The Psychic Legacy

Chapter 20: Alone

"When I realized what I had done," Lillian continued, her shoulders sagging under the weight of the guilt that I could feel twisting in my own stomach. "I was furious at myself"

Maybe it was my current tie to Lillian, or maybe it was my lingering attachment to Luc, but I felt her pain as if it had been me standing in her place. It was as if her memories bled into mine, twisting and melding together until they were one...

I saw it all.

Luc, his face soft with youth, his hair shorter than I had ever seen it, was sleeping softly in an unfamiliar bed. Colours shone out around him, glowing gently in the night, except for the barely detectable inky-red that lined the very inside. I heard Lillian's voice, murmuring to herself as she performed some kind of ritual... A ritual that involved a lock of his hair and a vial of her blood.

As she completed her incantation, a golden halo sprung up around him. The golden light then spread into the colours of his aura, swirling into writing, the same strange script that Luc used. It pushed forward like an invading force, lacing itself through everything. Soon enough it reached the bloody line and began to invade that too... Only it didn't seem to like that much.

The gold was strong though, stronger under Lillian's guidance. I felt her concentration as she willed the gold to win over the red. And for a moment it seemed like it would. The red stopped struggling and seemed to slip away...

Only it didn't disappear. It slipped out of Luc's aura and into the room, pooling on the floor like a puddle of blood. The puddle began to ripple, and something peeked up over the edge...

I felt Lillian's fear as it rose up on her.

The thing that now stood with them in the room was not the flaming Beast, or the other Malix with its many, many arms. It stood on two legs like a human but it was bloody red, like all its skin had been peeled off.

It turned to look at Lillian and I felt her heart stutter. The head of the thing—overlarge and strangely shaped—was covered in eyes. Eyes of every colour, every shape, every size. Its gaze lingered on her for a moment before it slid over to Luc, still sleeping soundly. A line split across its face, weaving between the many eyes, opening to reveal many rows of crooked teeth. It was smiling at him.

Lillian leapt to her feet like she thought it might attack. But it didn't—it turned its smiling face to Lillian and then stepped back into the shadows of the room and disappeared.

Lillian stood there, frozen with shock. And for the first time, I heard her thoughts.

What the fuck have I done?

"I had doomed him," Lillian said, still telling her story beyond this scene. "I had doomed the man I—" she cleared her throat—my throat—"Luc, I mean. I put him in danger. I didn't know why the curse was going to hurt him, or when it would strike, or how, I only knew that it would. After all, that's what curses do."

This strange young version of Luc sat up in bed. He rubbed his eyes groggily.

"Lilly? What are you doing?"

I felt Lillian's heart sink and—

The memory gave way and I was back in the den with Lillian and Polly. Lillian—still in my body—was looking up at me, a curious expression on her face.

"What's the matter with Rachel?" Polly asked, glancing between her and the empty space above them where I was floating. Her gaze went straight through me—she couldn't see me.

"She slipped into my memory," Lillian said, narrowing her blue eyes. "She's back now, though."

I narrowed my eyes back at her. It wasn't like I decided to do that...