A warm light hemmed me in. Like a moth to a flame, I glided into the room. A blanket of security fell over my body as my eyes took in the two-tier library above a tidy den.

I was awe-struck. The only thing that had gotten me through the past couple of years was avid reading at public libraries. Books were my safe haven. I could grow attached to a character and never have to worry.

"Please close the door behind you," a voice softly said. My eyes landed on a beautiful woman with fair skin and red hair that fell over her small face in loose ringlets. She sat on a large armchair in the middle of the room, surrounded by shelves upon shelves of antique books.

I pushed the door shut, and then waited.

"Come," she said, motioning to the empty armchair beside hers. "Sit. I believe we need to speak?"

Quietly, I made my way towards her. Her eyes never left mine, and it was then that I realized her green orbs were glowing too. It was hauntingly beautiful. Once I sat against the firm chair, she smiled.

"Would you like something to drink?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Are you Faeva?"

"I am not," she answered with a kind smile. "My name is Evaline."

"Oh," I unrumpled the letter in my hands. She watched as I smoothed it out. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"I do."

Wasn't I still supposed to talk to Faeva?

"Here, but this letter says..." I started. But before I could continue she raised a hand, silencing me.

"I already know," she reminded. "And I will tell you everything you need to know. But first," a lanky man dressed like a waiter promptly walked into the room with a tray in his hand, "please, have something. You have been through quite an ordeal. You need to sustain your body, it's the only one you've got."

The last thing I needed was something to eat. But I didn't want to risk being impolite. If she had the answers I wanted, then I needed her on my side. I only hoped the tray had some coffee. I was always a coffee-addict, though even just one sip of it would be enough to keep me going.

The man held the large tray out, within arm's length. My eyes skimmed over the variety of offerings, until they landed on a small porcelain cup filled with steaming liquid.

Bingo.

I carefully lifted the cup by its handle. He waited a moment before moving to serve Faeva. She shook her head, sending him away.

"Do you know who wrote the letter?"

"All in good time," she said. "Drink."

Her voice held the type of power you couldn't ignore. Begrudgingly, I brought the cup to my lip and let the coffee into my mouth. Its aroma hit my nose before it fell onto my taste buds, engulfing me in its bittersweet embrace. It quenched a thirst I didn't know I was craving and fueled my body unlike any cup ever had before. It was like my energy skyrocketed from a sluggish one, to a spirited ten.

I stared at her in amazement. "Wow."

She looked amused. "How do you feel?"

"Better," I answered. There was no way that was just plain old coffee. "What was that?"

Her grin only grew wider. "Coffee...with a kick."

I wouldn't have cared if that was poison with a kick of coffee, it tasted incredible. I drank the rest of the warm goodness in quick gulps until the cup was completely empty. I tried to hide my disappointment, but Evaline caught it.

She laughed, a melody echoed through the room. "I would offer you more, but it's ill-advised. Too much of anything, albeit a good thing, is still a bad thing."

I nodded, sucking in my bottom lip.

"Now then," she clapped her hands together, "what would you like to eat? I realize it's quite early but I also happen to know you haven't eaten since yesterday. We have a wonderful chef. What do you like? Italian? Chinese?" she gave me a knowing look before she said, "Perhaps, Mediterranean? Dari makes the most scrumptious falafel wraps."

While falafels were one of my favorites foods, I turned her down politely. "No, thank you. I don't have much of an appetite. I would appreciate some answers."

"All in good time," she repeated, her tone domineering. "Sit, pick."

"Really, I'm fine."

"Pick."

I shot up from my seat. "No."

"No?"

"No! No, thank you. And no, I'm not waiting! I don't know if you expect me to be fascinated by all this, but I really don't care. I'm not here for your hospitality. My husband died yesterday, minutes after our vows! The only reason I am here is because a monster saved my life and gave me a letter that said Faeva could shed some light in this absurd situation that has become my life!"

I nearly laughed at how ridiculous my words sounded aloud. Evaline said nothing, so I continued.

"I don't care to live any longer than I have to. The letter gave me a reason to keep going. But if this is nothing more than a joke, please have some mercy and let me go!"

Evaline's eyes turned cold. She stood up, her body towering over mine. "This is hardly a joke."

