RYLEE I could feel the protective magic that covered me was starting to lose its efficacy. I had to make a choice, if I decided to make it stronger, I would lose stamina due to continuous usage and who knew what else might be lurking in this forsaken forest. I decided that it would be safer at the moment to drop my protective magic and save my energy. The elder forest was indeed a formidable enemy, it was tougher to get through than I originally thought. I thought it would be very easy to get in, find Sarcana, and finish her off but instead, here I was standing all alone, lost. Olivia and Leo got separated from me earlier, whatever protective magic there was around them would have long disappeared since they were no longer with me. I didn't care much about Leo. He could take care of himself and if he couldn't then he was never fit to run in my inner circle anyway. My major concern was Olivia. That kid was useless without me around. I had to find her and make sure that she wa

OLIVIAThe fear that gripped me as I saw the sword plunging into my chest was more than words could describe, I was visibly paralyzed as the memory in the mist had seamlessly transformed from the point where I was stabbing Javier to the point where I was being stabbed three years ago.The worst part about it was that my fear was doubled, all the fear I felt then plus the fear I now felt combined to freeze me to the spot where I was standing and all I could do was scream as the memory kept repeating over and over again, there seemed to be no end to it.Each time I got stabbed, the Javier in the memory did not look shocked to see me bleeding to death, he did not look mortified to know that his best friend had just thrown away her life to ensure that he kept on living but instead, he had a sly look on his face.I could see the grin tugging at the ends of his lips as he regarded me like one would a comic relief, he looked pleased that I was finally dying and that hurt more than the sword

MIAI didn't know if my reflexes had improved or if it was just dumb luck that Ivan's claws missed me.I leaped back just in the nick of time as it was about to take out my right eye and fell flat on the ground and rolled.The rolling which was at that point a force of habit from fighting a few times in the past saved me from the second attack of his.I hurried to my feet as he leaped at me again, baring both claws and fangs and looking like something straight from a nightmare.There seemed to be no reasoning with him. He was not even giving me the chance to talk, to clear up whatever caused this misunderstanding, he just wanted to gorge out my eyes.The one upside to the whole thing seemed to be that he was not attacking or fighting like the Ivan I knew. Ivan was a skilled fighter and in a contest of pure skill, I knew I did not hold a candle to him."Ivan, stop this madness, it is me, Mia!" I screamed at him but it had no effect.He just charged at me, "Murderer!" he yelled as he ch

BASTIENSarcana, Leo, Javier, and I all left the penthouse after Ivan had been successfully awoken by Mia.It gave me great joy to see my son up and doing again, for a while I was beginning to fear that the worst might happen and that Ivan would die or be trapped for a long time and possibly forever. Now that was something I did not have to worry about.We all walked towards my car when Javier placed a hand on my shoulder and held me back a bit.I looked at Leo and Sarcana, “Go ahead, I’ll catch up.”Leo seemed to hesitate for a while but he then went with Sarcana to the car. I didn’t blame him, the man wanted to get a chance to speak on one with his son but Javier was giving him none of that.The general hate and apprehension towards him seemed to have died down but I knew deep down, that Javier still didn’t accept Leo and I knew that Leo knew this too.“What is it?” I asked Javier.“I just wanted to thank you personally for all that you have done, helping Mia, helping me when I was

OLIVIAWhen my eyes fluttered open this morning, I felt a wave of desperation wash over me in bed. I could hardly get up or sit up, I just lay awake staring at the ceiling.My mind was still in crisis mode, I still had nightmares from what happened to me during my stay in the elder forest.Vivid images of the mist encircling me and the voice of Javier taunting me and calling me a coward, I shuddered in bed just recalling that nightmare.I sat up and shuffled my feet into my flip-flops. The voice of Javier was not wrong at all, I was a huge coward no matter how hard I looked at it or tried to deny it. At first, I was not fully on board with this after Rylee revived me.I was just a spy sent to Javier and Ivan, I still had a chance to turn again Rylee then and there, tell them what she was planning, and maybe together, we would have been able to stop her but I didn’t. I was too much of a coward to do that.Instead, I spied for her and let my envy of Mia poison my heart and my mind, and