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Perrie
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Tears continued to pour down Vale’s face, and the lightning crackled in Perrie’s palms as she prepared to strike him with her power again.
“Perrie,” he gasped for the second time, releasing his hold from the sides of his head. “I am sorry.” He pushed to his knees and dropped his hands to the ground, his fingers gripping blades of grass.
A desperation crawled onto his face, in his eyes, while Perrie’s heart thundered, conflicted. She stared at her feet so she could think, concentrate. An image slid into her mind—the night she escaped from Vale. A kiss. Him calling her Perrie instead of Bride. A heartbeat. Her sparking him.
Realization struck, and she lifted her gaze to meet his, her entire being pleading. Perrie took off running toward him with hope blossoming in her chest.
“Perrie!” Neven shouted.
“Stockholm Syndrome,” Maisie yelled behind her. “Stockholm Syndrome! Don’t!”
Ignoring Maisie, she came to a stop in front of him, falling to her knees as he peered up at her with those green eyes that called to her. She pressed a trembling hand to his warm cheek, her lips mere inches from brushing his. “August?” Perrie whispered.
The expression in his face fell, no longer appearing desperate. Something like empathy stirred within his eyes while they moved side to side, as if he was trying to keep up with a metronome.
“August does not exist,” he said softly. “I am Vale.”
Perrie jerked her hand back, her entire body recoiling from him. Maisie pulled her out of her shocked state, tugging Perrie to her side. Nev yanked Vale up by the collar of his white shirt, holding him in the air, his toes scraping the grass. Curling his other hand in a fist, Nev delivered a hard blow to Vale’s face—a loud cracking sounded as his head was thrown to the side.
Vale held up his hand, and Nev released him. Nev floated backward through the grass, punching air, and slowly dropped to his knees.
“Stop,” Vale whispered, his voice calm as he hovered above Nev.
Perrie now had a clear shot, and she hurled a whip of light at Vale’s chest. But he was too fast, swinging his other hand up, her lightning dissolving to small sparks that fell to the ground. She tried to launch another, yet she couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t move her legs, only her upper body, but no ability would come. Shit.
A humming drifted through the air, coming from Maisie who seemed to be immobilized too. Vale cocked his head. “You can stop. That isn’t going to work on me.”
Blood trailed down the side of Vale’s mouth from Nev’s hit, and he swiped it with the tip of his tongue. Then he brought the sleeve of his shirt to his mouth to wipe the rest away, marring the white silk.
“I’m going to tear you apart this time, you fucking asshole,” Nev threatened, spewing out all the ways he was going to do it. Perrie shook her head at him, telling him to stop talking.
Lines creased Vale’s forehead as he lifted his hand and snapped.
Perrie’s heart hammered, panicked, expecting the world to split into two. But Nev remained whole, except no words spilled from him as he still tried to shout.
Maisie was also at a standstill, attempting to sing again, but only silence escaped her mouth.
With what appeared to be hesitation, Vale stepped toward Perrie.
“One more step and you’re dead,” she threatened, hiding the fear pumping through her veins.
His gaze dropped from her face, to her feet firmly planted in place, then drifted back up to her eyes. “I do not think so.”
“Your Bride is already gone. I’m not going back with you, and I’ll find a way out. We all will.” Perrie would claw and claw at him forever, until he decided to rip her hands off if he wished. The Bride may have treasured the earth Vale walked on, but she sure as fuck didn’t.
Sighing in defeat, Vale shook his head and ran a hand through his blond curls. “Look, Perrie.”
“So what, you’re fine with me being Perrie now? Not Bride?” she spat.
Vale frowned, wounded, like he was the one who’d been torturing the world as someone else. “I—I don’t want the Bride. Can you listen to me without talking for a moment? You need to hear this.”
Perrie shook her head. “More lies?”
“No. Not more lies. Only truths.” He held up his empty hands showing no weapons, but the fucker must’ve forgotten he was full of invisible ones. Dirt covered his hands and fingernails, and she was surprised he hadn’t taken out that damn file to pick at those stupid nails of his.