"Then explain," I demanded, matching her gaze. I might've been surprised by the idea of magic being real, but I wasn't afraid. It's difficult to fear anything when you've got nothing to lose. "Please."

"We must wait for Faeva."

"Fine. Where is she?"

"She's tending to business," a woman's voice radiated from the corridor that the waiter had walked into. The voice was deeper than Evaline's, with an almost menacing undertone. "But she'll join us soon enough."

"How much longer do I have to wait?"

"Impatient, are we?" A silver-blonde with a bob cut suddenly emerged from the shadows. She wore a black leather bodysuit and combat boots. Her attire made her look badass, at least compared to Evaline's demure look and her long velvety gown.

"No worries! I can keep you entertained, Alora," she continued. "Let's play twenty-one questions! But how about I answer things about you, and you stay silent? Okay? You're twenty-four. Libra. You like autumn. You're a dog person. You like maroon, hate pink. Um, you like comedies but you hate chick-flicks. You had a very good childhood. Got everything you asked for, and some more. Loving family, kind friends, good grades, the whole shebang. Everything was great, wasn't it? Until that car accident, was it what, seven years ago?"

The awful memory that I'd suppressed over the years flashed through my mind, and I froze. "How do you know about that?"

"It wasn't your fault of course," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "You weren't even driving, so how could it have been?"

The knowing gleam in her blue eyes blindsided me. The cup I'd been holding slipped out of my hand, shattering into tiny pieces. Each following breath grew shallow, rapid, as anxiety creeped up on me. There was no way she could've known that. I hadn't told anyone. Not the police, not my parents, not even Dean.

"H-how?"

"I know everything," she answered with a taunting smile. "Like how your parents died just two years later. You were on the call with them when it happened, weren't you? Wasn't it weird, how they crashed the same way as you did. The car skid, like it would on black ice, only it was a clear summer day."

Freak accident, I adamantly thought. Everyone said it was a freak accident. Freak accidents happened.

"What did those morons call it? Freak accident, right?" she ridiculed. "Oh! And let's not forget about sweet Tara Matthews. Your confidant, the one you cried to every night after your parents died. How did she die again? Ah, yes! She drowned! What an unfortunate event. A competitive swimmer...drowning in a pool, just about six months after your parents too. You must've been so... broken."

"Shut up!" The words came out of my mouth in a hiss.

"Oh, but I'm only getting started."

She smirked, and my hands tightened into unforgiving fists.

"Shall we move onto the next tragic event? Buddy! What a fitting name for the golden lab. Tara got him for you, didn't she? Three months, or was it four... before she died? Wanna know why she called him Buddy? She got tired of your whining. He was her replacement...so she could breathe...live her own life for a change. So much for her plans. But who cares, 'cause this time you had a dog to fall back on! Sweet little thing was loyal to the bone, wasn't he?"

"Davina," Evaline warned.

Davina only chuckled. It was like she was in her own sadistic little world. "To the bone, get it?"

My stomach churned with revulsion. "You're laughing at his death?"

"No, you moron!" she snapped back through her snickers. "I'm laughing at your stupidity."

"Davina!" Evaline's voice rose an octave. "That's enough."

"On the contrary," Davina answered, her gaze unwavering. "She wants answers. This backstory is hardly unnecessary information. And she wanted answers, didn't she?"

"Answers to unanswered questions," Evaline countered. Not only did she sound displeased, she looked the part too. "She already knows this. So enough."

"Does she though?" Davina asked, walking towards us. She stopped by Evaline's side and folded her arms over her chest. Her glowing eyes pierced into mine, reflecting nothing more than cynicism. "Do you really know? Because it seems like you know nothing."

"Of course I know! I lived through it!" I said, finally recovering my voice. This woman was getting on my last nerve. "I don't need a summary on my life."

"Oh, but I think you do. You see, Buddy was mauled by an animal!" She shook her head in disbelief. "By a wolf! In broad daylight...in the suburbs. What are the chance, amirite?"

I glowered. Of course it didn't make sense. Nobody, not even the police officer who found Buddy could grasp the situation. I knew what she was getting at. It was another freak accident. But I already knew that. "What's your point?"

"My point," she took a step in my direction, "you moron, is that had you actually used your brain and thought about the one thing they all had in common sooner, you could have prevented it. You could have saved Bradley Jones from being in the foster system. But no, you needed sympathy. And now the poor boy doesn't have parents because they offered to help you, and you selfishly accepted. You stole that family's life from them!

