She spun on her heel and began running toward home. Jordan suddenly appeared in front of her, just far enough away that she could stop before colliding into him.
“I’m sorry, Cassandra. You’re right.”
She momentarily forgot what he should be apologizing for, overcome with surprise. “How … ? How did you do that?”
His mouth turned up in a slight grin. “It’s one of those things I wanted to show you. But not now. You’re right. Let’s talk.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “About what?”
He shrugged. “About life. How has yours been? It’s been a long time since we last saw each other.”
She stared at him for a long moment, again in shock. Was he really asking about her? Did he really care? She knew she shouldn’t trust him, not after what he did to her last time, but unlike him, she couldn’t turn her back on family. She began again for home, but this time walking slowly, Jordan by her side. She told him all about her life and about Andronika, her chest filling with pride for her daughter.
“What about you?” she asked when she finally finished, but then she felt the need to clarify. She didn’t want to hear anything about demons. “I mean, do you have a wife? Any children?”
“I have a son, not too much older than your Andronika. He was born the day I last saw you, actually.” Jordan told her about his life, including the demons and the Ancients and despite herself, she couldn’t help but listen with curiosity. Interest in his life, though, not about them specifically and certainly not about joining them. But when he did start talking about them, she still couldn’t bring herself to stop him. Vampyres? Were-animals? Mages?
“I’ve been gaining some of their powers,” Jordan said, startling her once again.
“What do you mean?”
“Like what I did earlier, when I appeared in front of you. We call it flashing. Other things … magickal things.”
“Oh, Jordan, why are you doing this?” she demanded, grabbing his wrist. Ice-cold pain shot into her hand, forcing her to let go. “You’ll lose yourself to them. You’ll lose your soul!”
He shook his hand, as if her touch had hurt him, too. “My soul is already theirs. And I’m doing it because I believe in them. I believe in Our Lord. He is a better god than your God.”
Cassandra gasped. “You mean … Satan?”
“Yes. He would—”
“How can you even say that? What are you thinking, Jordan? You need to get out now. I can help—”
“I don’t want to get out. It’s where I belong. I’m leading them all now, all but the Ancients. And you can’t do anything. It’s too late. It was too late the day we were born. We are demons.”
Cassandra shook her head. “Even if you believe you have bad blood, you could choose, Jordan. You could choose to live the rest of your life righteously. God would still forgive you.”
Jordan laughed. “Why would I do that? Look at all that I can do!”
He flicked his hand and fire exploded out of it, hitting a nearby log. Then he lifted his finger and the log rose into the air. He made it spin and then sent it flying into a large rock, where it smashed into splinters. He flicked his other hand and doused the fire with a stream of water that flowed from his palm.
“And there’s more, so much more. And you can have all this power, too, little sister.”
Cassandra stared at him wide-eyed, her heart pounding. Evil waves pulsed off of Jordan’s body and when he turned toward her, his eyes were red instead of their normal blue. Her breath caught. She shook her head.
“No,” she whispered. “Never. You’ve gone too far, Jordan.”
She broke into a run. Jordan appeared in front of her. She darted to the right. There he was again. She switched to the left but she couldn’t get away from him. He just laughed, a maniacal sound she’d never heard from him before. A frightening sound she didn’t ever want to hear again.
“Just leave me alone,” she yelled.
“Come with me, little sister. Join us and live the life you’re supposed to.”
“You’re mad. You are evil, but not because of Father. Because of your own doing!”
He took a step toward her, his eyes filled with malice. Her heart hammered painfully against her ribs. She’d never felt so scared of him before. But this wasn’t her brother. Not the Jordan she grew up with.
She lifted a large stone over her head and threw it toward him, not to hurt him but to distract him. He stopped it in mid-air. Not waiting to see if he threw it back at her, she ran again.
The shelter by the cliff came into view and she realized she couldn’t bring Jordan to her daughter. He couldn’t know where they stayed. So she veered right, ran another two-hundred paces and then stopped dead in her tracks. Jordan appeared right in front of her. They stood in a stand-off, but he didn’t move to hurt her.
“Please, Jordan,” she begged. “Please just leave me alone. You’ve done this to yourself, but don’t do it to me. Please.”
“But why? I don’t understand you. Why wouldn’t you want all this?” He sounded genuinely perplexed, as if the idea of rejecting all he had was absurd. But Cassandra couldn’t fathom having those powers, using them to hurt other people … being evil. She had always embraced the goodness and she always would.
“I’ve told you. I like my life. This is what I want. Not that,” she said flipping her hands toward him.
“But I can give you everything! The world!”
Cassandra pressed the palms of her hands against her temples. She inhaled deeply and blew it out slowly. “I’ve told you, Jordan. I don’t want it. You have it. You do what you want with your life and I will pray for you. But please just leave me alone.”
“You really want to live like this?” Jordan asked, throwing his arm out in a sweeping motion, indicating life in the wilderness. “You really do?”
“Yes. This is my life and I want it. I have a daughter I love … and a husband … ”
Something flickered in Jordan’s eyes. “When was the last time you saw your husband?”
“He’s been at war.”
“And you’ve heard nothing?”
Cassandra shook her head, studying her brother, hearing something new in his voice. His eyes softened and his whole face seemed to sag with an inexplicable sadness. He averted his eyes and bowed his head. Cassandra’s heart stopped.
“What is it?” she whispered.
Jordan didn’t answer her, just stared at the ground.
“What?” she yelled. “What is it? What do you know?”
“Cassandra.” He stopped, as if unable to continue.
A lump bigger than an olive lodged in her throat. Tears sprang to her eyes.
“Tell me,” she shouted. “Tell me, Jordan! What do you know?”
“I’m sorry, little sister,” he whispered. “I saw him on the battlefield just the other day.”
Her heart jumped then began racing with panic. “Where? If I can get to him, I can save—”
Jordan shook his head. “I mean his body. I saw his body. They were burn—”
“No,” she yelled, throwing herself at him and pounding her fists against his chest. “You’re lying! You just want me to go with you.”
He grabbed her shoulders and held her back. “I wish I were. I saw him myself. Here.”
He dug in his pouch and handed her a small metal disc with a leather strap laced through a hole in it. She recognized it. She’d found the disc in the dirt their first day out on their own. The leather strap had come from her sandal at the time. She’d made this necklace. She’d given it to Niko.
She stared at the dirt-encrusted disc in her hand and shook her head. Jordan placed his hand on her shoulder, as if to console her. Like she believed he had any grief for her.
“Go away,” she said through clenched teeth. “Just leave me alone.”
“Cassandra—”
“I mean it, Jordan.” Her voice rose higher and louder. “Just leave me alone once and for all. GET OUT OF MY LIFE!”
Jordan watched her for another long moment and then disappeared. Finally alone, she gripped the necklace and held her fist against her chest as her heart shattered into a million pieces.