“Don’t you need to clean your nails first?” Perrie hissed.
Vale blinked. Blinked again. Then a rumble of laughter poured from his mouth. The sound reminded her of her partner back in the Glass Vault. But that wasn’t a real friend, a real lover, it was an enemy.
Vale stopped laughing and studied his filthy hands. “That is what I am trying to talk to you about if you will drop the stubbornness and listen closely to what I have to say. All of you.” He exchanged a glance between the three of them.
Maisie no longer tried to fight and watched him intently, as if she might be considering being on Team Vale. Perrie waved her hand to get her cousin’s attention, then Maisie turned to her to speak. Nothing came out, but she nodded, pointing from Perrie to her ear. She wanted Perrie to listen to what Vale had to say...
Perrie threw her hands in the air, while Maisie kept tapping at her ear. Maybe she knew something Perrie didn’t? When she turned to Nev, he shook his head no.
But they were glued to the ground with really no other choice except to hear what Vale wanted to say. Perrie folded her arms. “If you let Maisie and Nev speak, then I’ll listen.”
Vale bit the edge of his lip. “Only Maisie for now. Neven will continue to interrupt.”
“Fine, but after, you will release him,” Perrie demanded, though her heart still thundered. She was sure he wasn’t worried since she couldn’t even move her useless legs.
Vale snapped his fingers, releasing Maisie, her breathing making the lightest of sounds.
Maisie’s eye stayed open wide as she spoke, “Perrie, I have a theory, but first you need to listen to him.”
A theory? Perrie shot her cousin a surprised look before turning to Vale. “Go ahead.”
He continued to chew on the side of his lip for a moment, and he looked more human than the demon he was.
“As I was trying to explain to you earlier, Perrie, I am not August. He does not exist and never has. I am Vale.”
Perrie could feel her anger rising, her hands shaking as she narrowed her eyes.
He hurried on, “But I am not that Vale.”
What? Perrie took a deep swallow, her tongue thick in her mouth. He had to be lying. But she would play along until he unrooted her from the ground, then she would make a move. “I—I don’t understand.”
He blinked at her several times like he didn’t understand why she couldn’t grasp the concept. “You had your emotions disassembled, but your heart still beat in your chest. My father completely shut my heart off, causing me to no longer be myself. I was like the Bride, Snow White, Frankenstein’s Monster.” He paused, his lips set in a thin line. “Except I was more vicious with my emotions completely shut off. I couldn’t escape my prison the way you did”—he pressed a hand to his heart—“and I was locked inside this body.”
“I knew it! You have an alter too!” Maisie shouted.
Maisie’s voice drew her attention away from Vale. “You believe this shit?” Perrie asked. “Vale may not have had many emotions, but he sure as hell could pretend to have some when he was August.”
She lifted a shoulder and shrugged, apologetic. “I believe him. What would be the point of him saying all this when he could just as easily take you away again?”
“I don’t know! What was the point of him acting like August, if he could easily have just thrown me into one of those displays like you were in? And by the way, you didn’t think August was a demon either.” Perrie glared.
Maisie ran her palms against one another. “That’s true, but Vale also wanted to unleash havoc on the world at a rapid pace once we were out. What would be the point of him slowing down now, only to pretend he’s good?”
“Let’s say this Vale is actually the real Vale,” Perrie started, “what makes you think he’s a ‘good guy?’”
Maisie wiggled her finger side to side. “This Vale...” Her words faltered mid-sentence as she looked at Vale, who watched them with wide eyes. “Why doesn’t your alter have a different name? This is getting confusing even for me, since you’re both named Vale.”
He cocked his head, his arms folded in front of him. “Because my father continued to call me Vale.”
“Okay, well we will refer to him as Bad Vale from now on.” Maisie slid her gaze suspiciously to Vale once again. “And what do you mean me, if you’re not him?”
He exhaled slowly and said, “You may sit here and call these sides of yourselves whatever you want, but they are still you, only a darker version of you. A deadlier individual.”
