There was fire, and we burned.
Finn and me.
Sabine burned us to death,
For something
Something
Something.
Something that didn’t work,
And we’ve spent the rest of this time
Cycling through.
Over
And
Over.
“You killed my daughter,” Sabine says simply. “All of you.”
She touches my hand, her own like a claw, and the events the events the events of that night flood me.
It was dark.
It was so long ago.
Dare’s mom was taking us for a midnight swim. We were so small and she was crazy. Schizoaffective disorder and she hadn’t taken her medicine and no one knew. We were going to dance on the beach, she said. But the car rolled off the cliffs
And
We
Fell.
The water filled up the car, and the windows the windows held us in. And then suddenly, Olivia broke us free, and we drifted to the surface, but she didn’t because she drowned.
“My daughter drowned saving you,” Sabine says, and there’s something akin to hatred in her eyes.
“Dare is your grandson,” I say stiltedly. “Olivia was Richard’s wife. But Dare wasn’t Richard’s.”
I remember that. I remember hearing the whispers and not knowing what they meant. Olivia was unfaithful. Olivia was unfaithful. Dare had a lot in life and I didn’t know what it was. Dare can’t leave the grounds because he’s an embarrassment. Dare is a bastard. What’s a bastard, mom? Nothing you should worry about, my darling.
“Of course he wasn’t,” Sabine hisses. “Olivia was in love with Phillip, who was Salome’s. Olivia is Salome, Calla. And Dare is Salome. We’re all of her blood, and Phillip has always loved her, he was her brother, her twin. No one knows that of course. History has changed and says that he was her uncle. Either way, our bloodline is pure.
“It is pure so that we could offer a pure sacrifice, to end the cycle. It wasn’t supposed to be Olivia. It was supposed to be Finn. Olivia’s death was in vain, because she’s not from Cain and Abel, like Finn. But Olivia died saving you and Dare and Finn instead. Finn was supposed to die. The universe gives back what you put into it, girl.”
“Olivia had SAD,” I say slowly. Sabine’s smile is eerie, and it stretches from ear to ear.
“Yes, she did. And now you and Finn pass that very thing back and forth, after you killed her. Do you find that to be a coincidence?”
Her voice her voice her voice is knowing and I know she’s right. It’s not a coincidence.
“We didn’t kill her,” I say weakly. “Not on purpose.”