Fate’s Surrender
Eternal Sorrows, Book 3
Sarra Cannon
Copyright © 2021 by Sarra Cannon
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover Art by Ravven.
Created with Vellum
To My Hearties Community
Thank you for supporting me through the NaNoWriMo Diaries in 2020. This book was not an easy one to write, but your continued support meant the world to me.
And to those of you still dreaming of finishing that first book.
I believe in you. It’s your turn.
Part One
The Stone
One
Parrish
Parrish Sorrows dreaded the darkness.
Her stomach knotted at the first hint of sunset. A conditioned response.
A reaction to weeks of hearing rotters out on the streets at night, searching for someone to eat.
Tonight, though, hidden away in a neighborhood near the hospital, it was completely quiet.
Almost peaceful, if such a thing still existed.
The streets were dark, but the moon was full, illuminating the rows of houses in this part of the suburbs. Each one of these homes had been someone’s dream at one point. They had worked hard to decorate it and make it their own. They had made friends here and had children and created memories that they’d printed out and framed on the walls.
Now, everything was dark and still, and despite how much she hated the sounds of rotters, the silence was unsettling. Had all the rotters for miles around been in that hospital yesterday?
How many had they killed in order to survive?
Parrish still hadn’t processed everything that happened at that hospital, but there was one thing she couldn’t get out of her head. It ran through her mind on a constant loop.
Zoe is still alive.
Could it be real?
Lily had said a lot of things when Parrish had confronted her yesterday. She’d told them some elaborate story about an ancient evil necromancer many called The Dark One who’d tried to rule their original home world. About how the five of them—The Guardians—had somehow managed to trap the Dark One here in this foreign world, sealing away all magic forever.
Or what they’d hoped would be forever.
And yet, somehow, she’d managed to awaken her powers.
Lily hadn’t told her exactly how that one had happened, but Parrish was pretty sure she’d pieced that part of the story together herself.
They’d all been dreaming of Tobias for months. He’d been the one sent here from their home world to bring the fatalis stone to them. To check on them and make sure the Dark One was still imprisoned.
Parrish knew somewhere deep down that Tobias had come here to this world many times. More than any of them remembered. And each time, the world had been peaceful. The seal held.
Until now.
This time, when he’d come through, Lily had slipped through with him, and everything had changed.
Without his training and their memories, they were lost. They needed to get to this island they’d all been dreaming of, and their full memories and powers would be returned to them.
Except there were two things standing in their way.
First, they hadn’t actually found the fifth.
Parrish had seen him in her dreams, though. He’d been there on the island with them. Not Lily.
And wherever he was, he was likely alone and searching for them, too.
Parrish wasn’t sure whether the magic of the island would work without the fifth or not. She had a feeling they all needed to be together, but how were they going to find him? He could be anywhere in the world.
Second, Parrish couldn’t get her sister out of her mind.
It had broken her heart to lose contact with Zoe, and even though everyone had told her to forget her sister and to let go, there had always been a part of Parrish that wanted to believe Zoe was still alive. That still felt connected to her in some way.
Lily’s words had given her hope, but she’d also said the Dark One knew where to find Zoe.
Had she been telling the truth? Or was this just another one of her elaborate lies? The next part of whatever trap she and the Dark One had set for them?
Parrish shook her head and held back tears. She hadn’t wanted to be right about her, but Lily had been lying to them this whole time. She’d been playing them, and for what? To draw them into a trap? To kill them all?
How many times had the rotters they’d faced been because of her?
And why hadn’t she just slit their throats in the middle of the night, instead? Why make them face all of those zombies?
Parrish still didn’t have the answer to those questions, but she felt the loss of Lily’s friendship more deeply than she thought she would.
They’d trusted her. Brought her into the group like she was family, and she’d betrayed them every step of the way.
Parrish ran her thumb across the smooth surface of the dark purple stone Lily had given her before the giant rotter had hauled her away.
What was the importance of this stone? Why give it to her if she was working with the Dark One?
And why did Parrish feel like she’d held it in her hand dozens of times before this?
She stepped away from the front window and paced the floor of the living room. These questions were driving her insane, looping in her mind nonstop ever since the rest of their crew had gone to sleep.
There was no way Parrish was sleeping tonight.
Instead, she’d taken first watch in the small house where they’d decided to wait things out until morning.
Whoever had lived in this house had completely emptied this front room of furniture and replaced it with a bunch of sleeping bags. From the looks of it, at least ten people had bunked out here.
Where they were now, Parrish could only guess.
For all she knew,
