“It is alright, Scarlett, but you need to calm down and breathe.”
Breathe. I took as even breaths as I could while I was still crying and a little dazed. They’d opened up the light scar that I was told I got from a bike riding accident when I was three. The scar wasn’t from an accident.
Fiona hugged me awkwardly as Shaun kept hold of the arm that wasn’t bleeding. But he didn’t have to; I couldn’t move anyway. I saw Noah over Fiona’s shoulder, watching me with such pain and sadness in his eyes that it made me cry harder.
How could you?
Bethan brought forwards a large, deep bowl made from bamboo. Donald poured my blood into it, and I watched threads of blood sink into the water. My eyes flicked back to Noah. He was still watching me, still looked in pain.
Imagine how I feel then.
“We will become one. We will share her light,” Donald said, prompting the rest to switch their chant.
Noah’s mouth moved in time with the words, but it didn’t look like he was making a sound, but that could have just been wishful thinking.
Taking the bowl from Bethan, Fiona held it to her lips and took a sip. I wanted to throw up and felt very close to losing the little amount I ate at dinner. They were all going to drink my blood. Noah. I looked to him but this time he didn’t meet my eye.
Noah
I UNLOCKED SCARLETT’S door, so grateful that I was allowed to see her again. I needed to see her, especially after today. Irrationally, I could still taste her blood on my tongue, long after I’d eaten and brushed my teeth.
Today would go down as the worst day of my life to date. When Donald cut her, I wanted to kill him. When she looked at me, tears streaming down her face, I wanted to kill myself. He’d hurt her and every instinct screamed at me to fight them all and take her away.
I had never felt an emotion as strong as I did then. Standing there and watching it was the hardest thing I had ever done.
The veil covering Eternal Light lifted as I sipped her blood. What we were doing was wrong. It was murder.
I loved Scarlett more than anything else in the world and I wouldn’t stand by and let anyone hurt her.
I had to make it right. Today was also a turning point for me. I realised that Scarlett came first. I was turning my back on Eternal Light. All I could see was waves of long ash hair and dark blue eyes.
She is the one, but she is the one for me.
She was sitting on the bed, staring out of the window and holding her bandaged arm. Her posture was tense and she tried to ignore whoever came in. I had a plate of dinner for her. Fiona wasn’t going to make her socialise after what’d happened but she let me be the one to give her the meal.
“Scarlett,” I whispered, closing the door behind me.
She stiffened and clenched her jaw.
“Please, I need to explain.”
I took a step closer and she snapped out of it, pushing herself to her knees on the bed and holding her hand up, warning me not to come closer. “Don’t,” she hissed. “There’s nothing you can say to make this okay. Just get the hell out, Noah. If that’s even your name.”
Ignoring her, I moved closer to the room. “That is my name. I didn’t lie about my feelings for you.”
“Well, thanks so much for that tiny piece of honesty,” she spat bitterly. “Now get out.”
Rubbing my hand over face, I blurted, “I love you.”
“You can stop lying now.”
“I didn’t lie about that either.”
“You murder everyone you love?”
“You have five days of ceremonies left.”
“Yeah, believe me, I’m counting, too.”
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. Her icy reception was no shock but it did hurt. “Look, there is nothing I can do until the morning of the sacrifice.” I paused, expecting her to say something. “It’s the only time you will be far enough away from everyone. You will be cleansed in the lake again and you’ll do it alone for thirty minutes.”
Hope widened her eyes and she stepped off the bed. “They think I’m actually going to stay there? I know I had to go in again but for that long? They’ll stay away for half an hour the day they try to kill me?”
“Yes. They will be there but back far enough that we’ll have a good head start. No one is permitted to be within fifty feet of you.” I winced as it all sounded so ridiculous now. “They don’t want your cleansing to be…contaminated.”
She raised her eyebrow.
“I know, Scarlett. I know…now.” I put her plate down on the table. “That,” I said, tipping my chin in the direction of her bandaged arm. “Was an eye opener for me. I felt sick seeing you hurt and all I wanted to do was leap in and stop it from happening. I can’t change what they just did to you and I will have to live with that for the rest of my life, but I can help you now. The final ceremony, I’ll be the other side of the lake, hiding. When I say, you run to me and we’ll be gone.”