WHEN I OPEN MY EYES, I have no idea where I am. A throbbing sensation fills my head and I wince, regretting having woken up. My limbs feel heavy and slow.
Blinking, I peer around the pale room. I’m in a bed in a room I don’t recognise. Bright light filters through the blinds, leaving lines across my legs from the sunlight. Rubbing my head, I sit up. The room is plain, very minimally designed.
‘Hey.’
Looking over to the side of the room, I see Alex standing near the window. There is no colour in his face as he rests against the wall. He offers me a weary smile, looking nothing like the Alex I know.
Licking my lips, they feel cracked and dry, my throat screaming for water with each painful swallow.
‘What happened?’ I ask, feeling groggy.
‘I have no idea.’ Alex sighs, walking toward the bed, sitting down on the edge. ‘I don’t remember leaving the club.’
‘Where’s Hunter?’ I whisper, panic making my heart race. ‘And Cas?’
Alex shrugs. ‘I don’t know.’
‘How long have you been awake? What time is it?’
Alex shrugs, again. ‘Maybe, like, an hour. I have no idea what the time is, though.’
‘Where the hell are we?’
‘You’re asking all the same things I thought to myself.’ Alex exhales. ‘I keep hearing footsteps.’ He gestures to the door. ‘But no one has come in.’
Dread fills me like poison, making my stomach clench painfully.
When I stand, my head spins, causing me to collapse heavily back onto the bed, gripping the sheets.
The door swings open, and the breath exits my body.
‘Cora,’ I whisper.
‘Hey, little sis.’
Looking at Cora is like looking into a mirror. We have the same heart-shaped face, pale skin, and freckles dotting our cheeks and nose. She has her distinct birthmark, but her mossy green eyes are now an endless black, giving her a demonic look.
My heart slams inside my chest to an uneven tune, making me feel nauseous. She gives me a moment to stare at her, taking in all the similarities and differences. Familiar, yet unfamiliar.
‘You figured it out,’ she says eventually, her voice dry.
My mouth opens and closes several times before I can muster up a reply. My mind is reeling, too many sentences trying to form before they float away as a new thought overrides it.
‘Hey,’ Alex says, and both Cora and I glance at him. He waves. ‘So. You’re not dead. That’s cool.’
Cora’s face is icy as she gives him a brief once-over before she returns to ignoring him. I keep my focus on her, trying to make sense of the thousands of thoughts racing around inside my mind.
‘You . . . you planned this.’
‘I did.’
‘You left me.’ A sob tears from my throat as the emotions come flooding out. My hands and knees wobble as I try to stand, but I still feel too weak.
My sister drops down onto the chair at the end of the bed, folding one leg over the other, and fixes me with a stoic expression. One I have never seen her wear before. Warmth and sunshine no longer emanate from her. She’s cold, dark, and empty.
Alex sinks to the ground, watching us, all remaining colour draining from his face, and I see the realisation on his face, certain I’m wearing the same expression. That Cora isn’t here to save us.
‘I did.’
‘Why?’ I whisper, choking on my breath.
‘It wasn’t enough,’ she admits, her black-nailed fingers drawing invisible patterns on her leather pants. ‘That life. It wasn’t enough. I needed to escape.’
‘So, you left me,’ I whisper. ‘With no one.’
‘It wasn’t supposed to go like that.’
‘What?’ I say, trying to understand. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I knew there was going to be a sacrifice. That’s why I planned the accident. I didn’t . . .’ She trails off, and for a brief moment, I’m sure I see a flash of regret and despair crack through her cold exterior. It disappears just as quickly, making me question whether I truly saw anything, or if I’m a fool holding on to hope. ‘It was meant to be a stranger who died. Someone who didn’t matter to me.’
Her words cut into my skin, opening me up, tearing me from inside out. My stomach churns uneasily as her words whirl inside my brain.
‘Mum,’ I choke out. ‘You killed her.’
‘Well,’ my sister says, leaning forward, clasping her long, slender fingers together. ‘Yes. I did.’
My chest is rising and falling rapidly as I stare at someone who once was such a big part of my life. Someone who was so similar to me we could have been one person. Someone I shared everything with. My other half. Now, a stranger.
