Page 89 of Apathy
Why the fuck was nobody cleaning these shelves?
I could feel the tears gathering in my eyes, and as my vision blurred, I just hoped that there wasn’t anything else mixed with the dust. The last thing I wanted to have was some weird bacteria to start spreading through my system.
And that fucking angel was still staring at me, as if it was daring me to take a new step, to see what was inside the book.
So I did. I took a step back, fighting the foul taste in my mouth from all the dust I inhaled, and took a book from the shelf, turning its front side to me.Secrets of Winworthwas engraved into the leather cover, cracked and dusted, kissed by time. There was no author listed, just the title and the dark broken leather.
“What in the—”
I walked backward and sat down at one of the tables closer to the cupboard, right next to the high window casting the last rays of sun for the day. The golden lettering was beautiful, without a doubt, but as I touched the front side, a tremor ran through my body, coiling in my gut with fear.
I willed myself to open it up, and the smell of old, of forbidden, of secrets and stories I could never imagine, slammed into me as I placed my palm on the first page, gliding over the text written in cursive, right in the middle of the page.
Sanguinem Sacrificium
Sanctum Sacrificium
Vita Tua
Vita Meae
Tuo Amore
Sanguinem Meum
Did it really have to be Latin? Though I might not have been fluent in it, I did know whatSanguinemmeant.
Blood.
I pulled my phone out, just in case the need for a translator arose, but when I moved from that opening yellow page, I saw that the rest of the text was in English.
“The Beginning”, the chapter title read, and I looked down, going over the text.
“Winworth was founded by five, to represent the five sides of His Unholy Majesty.” My eyes almost popped out. “Five supremes, five to rule, and five to bring His rule to the new soil.”
Was this… Was this book saying what I thought it was saying?
“Forsaken by the Old Countries, they sought shelter in the New World, fleeing away from those that wished them harm. From those who couldn’t understand their mission.”
No, no, I would know. I would know if our ancestors came from something sinister.
“Five commanders and ten Red Maidens,” I read out loud. “They were brought here to strengthen the bonds and to unite the blood. Blackwood, St. Clare, Lacroix, Maddox and Crowell—”
Wait.
No, it couldn’t be. It couldn’t be what I was looking at.
Crowell. The fifth family. Crowell, just like Ash.
Asher Crowell.
Skylar
Four weeks later
It was funny how fast things could change.
Four weeks ago, I thought I’d finally found the one person that could understand me, that could maybe even help me overcome the demons I was battling on a daily basis, but it turned out that I truly didn’t know him at all.
