Delude

I couldn’t deal with the house being in shambles right now. Cool breeze swept around us from the big hole in the center of the house that Noah had created when he abducted me. I wondered if my mom would notice.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Nixon.

He looked comfortable enough, sprawled out on the couch, remote in hand. He tilted his head and looked at me.

“Oh, just dandy. I have a splitting headache, I’m starving, and what the fuck happened to your house?”

“You don’t remember?” I said.

Nixon shrugged. “Not really.”

I glared at Noah before pulling him out into the kitchen, or what was left of it. I really someone was able to magically put it back together but I highly doubted it.

“What did you do?” I hissed.

Noah’s lips curved into a smirk and he touched my head. “Relax, darling. I just erased little pieces of his memory that weren’t important. He remembers everything but my, shall we say, breaking and entering?”

“Try blowing up and kidnapping,” I argued. I thought for a second before I asked my next question, unsure of the answer. “So, what happened to Abby and Jade?”

“I don’t know. I took you guys out of there before I found out.”

I frowned. “So, we’re not exactly safe? I mean, you threw Jade in the black hole and she came back. Abby could do the same thing, couldn’t she?”

For the first time since I had met him, Noah looked uncomfortable.

“You don’t want her to do that,” he said calmly. “She’s power hungry. She’ll destroy your world.”

“Not anymore,” called Nixon from the other room. “She’s dead.”

My eyes widened and I looked in the direction of the living room. Noah tugged my arm and we went back in. I stared at Nixon, a slow smile grazing his lips.

“What did you just say?” I demanded, pushing him upright and sitting beside him.

“Abby’s dead, Case.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “How?”

Nixon looked at me, his grey eyes cool. “You don’t care that she’s dead, do you? She tried to kill you and she hurt the people you love.” His eyes fell on Noah, a silent understanding passing between them. “She had too much power; the house caved in on her after we disappeared.”

“I’m glad she’s dead,” I said as I watched his eyes shift away from mine. I hadn’t missed the exchange. I closed my eyes, the name slipping from my lips in a frightened whisper. “Jade―”

“I’m sorry,” Nixon said. “She didn’t make it out in time.”

I stood up slowly and started to walk toward the door, or what was left of it. As I climbed over all of the debris that scattered across the broken porch, my foot caught on the wood and I fell, hard. I didn’t stop myself. I stayed there, sprawled awkwardly; my hands out in front of me.

Voices shouted behind me but I didn’t hear them. I didn’t hear anything but the sound of my own heart thundering against my chest and the heaving from the sobs that shook my body.