“Why do we have memories from the displays, then?” Maisie asked.
“I was going to get to that. The images of Snow White having her eye ripped out by the dwarves was all a game to ‘Bad Vale’ to toy with you.” He brought his fingers up to quote.
“Did you just air quote?” Perrie asked, taken aback by the movement.
His hands gripped the sides of his head. Perrie’s chest tightened, her body still. In a moment, she knew he was going to laugh, then say how this was all just a game of him toying with them. After that, he would continue to play with her arm sockets, demanding his precious Bride be returned to him.
But then Vale released his hold on his head.
“I remember all of Bad Vale’s memories as if they are my own, including the human things from when he pretended to be August, and they are my images now. I know all Vale has done.” He stopped and stared her in the eye, and something like sorrow flickered in his gaze. “I know all August has done.”
Perrie pinched the inside of her wrist to keep from looking down. She didn’t know which parts he was thinking about. She’d tried not to think about Vale and the Bride’s relationship. Besides them both being sadistic, there was something between them that was pure. She hated it. Hated that they could’ve been so happy together after what they were doing. If he was thinking about her and August in that tower, then he knew Perrie at her most vulnerable. And she hated that too. Instead of anger stirring, her cheeks heated with embarrassment and she couldn’t stop herself from looking down. But if what he said was true ... then he was a prisoner, just as they were.
It took a moment, but Perrie gathered her courage and lifted her chin high to face Vale. She still saw the sadness he held for her in his eyes, and she didn’t want it.
He snapped his fingers—her knees collapsed, and she fell to the grass. Perrie swallowed hard, past the lump in her throat, then rushed to Maisie.
“You really believe this bullshit?” Nev shouted after Vale released him.
“Yes,” Maisie said simply before Perrie could get a word out. Perrie thought about Vale’s words again. She needed to be sure, but something nudged her to agree with Maisie. And a part of her was irritated at herself for it.
“You would.” Nev glowered, pissed. Perrie completely understood why he would be.
“Then why did he free you?” Maisie asked. “And why is nothing happening now?”
Vale observed them, but didn’t make a deceitful move. He only stood there, quietly, patiently.
“Damn it, Mais.” Nev’s nostrils flared. “You’ve been right a lot so far, but so help me if you’re wrong about this and something happens to either one of you, I’m going to find your ghost and shake you.”
A wide grin spread across her face. “I’m not wrong.”
Nev palmed his face.
As for Perrie, her emotions were being pulled in every direction imaginable. She studied Vale, his face the exact replica of August’s, and she wished it were different. But it was never August’s face to begin with—it was Vale’s.
Perrie thought about something he’d voiced earlier, and she took a few hesitant steps in his direction. “What’s this about your father? Even back with Fannie, you mentioned him several times.”
Vale clasped his hands together, then rested them right below his bottom lip. “My father is the one who concocted this plan to begin with, and Bad Vale was the one who grew the seed into this nightmare. I think Red has a hidden agenda with him, but I am not sure what it is.”
“Where’s your father now?” she asked.
“He cannot come here—he is down in the Underworld, ruling it.”
Maisie slipped up right behind her, craning her neck over Perrie’s shoulder. “Like a king? So, that makes you a prince?” Is she fucking serious?
Nev rolled his eyes, and Perrie didn’t think he would ever stop. He then said, “Next, you’re going to ask if we should bow down to him, and I really don’t think you need to be bowing down to evil.”
Maisie stepped around Nev until she stood right in front of Vale and poked the demon in the arm. “He’s not evil, but he’s still a prince.”
“It is not quite like that.” Vale’s brows drew together, seeming confused.
This whole conversation has gotten too strange and too damn odd. I mean, people are dead here. There were creatures from the displays and souls turned immortal out in the world killing people.
“What about serious matters here?” Perrie focused on Vale. “What are we going to do about what’s happening? What are you going to do about it?”
He rubbed at his chin and held her gaze for a long moment before he finally nodded. “Follow me.”
