Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
I had no idea how Draco’s gift worked, and I didn’t really want to know. None of this felt sane or real. Not one single bit. And he wouldn’t even tell me why we had to go to St. Thomas.
I continued staring at Draco in the seat beside me. “Are you going to answer?” He didn’t look so good.
His jaw muscles flexed as he stared at the seatback ahead. “I didn’t think it would be so easy to kill King.”
I exhaled with a whoosh. “What exactly did you do to him?” Honestly, it still wasn’t clear. I’d made the choice to give Draco a chance, mostly because King believed that Draco was evil because King had led a life of abominations.
I couldn’t imagine a world where children had to answer for the sins of their parents. They weren’t vehicles for penance, just like they weren’t a path to redemption. You couldn’t be absolved of genocide because your children turned out to be super-duper nice people any more than your children could go to prison because you were a serial killer. Everyone made their own luck in life, no matter the circumstances of their birth.
So I’d taken out a kitchen knife and stabbed King between the shoulder blades. I’d never done anything like it—hurt a person with the intent to kill—and it had been the most difficult decision of my life.
The moment the blade went in, King sort of…flickered. There, not there. Then Draco raised his hand and plunged it into King’s chest. I watched in horror as King screamed and then faded to nothing. It felt like a bad dream.
“I do not know what happened,” Draco replied quietly. “It was as if…his heart melted into me.”
“Do you feel all right?” He’d said King was evil. Couldn’t be a good idea to get a dose of whatever was inside him.
“I feel the same, only stronger than before.”
Stronger in will and determination, or stronger with his ability to make others comply?
“Both.” He answered my thought. “I walked through the airport knowing I could make anyone there do or say anything I wanted. No resistance.”
I blinked, trying not to run off screaming. There were limits to how much a person’s reality could change in one day.
“But, Draco, you have to know that whatever this gift of yours is, it has the potential to be used in very bad ways.” Which was why I hoped he meant what he said about stopping Ten Club and the Seers, because power was a double-edged sword. It could wreck you and turn into your worst nightmare. Or it could give you purpose and be used for good.
Sadly, the former was the pattern when it came to history. I could name only a handful of leaders who gained power and truly used it in a selfless way. Power corrupted. But absolute power corrupted absolutely. Draco could not let that happen to him.
Everything I cared about was riding on him staying true to his word and stopping the end of everything. King believed Draco was spreading a mental plague, while Draco believed the cancer had started long ago with Ten Club and King. I wondered who was right.
Or maybe all that mattered was how to stop it.
“You understand my struggle, then,” he muttered, reading my mind.
I did. And I wanted to share a particular observation. “I’ve studied history since I was a teen. I just loved the stories—good versus evil, fate, failure, and triumph. Love and loss. It’s amazing to think that I’m here because the people who came before me made billions of choices: go to this village, marry that woman, take a lover, sail away to a foreign land. I am the output of history. We all are.
“But what amazes me most is that despite so much evil in the world—wars, genocide, revolutions, and slavery—good people haven’t gone away. We’re still here.” I turned to face him. “Think about it. Really think about how incredible that is. Why is anyone good still around when human beings have evolved from such a savage mess? And no one’s hands are clean. Every culture warred, killed, persecuted others, took lands, raped, pillaged, or asserted power for themselves. Yet despite the viciousness, I’m still here. And so are billions of other people. Good, decent, loving people.”
“What’s your point, Piper?”
“It’s proof that no matter what, the past doesn’t control us. It can influence our thinking. It can and should be used to teach us valuable lessons. It can expand our understanding of human nature. But ultimately, the past has no power over us. Because the past is just that. The past. And as much as your father liked to think he was all-knowing, the future isn’t written. It hasn’t happened yet. Therefore, logically, what we’re left with is this moment. And that opens up a world of possibility because every second is an opportunity to make a new choice.” I looked into his troubled eyes. “You have a choice, Draco. You will always have a choice, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”