Descendants Academy: Young Adult Urban Fantasy, Belle Malory [motivational novels for students .txt] 📗

“Well, how’s this for irony. I’m the sister Connor loves. You may think I’m undeserving, but I will always be the one he chose over you.”

God, I wanted to stab her all over again.

I hated that I wanted to do it, hated knowing that part of me still existed. But even now, I felt the rage building inside of me, centering in my chest. Those demons were still there.

So I screamed.

My chest propelled me forward, all of that energy lifting me from the floor. Upright, I faced Riley and screamed as loud as I could, directing all of that rage at her. The sound was high pitched, wild, and full of fury.

Riley smiled.

An empty, soulless smile.

I screamed louder, and she never even flinched.

The fire was depleting my energy, making me dizzy and burning me up. Then, there was nothing but darkness.

26

The sound of banging woke me. The Curse Breaker hissed, which meant it probably wasn’t another hallucination.

I slit my eyes open, noticing the strange metal device in his hands, made of two large prongs meant to pry—oh God—pry something from inside of me. Breaker was preparing for surgery.

Right then and there, I changed my mind. What the hell was I thinking? This wasn’t what I really wanted. This was just an act borne of desperation, and I didn’t want to do it anymore. I just wanted to get out of there, go back to my dorm room, and forget the whole thing ever happened.

But when I tried to move, I couldn’t. My arms and legs—they were bound with leather straps. I looked down, seeing I was tied to a gurney.

Not a small hiccup.

Not a small hiccup.

“No,” I moaned, my voice not fully working.

“Shh,” Breaker said, his scratchy voice impatient. “It will be over soon.”

That woman on the street was right. I was too weak to fight, too weak to talk or do anything. I had this feeling. I knew if he kept going, I would die here on this table.

Behind us, the banging became louder and more persistent. Fed up, Breaker disappeared into the other room. “Go away, ye hear!” he yelled to whoever was at the door.

A muffled voice yelled back. “Open up!”

As the two of them argued, I went in and out of consciousness until a splitting crash made me come to, and the door suddenly burst open.

“Where is she?—Sheridan!”

At the sound of Xander’s voice, I became more alert. Another hallucination or the real thing?

The curtain peeled back, and there he was, in a fit of rage, looking every bit the intimidating gladiator.

He’s real.

“We’re not done,” Breaker rushed to explain. “If she doesn’t complete the sacrifice, her curse will remain intact.”

“Get out of the way—before I move you myself.”

The leather straps quickly fell open and strong arms lifted me up. I still couldn’t believe Xander was here. I told him to mind his own business, and he came anyway. Thank God he didn’t listen.

Xander carried me out of that room, out of the apartment, then outside into the island’s subdued sun. Closing my eyes, I curled my head into his chest because even the faintest amount of light was enough to shake me to my core after being in that dark room for so long…after being with my demons for so long.

“Dammit, Sheridan.” His voice trembled. “What were you thinking?”

“I don’t know…” I hadn’t expected him to get this upset. I knew he would be mad that I’d disobeyed my grandfather, but I never thought he would be this worried.

I’ll admit, it wasn’t my best moment. But my worst one led me here. I didn’t want to become that person again. I didn’t want to destroy Riley. That had to count for something.

As Xander carried me, I heard the revelry of Folly Promenade and smelled the salty sea in the distance. I didn’t know where he was taking me, but I didn’t care. Even now, that beautiful magic of his was giving me peace. I nuzzled closer into him, letting it move through me, healing the parts that bled open during Breaker’s sorcery session. The guy may be infuriating, but Xander was always around when I needed him.

Even, I guess, to save me from myself.

Everything was fuzzy. I remembered asking Xander about Hazel and Jett, and he told me not to worry, that they were safely headed back to Arcadia. I remembered him setting me down on a moped. He was afraid I wouldn’t stay conscious, so he tied my body to his with rope. Good thing too, because I was out almost as soon as he started weaving through the streets, my cheek pressed flat against his back. I woke up again just as he was lifting me off.

“I can walk.” That was probably not true, but even half-conscious, I wanted to appear capable of handling myself.

All of that went right out the window the moment I took my first step, landed hard on my knees, and vomited into the sand.

To Xander’s credit, he didn’t say a word. He just handed me a towel he happened to have handy. I took it and wiped my mouth, feeling better now that whatever was in my stomach was out.

I looked up. We were at the beach. Waves roared in the distance, sizzling against the shore as seagulls soared overhead, cawing. At first, I thought we might be hitching a ride back to Spring Island, but we’d parked in front of a small white cottage, and there were no boats in sight.

“Where are we?” My voice was still hoarse from all the screaming I’d done.

“Lullabry Bungalow,” Xander said, helping me up. He drew my arm around his shoulders, leading me toward the cottage. With his foot, he pushed open the wooden gate. “It belongs to my family.”

“Wait, your family owns property on Twilight Island?” I raised a brow at him. “The same place you warned me was full of bad decisions waiting to happen?”

“How do you think I know that?” His voice was teasing. For