Page 84 of Kat Bethel

Was that how he hid from Abiel?

Because he was created from the worst part of me.

How did he find me so fast? Because he wasn’t just a shadow who’d latched onto me like Abiel.

Hewasmy shadow.

My eyes landed on the herb bed around the tree I’d noted from earlier. Overgrown lemon balm that hadn’t been harvested shined like a beacon.

This hat man was a piece of me, right?

Abiel would win the fight. But I wasn’t sure he could actually kill the hat man. There wasn’t a known way to kill a shadow. Would this thing I created haunt me for my entire life?

Why dandelions?

I never asked Abiel that question. Too distracted by his presence.

They weren’t special on a magical level. Not in regards to fighting monsters at least. So it wasn’t a magical property that made them effective.So why?

Why had the lemon balm released the malicious energy the first night I landed in Cornwall?

Abiel ripped another arm off, pouncing the hat man to the ground.

Maybe…

I grabbed a wad of lemon balm and lit it.

The sneer on the hat man’s face vanished, his attention snapping to me. “No!”

“Have you burned some lemon balm?”Willow asked when she called me. Because she knew there was only one way to settle me down when I got out of control.

Maybe Margaret’s coven sisters always told her to blow and make a wish, because they gave her a small piece of joy. Hope.

And I was Abiel’s Dandelion.

Tears filled my eyes as the comforting scent surrounded me. Memories of my cousins burning lemon balm candles in thedark of night and holding me when I cried for my mommy. The promise that we would never abandon each other. No matter how much it hurt.

The only thing that sustained me all these years.

That no matter how much I lashed out, they were always with me. Even when we were thousands of miles away from each other.

The hat man growled and lurched forward, but stumbled off his feet to his knees. He clawed and growled on the ground, until the tension eventually bled out of him, leaving nothing but silence behind.

Sometimes you couldn’t kill the monster.

Sometimes you brought it dandelions every day during the blooming season.

Chapter 32:

Abielturnedtome,stalking in a way that reminded me of a wolf. Every thundering step made me quiver. He towered over me like I was nothing more than an ant. He could finish me off with a swipe of one claw.

There was never one single moment where I ever stood a chance.

I was lucky he hadn’t outright killed me the moment he laid eyes on me. I hung my head, not meeting his gaze. I didn’t try to fight or run.

This was all in his deadly hands.

The growls vibrating around me didn’t suggest that anything was in my favor.