Page 357 of Once Upon a Fable

My teeth clacked together, biting my tongue. Blood filled my mouth as pain bloomed along my cheekbones. I scratched at his wrists, digging my nails deep. “You have it all wrong.”

“I don’t think I do.”

“I’m not running from him.”

“Try again.” His hands slipped from my cheeks and clamped around my temples, crushing my skull. “Go on, hurry up. My patience is almost gone.”

Tears oozed from my eyes as I continued to fight. Fight against an unmovable wall with no heart. “You’re hurting me.”

“I’ll do a lot worse if you keep lying to me.”

“I’m not lying!” I kicked at his legs. “Let me go!”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know!” Fear once again crashed through me. Where was he? Was he okay?

God, Kas! Where are you?

“Convenient.” He crushed my head harder, a vise ready to crack me in two. “One last chance.”

“Stop it!”

“Tell me what I want to know!”

“Stop hurting me, and I’ll—”

“I’ve had enough.” His fingers feathered out over my head, delivering pinpricks of agony as he pressed harder, building pressure and shoving me into blinding pain. “I’ll find him myself.”

“Please—!”

Jareth—if it even was Jareth—suddenly disappeared.

A blur barrelled into him, his hands ripped from my head, his fingers taking strands of hair with him as he was snatched away and yanked into the dark.

CHAPTER TWO

––––––––

I’D MOTHERFUCKING KILL HIM.

Whoever the fuck he was, he was dead.

I let loose.

All the anger inside me.

All the worry.

The heartache.

The pain, the shame, the abuse—it all mushroom clouded inside. Black and riddled with rot. Twisted and disfigured, an entity I could no longer control.

It ballooned and smothered everything.

It overtook my soul, turning me empty and free.

Free.