"And let's not forget about the Grayson couple. They'd been together for fifty-four years and now the old man's living out his last few years alone...all because you made Mrs. Grayson feel sorry for you. Did you know that? Of course not. You're so deep in self-pity. You don't even know how many people have died for you."

I tore my gaze away, my heart weighing heavy.

After dealing with the aftermath of all the deaths I knew about, I had gone crazy. I was lucky enough to have found refuge in a psychiatric facility. It was there that I'd made the connection. There, where I realized that anyone I opened my heart to ended up dead. I'd stayed there until I had some amount control back. And when I left that place, I'd made up my mind. I would never let anyone else into my life.

I'd dropped out of college, took online classes instead, and I never stayed in one place too long. I couldn't let anyone get close. I couldn't risk it. Loneliness was difficult, but it was a lot easier to deal with than grief. So I shut down entirely...until Dean squirmed his way into my life.

"Then again," she continued, "much good that did, right? Tell me again, how long did your cleanse last? Two years?"

I chewed the inside of my cheek, desperately trying to soothe myself.

You're strong. So breathe. You're powerful. So breathe. You control yourself. So breathe. The words I'd surrounded myself with during my time at the psych ward to keep my sanity circled my mind.

I would not break down in front of the crude woman. I fought against the tears but they were overpowering my will to stay strong. Before long, my vision began to blur.

"I guess friendships are easy to avoid, but who wants to stay celibate, right? You're no nun."

"Shut up," I croaked out. She had no idea how difficult those two years were. I had no one. No one to talk to, no one to confide to, no one to turn to. All I could do was live on, think about those I'd lost, and allow their memories to keep me company. Loneliness had become my only friend, my only constant. I wasn't living, I was barely surviving.

"Why?" she asked, her tone filled with spite. "Why'd you have to drag Dean into this? You know, I read about his future. It looked promising...and do you know why? Because it was the one in which he hadn't met you. He could have lived until he was eighty-three in this one. Not twenty-seven, but eighty-three! That's a long life, don't you think? And trust me, it would've been a good one too. With a family, a career, happiness. But no, you had to give in. Tell me, what was it about him that broke you? Because it wasn't the first time you were approached by a man."

"Davina!" Evaline bellowed in fury. It looked like Evaline tried to silence her by covering her mouth, but Davina shook her off with ease.

"No!" she retaliated, raising her hands above her head and stepping away from Evaline. She stood in front of me, our eyes leveled. "I need to understand why the hell we've agreed to endanger our lives to help the likes of her. C'mon Alora, tell me! What was it about Dean? His brain? Was it his British accent? I know you're a sucker for those. Or... was it his body?"

I held my breath. I could taste blood from all the chewing. Soon, Evaline and Davina had become nothing more than disfigured blobs. The tears were belligerent, each fighting to get through. And I didn't know how much longer I could control them, or myself. With every word about Dean, about his promising future..., a future without me, Davina was pushing me closer to the edge.

My nails dug deeper into my palms until I could feel its sting. I couldn't breathe and I knew my control would soon be slipping.

"Answer me! Was it just lust?" she spat. "Was the loneliness a little too overbearing to handle?"

"Stop," I said through gritted teeth. But it came out as nothing more than a meek whisper. Tears began flowing down my cheeks.

But she didn't stop. "Did you get a man killed because you couldn't keep your urges in check?!"

My body shook with unexplainable anger. "Shut. Up."

"Cry all you want but you know Dean died because you were selfish!" She glared at me for a moment, before a sinister smile grew at the corner of her lips. "Old habits die hard, don't they?"

The familiar gleam was back. It seared into my mind, pulling the memory from the pit in which I'd locked it. I knew exactly what she was insinuating, and it got even harder to keep myself from losing control.

"Don't...," I pleaded. The invisible clutches around my body were wearing thin.

"Your selfishness killed Dean."

It was then I realized that she was testing me, egging me on. I had to fight off the growing urge to hurt her, just as she was hurting me. But the harder I pushed, the quicker the urge pushed back.

Don't, I told myself. The word became a chant, forcing me to fight off my urges in the most civilized way possible-by not reacting.

Davina grinned mockingly. "Just as how it killed your sister."

And then I pounced on her.

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