‘Oh shit,’ I hear Alex mutter.
‘You’re a monster,’ I murmur, my words shaking.
‘We are all monsters, Raya. Don’t kid yourself.’ Flinging herself to her feet, she strides over to me. Her fingers bite into my chin as she drags my gaze to meet hers. I flinch at the sudden jerk and the coldness of her skin. Her eyes narrow into slits as she inspects my eyes. ‘Foolish girl,’ she snaps, upper lip curling. ‘You weren’t meant to follow in my footsteps. I purposefully detached myself from you so that when I died, you would mourn and move on.’
‘You’re my sister,’ I seethe, gripping her arms, holding on tight, wanting to convey the pain and betrayal that I feel ebbing through me so forcefully it threatens to knock me over.
‘I was,’ she growls. ‘I am no longer.’
‘Yes, you are!’ I cry out. ‘You’re here, right now, flesh and blood.’
‘I am not the girl you remember, Raya. I need you to understand that.’
‘Yes, you are.’
‘I’m not.’
‘You are.’
Cora’s eyes flash and her hands strike toward me, flattening me on my back. She presses harshly down onto my arms, hovering over me, her black eyes dark and menacing as they pour into mine.
Alex clambers to his feet, wide-eyed.
‘I am not her anymore. The Cora you knew died the same night our mother did.’
I inhale sharply at her words, feeling all the wounds that never truly healed rip back open. ‘I don’t believe you.’
‘I don’t care what you believe.’
‘If you’re such a monster, then do it,’ I snap at her, flinging my hair back, and tilting my chin toward the ceiling. ‘Kill me.’
Cora freezes, her eyes piercing into mine as we breathe hard. The air crackles around us, heavy with tension that the two of us have never had before. A strong feeling of defiance carves through me, and if I had something close to me, I would slit my skin up and offer my blood to her on a silver platter. If she attacked me, only then would I believe her.
‘And have your bonded mate avenge you?’ she quips, raising a dark eyebrow. ‘I don’t think so.’
I let out a laugh. ‘That’s a convenient excuse.’
Releasing me suddenly, she is on her feet, and across the room in the blink of an eye. She peers out the window and winces as the direct sunlight penetrates through the glass. Spinning, she shuts the blinds, and walks to the end of the bed.
‘I didn’t want this life for you, Raya,’ she says, suddenly looking a lot more like the girl I remember and not the monster she is pretending to be. ‘I wish you had . . . just . . .’ She exhales, not finishing her sentence.
‘That’s a lie.’
She doesn’t look at me as she continues to pace the room, her dark hair cascading down her back in thick tumbles. ‘A lie?’
‘You left journals for a reason. You wanted me to find you.’ Pushing to my feet, I stride toward her, stepping into her space, and ignoring the warning in her eyes. ‘You couldn’t let go, could you?’
‘You’re pathetic.’ She sneers. ‘You are trying to cling onto me and our old life, but it does not exist anymore.’
‘You left me breadcrumbs, Cora. You . . . oh my God . . .’ I step back, raking my fingers through my hair, everything piecing together one by one. ‘You stood purposefully in that video. You made me see it. You . . . you planned all of this.’
A muscle in her cheek jumps, her eyes flicking toward the door and back to me, as if she is worried we may be overheard.
‘You were meant to leave your life and everyone in it,’ I say slowly, shaking my head. ‘But you couldn’t let me go. You left me clues. You knew I would come.’
‘That’s absurd.’
‘And now you’re pretending you didn’t do all of that. To what, protect me? Why? Why did you need to leave me behind?’
Yanking me forward, she stares down her nose at me, her cold fingers clawing into my skin. ‘Because they will kill you, Raya. Don’t you get it? They will kill you.’
‘I can protect myself.’
She scoffs, a dry cackle escaping her as she pushes me from her, continuing her fervent pacing. ‘You can’t protect yourself from them.’
‘But he can,’ I say.
She stills, swinging those dark eyes to me.
‘Hunter would die before he let anything happen to me.’
‘That may be true,’ she nods, coming to a standstill. ‘But he will not be around to protect you once he is dead.’