The End of Innocence: Book 3 of the Kinstone series

The sounds of a person crying ring in my ears. I feel my body lying on the cold ground instead of soft grass as something smolders and glows against my cheek.

My eyes slowly open, revealing that I wasn’t in the front yard of our house, but lying in a house nonetheless. It was dark; the rich smell of dirt and mildew fills my nose. Where are we?

I groggily and weakly rose from where I was, rolling onto my side, “Marron?”

The sobbing abruptly stops. “Aria…are you awake now?”

I roll onto my knees, “Yeah…I’m awake.”

I look up to see her huddling in a corner, tears streaming down her face, which reflects against the flickering light of whatever had shattered. I peer down to see a glowing crystal. Even in the fading light, I could make out metal detailing that appeared to wrap around it.

I turn back to her, “Why…why did you take me?”

My sister’s tears continue to flow down her face, “You should’ve been mine. From the very beginning, sweetie. I kept watch over you, helped you along those first few months. I still wished for that I hadn’t been ripped from you so soon. You could’ve gone to live with me.”

I shake my head, feeling extremely weak. “I know…and I wanted to the same.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me you felt the same as me? You were just as devastated as I was when I left. You hated the fact at how alone you felt. You hated how you had no one to turn to. You hated how you’re now mother decided to remain distant from you. You wanted to be mine, you craved it, desired it.”

My mind feels as though it was still trying to reorder itself from waking up from that dream. Memories clash and shatter, slowly my real ones take hold, but the false ones still remained.

“Who told you I felt that way?” finally feeling my mind settle back to what I think is normal.

A book skids across the earthen floor, “You did or…at least your words. When ‘she’ gave this to me, she told me that you should’ve been mine this entire time. She also said we were to be together forever.”

I lean over to see the outline of a brown leather-bound book lying in front of me. Even in the flickering glow of the crystal, I knew what it was. “That’s, my diary.”

A soft, pained smile rose on her lips, still clenching her hands, “Why didn’t you tell me you had such strong feelings about me?”

I feebly pick up the book, only for it to slip out of my hand, “I was so confused back then, Marron,” I reply weakly. “I didn’t know if what I was feeling was real or not. You were the only one I felt I could really turn to, but even then I kept my true feelings locked away. I kept my distance out of fear. Fear that if the truth of whom I was ever came out, you’d shun me. But when you left I had no one to go to and it hurt me terribly.”

I felt a crippling numbness wash over me. My body still refuses to respond fully to my mind. My fingers stroke the binding. I should’ve told her sooner. I should’ve been more open with her.

Marron starts to crawl over to me, but stops, fear grips her face. Her body trembled, fully realizing the sin she had committed, “My God…what have I done?”

I looked up, trying to move towards her, but again my body refused to move from where I was. She stares at me, eyes filled with horror, “She’ll never forgive me…not after this. No one will forgive me.”

I finally muster some meager measure of strength and roll forward, “Marron…please.”

She slowly stands up, “I…have to get out of here,” taking a step back.

I raise my hand, reaching out to her, “Please…don’t go,” feeling a lump growing in my throat, “please.”

She takes another step back, tears streaming down her face, “I’m sorry.”

I don’t want you to leave. Even after all of this, I don’t want you to go. My hand still lays outstretched to her, “Please…please don’t go,” pleading with her as tears stream down my cheeks, watching her teleport away.

I sit in shock, now alone in this seemingly abandoned house. My hand dropped to my side, still in confusion at what just happened and why.

I peer back down at my diary, wondering how this got out of my room. The only other person who knew I had this was Rachel. Even I had forgotten about it on occasion. So how did Marron get it?

I groan, still trying to move my body, but the numbness still persisted. Soon the sensation of a thousand needles pricking all over my body slowly begins to take hold.

My body, my entire body had been asleep. But what was that held me in that dream? Which I’ll admit, I really loved, despite being a lie. None of that matters right now. I have to find some way to contact Rachel or Fenris, someone.

“That pathetic little girl couldn’t stay long enough reap the reward which she was promised.” The voice booms throughout the room, but can’t get a bead on it. Someone else is here now.

The sound of shifting dirt and stones soon accompanies the voice. A figure soon emerges from behind me, “Even after all we gave her; the dairy, the protection charm, and she allowed her fear to take over. Just pathetic. But…she did manage to get you away from that woman you now call ‘mother’.”

I now recognize the voice, “Diana?”

The girl kneels in front of me, “The one and the same. It took a week to track the both of you down. And we were the ones who gave that little witch the ability to bring you here.”

I tilt my head at her. What was she doing here? I don’t even know where “here” is. I stare up into her differently colored eyes. Her face bore a smile, but I felt no kindness or gentleness from it, nothing but pure malice and hatred.

She leans in closer and cups my face. No…more like grabs it. Her fingers dig deeply into my skin, enough to hurt, but not enough to break the skin. Her smile thins into a snarling grimace

“You cannot begin to imagine how utterly disgusted I am with you.”

While in pain from her grip, I continued to stare into her eyes, now confused.

Her grip tightens, “Not only am I disgusted with you; I know for a fact that your father would be repulsed if he were to see you now.”

My father? Wait…how do you know about my dad?

“Not only of you becoming this…this girl, you decided to keep all of this a secret from your family. Were you ashamed of what we’d say if we learned the truth about you?”

She then snorts, “You are a pathetic, worthless child. Something I now wish never came into existence. If I knew that you were going to turn out to become…‘this’, I would’ve kept a tighter leash on you.”

She violently let go of my chin, “After all I sacrificed in order for you to thrive in this world, and you go and throw it all away. I have never felt more ashamed of you in my life.”

I stare up at her, “What are you talking about Diana?”

She sighed heavily, shaking her head, “I really hate having to be called that,” looking to me, “I was told you were smart, able to find the truth from the barest of details. Even I know that to be a fact. But I handed you so many clues, so many little hints to who I really am. But now I see that you becoming a girl dulled that ability.”

I look on in confusion. I could feel her boiling hatred as the overwhelming sense of familiarity returned.

“For instance,” she continues, “who could possibly know that a little boy wanted to return to his old school while being so oblivious to why had to leave it in the first place. I still remember receiving that letter from Lutheran, and how angry and offended I was by it. Then the year before, you were so enraged by how you had to leave, you destroyed your room. There is also how I described your ‘dinosaur’ tree. You really are a dense child. You know that?”

My eyes slowly widen. Slowly the pieces began to fall into place. The veiled malice, her knowledge of places and events, and the sheer contempt I’ve seen her give me. I stare into her eyes, now seeing a thin line going down the right side of her face. It must’ve been concealed by makeup. No…magic.

I now know who is kneeling in front of me. She was right, I had ignored most of the signs which should have clearly visible me from the start, the strange familiarity, the weird sense of connection to her.

I draw back a surprised and shocked breath, my heart thumps wildly in my chest. “Mom?”

She grins, “Took you long enough sweetie.”