hissed.

“Show your true form, or I will force you to show it.” Grayson’s words were said calmly, but with an iron certainty that he would follow through with that threat.

The second Layla melted away, replaced with Terhal. “This is still your future.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Grayson told her.

“How are you here?” Layla asked.

“It’s a long story. I haven’t had to do this in a really long time. Telepathy isn’t my favorite ability. But everyone saw you scream and drop to your knees, and whenever anyone got close, any metal near you went crazy and tried to attack them. I thought it best I step in.”

Layla was horrified that she might have hurt people without meaning to. There was no enjoyment or rush of adrenaline at the thought of fighting, just a deep horror that she hadn’t been in control.

“She is mine,” Terhal snapped. “She is mine to twist and corrupt as I need.”

“She can’t lie,” Layla said. “This could be my future.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Grayson admitted. “It could also be a dream or a nightmare, or you could come down with a fungus infection that turns you into a zombie. Lots of things could happen. Doesn’t mean any of them will.”

“This is her future,” Terhal screamed, her impatience showing. “You can’t rescue her. She’s not your damsel in distress to swoop in and help.”

“You’re right, I can’t,” Grayson said, his eyes never leaving Layla’s. “I can’t stop this. I can’t rescue you. You need to do that yourself. Layla, this is your mind, not hers. This is your power, not hers. The drenik was put in the scroll to be the source of power, and that is it. It was meant to be like a well with a bucket. The drenik is the deep well full of water, and the spirits help you create a bucket. Over time you get a bigger and bigger bucket, until you can take as much water as you can stand. The more water you take, the harder it is for the drenik to stop or corrupt you.”

“I want her to go away,” Layla said, and looked over at Terhal. “Leave me be. Now.”

“You’re not powerful . . .” She paused.

“Just piss off!” Layla screamed, causing Terhal to roar in pain as the fire and death began to vanish, replaced with nothing. With pure calmness.

Layla stayed silent for several seconds, allowing herself a moment to breathe steadily. “So, if I accept Terhal, she could still corrupt me?”

“Yes. That’s true. You could become a great and powerful force of evil. Just as I or Kasey or even Tommy could. I once succumbed to that temptation, and it took me a long time to return from the darkness that consumed me.”

“What did you do?”

“I destroyed those who stood against me. I burned anyone who dared try to stop me. I allowed something evil to create more evil. I wasn’t strong enough to stop it.”