A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(86)

“So, yes, you are the only person who has these details. You think you don’t know where his prison is because you don’t want to know, but the reality is, even if you did want to know, they wouldn’t tell you. But considering how much your father loves you, I’m sure he’ll be only too eager to help.”

“Why are you so sure of it?”

“I’ve read the transcripts of his interviews with Tabitha—we have people who work in the same LOA office as her, and they kindly passed along anything we needed. He talks about you with great affection. And I think someone threatening his little girl is going to get him motivated to help pretty quickly. And just to give you a little incentive—” He kicked Layla in the chest, knocking her to the floor. The air rushed out of her and pain coursed through her torso.

“I hope you enjoy the fun we have planned. Let’s see if you’re more susceptible after a night of no sleep. Enjoy the current UK top forty chart.” He closed the door as music began blaring into the cabin, forcing Layla to clamp her hands over her ears to stop it from reverberating in her head, but it did little good.

Terhal sat beside Layla on the floor and tutted. “I guess now’s as good a time as any to finally break you.” And the world around Layla turned to blood, fire, and pain. She succumbed to the darkness that encircled her.





31

Hours passed, with Terhal inflicting every kind of painful torture on Layla’s friends. At some point during her time there, Terhal returned to her female form, wearing the exact same outfit as before, and continued to barrage Layla’s mind with insanity.

Layla lay motionless on the floor, the images too much for her to deal with all at once.

“You broken yet?” Terhal asked with a laugh.

Layla concentrated on her breathing. “Why are you like this?”

“Why? Because I want to be. Because I don’t want to be here. I never asked to be torn from my home and placed in a scroll. I never asked to have my soul bounce from human to human. And I didn’t ask to sit in someone’s head, never quite able to be free. This is my prison, and you ask why? Whatever I may have been back in my world, I was free. I hunted, I fed, and I enjoyed my life. So now, with your mind as my new life, I will hunt and feed here instead. And you are my prey.”

Layla pushed herself up to a kneeling position and coughed. She looked around at three cages that had appeared close by, each containing one of the spirits. Gyda’s expression was one of terror, while both Rosa and Servius just looked angry.

“They didn’t hurt you,” Layla said, pointing to the cages. “They were as innocent as you were.”

“They hate and fear me. They always have and they always will.” Terhal walked over to the cage with Gyda in it and snarled at her. “You especially. I did awful things when I took over your body. Do you remember them?”

“You murdered my friends.”

“And the same could be said for Servius. Lots of people he cared for died too. I have that effect on people. I wonder who I might kill when I take you, Layla. I mean, your parents are dead, so maybe Harry. He likes you—maybe I could show him a good time.”

Layla didn’t bother telling her to leave Harry alone; it would have done no good. Terhal was going to spout whatever evil she wanted, and Layla had no choice but to listen.

Terhal continued to walk past the cages until she reached Rosa. “You were special, Rosa. You accepted me so quickly, within a few hours. But then you always liked the darkness, didn’t you? Always saw a lot of yourself in me. You fight so hard to conceal it, but we both knows it’s there.”

Rosa opened her mouth to shout, but no sound came out.

“Yeah, sorry about that; I had to turn down the volume. Frankly, your voice bores me, and I could do without having to listen to you try to rouse Layla to fight back. She can’t fight back, or she won’t. Either way means I win.”

“This isn’t a game,” Layla said. “It never was.”

“Of course it’s a game, Layla,” Terhal snapped. “And I win. Or would you rather this?” She waved her hands and the loud pop music streamed into the world around Layla, causing the ground beneath her to shake. She slammed her hands over her ears, but as quickly as it started, the music stopped. “I think this way is more civilized. I like being able to talk to you, Layla. I like seeing the hope drain from you.”

Layla sat up and sighed. “I’m done with this, Terhal. I’m done with you, and with Elias, and frankly with anyone else who wants to try to control me. I’m done.” She got to her feet. “You can’t kill me, and you certainly can’t break me, no matter how much you like to believe you can. This is my mind, not yours. I wonder what your life was like before you were forced to come here. The others showed me, but you haven’t. You’ve just threatened and twisted my mind. I wonder what you’re afraid of.”

“Nothing,” Terhal snapped.

“Show me then.” The world around Layla twisted and changed, the fire and death replaced with rolling valleys and green grass. She stood and felt the grass between her bare toes.

Birds flew high above and close by a ten-foot waterfall fed into a stream that opened up into a large river further along.

“This is where you lived?”

“No!” Terhal screamed. “You can’t do this. You can’t see this.”