Xavier gave us both a conjuring ball made of fine crystal. We tore through the other wrappings, scattering them on the floor. I remember we were laughing. We’d never had presents or cake. Xavier gave us the cake as we opened Xaviero’s present. It was a very ornate dagger. The hilt was covered in jewels and the blade actually had three diamonds going down the center of it. I thought it was fake, just because it was so beautiful.
The tension in her was explosive. Zev tried to hold her to him, using steady calm in his eyes. This memory is from long ago, Branka. You were a child then. He cannot touch you now. I’m standing between you.
His voice would always steady her. And those eyes. She took a breath and let herself fall deeper into his eyes. She could be safe there.
Tatijana lifted the dagger from the wrapping. Xaviero told her to cut her palm and to let the blood drip over the wrapping and twine. I heard the laughter in his voice—that cruel laughter that I’ll never forget—and I knew something bad would happen. Tatijana refused. She tried to drop the weapon, but Xayvion was behind her and he forced her to carve an X into her palm. She still has the scar.
Zev didn’t glance over toward Tatijana as she assumed he would. He didn’t so much as blink. He kept his gaze squarely on hers, holding her to this time and place when she could so easily have slipped back.
Branislava swallowed. They made her drip her blood all over the wrapper. Xaviero took the knife and handed it to me. I didn’t want Xayvion to touch me, so I did it myself. I didn’t cut nearly as deep as Tatijana because I did it myself. I didn’t wait for them to tell me what to do. I just allowed my blood to mingle with Tatijana’s on the wrapping paper.
You both must have been so frightened.
We knew something horrible was going to happen. The birthday, presents and cake were long forgotten at that point. At first we stared at the wrapping paper, expecting something there, but then the twine began to absorb the blood and we knew it was alive. The three of them, Xavier, Xaviero and Xayvion, were so gleeful. They rubbed their hands together in anticipation. I remember thinking they did it exactly at the same moment and that their expressions were the same.
Zev sent her another wave of reassurance and she realized deep inside panic was beginning to set in. She didn’t want to remember what happened next. She took another calming breath and tried to distance herself.
Tatijana moved when she saw the body doubling in size and the thing swung its head toward her. We could see the teeth, serrated and sharp. Xavier hissed at her to be still or it would eat her alive, starting with her feet. We froze. So did Jules. For a few minutes everyone just sat there on the floor, afraid to breathe, with that horrible creature growing in size. It consumed the blood fast.
Zev frowned at her, but he didn’t move a muscle. Could the three mages talk without drawing its attention?
And move. Somehow it seemed the creature was a part of them and wouldn’t attack them. They each moved behind one of us. Xaviero chose me. I could feel him there and knew something terrible was about to happen. He whispered to me that we were playing a game, that games were always played at birthday parties. I couldn’t move or speak. The one who did lost the game and was eaten by the blood worm.
She knew what it cost Zev not to close his eyes or look away from her. He was a man who always protected those he loved. He’d lost two, one lay on the floor in front of him. Now, he couldn’t stop this memory from consuming her once again. But he stayed with her, lived it with her. That moment she felt pain slicing through her.
“Don’t you move, Tatijana. If you do, I’ll start jumping around. I mean it. Don’t you move.” I kept calling to her, over and over while they tortured us. All three of us. She knew I would, too. I tried to keep them from ever focusing on her. I didn’t think about trying to help Jules.
Branka. Zev’s voice held pure love. You were a child fighting to survive. Trying to keep your sister alive. You did nothing wrong and your friend Jules would have been the first to say so.
He screamed and the worm was on him, attaching itself to his leg and eating fast right through his flesh. It wrapped around his leg like a snake would, and each segment and strand seemed to have teeth, biting into him. His screams were horrible. Tatijana and I froze at first, watching as the thing ate him alive, just as they said it would. We couldn’t stand it. I grabbed the dagger and began stabbing it over and over. Tatijana hit it with the crystal ball, trying to smash it, but it wouldn’t stop and it wouldn’t die.
Did it turn on you?
It was so caught up in a feeding frenzy, it didn’t even look at us. I could hear the three brothers laughing as they watched us and watched poor Jules. He kicked and fought and nothing stopped that eating machine. Their laughter was maniacal, diabolical and so evil. She choked back a sob. Zev. She whispered his name, needing him.