Perilous Waters Read Free

lowered, overwhelmed by shame and embarrassment. Shame at her inability to escape her situation without resorting to dark magic, and embarrassment over what Ashleigh and the others had done to her. Why did they hate her so much? What had she done to make them act like this?
    Maybe it had been a test by the Fates. If so, she had failed miserably. She had only been a Daughter of Fate for three months and she was already employing dark magic… spells discovered by the Sorceress when she was still a priestess to the Fates. Spells the Sorceress had used, along with the Jewels of Time, to try and create a world of humans enslaved to the will of the priestesses.
    In the stillness of her bedroom, before she could turn the light on, her fingers began tapping against each other. Dark was better. She didn’t want to see herself in the mirror, covered in beer and filth. Her fingers tapped more quickly. She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to stay still. The evening’s events replayed in her mind at high speed, repeating and repeating until her mind was left in a tailspin. She stood for minutes in the darkness, not thinking and at the same time, thinking too much.
    She had no idea how long she remained that way before finally forcing her feet forward. It felt as though her senses had been set on extreme sensitivity and she couldn’t find a way to bring them back to normal. She felt every fiber in the carpet beneath her feet. She heard her breath like a jet intake and her heart like a freight train’s roar.
    Safe. She took another step forward, willing herself not to feel the threads of her ripped and ruined pajamas, or notice the throbbing muscles where ruthless hands had bruised her flesh. I’m safe now. But monsters, demons, David. No. David is safe. Everything is okay. Fresh tears sprung to her eyes as she longed for the warmth of his arms.
    It was soothing to have one normal person in her life. David had nothing to do with the magic. He loved her. He cared about her and she cared about him. She knew she could count on him no matter what, and being there when he needed her made her happy inside.
    All of these thoughts rolled through her like a warm, gentle tide, washing her clean of the harrowing events of the evening almost completely. The next time she saw David, she would hug him as tightly as her arms let her. She would caress his face and rest her cheek against his chest, just listening to the sound of his strong heart.
    Angie made her way to the bathroom, knowing the peace she felt was only an illusion. The fact that the Sorceress would use David to hurt her was a constant icy weight inside of her. She pressed her lips together and forced the thought from her mind.
    She pulled back the shower curtain, not bothering to turn on the light before twisting the handle to send hot water through the faucet. Moments later she stood in a spray of near-scalding water. She scrubbed herself clean of the beer that had been poured over her, foaming herself with vanilla scented body wash until her body stung where fingernails and sand had scraped her.
    Her skin was wrinkled and warm to the touch as she curled on her side beneath her blanket in a fresh set of pajamas, trying hard not to think about how it felt to be held down, to hear those awful things.
    She wanted to sleep and forget that this terrible night had ever happened, but counting to a hundred didn’t calm her. In the morning, would those drunken kids realize what they had done to her? Her eyes squeezed shut at the nauseous feeling that swooped through her. She would deny it. She would cast Disremember if any of them said anything about it. It would be too humiliating to face them with so much shame burning in her eyes.
    There wouldn’t be any sleep tonight. With another deep, shaky breath she pushed herself up on her elbow. The clock on her nightstand showed it was nearly three in the morning.
    She lifted her hand and used a trace of magic to brush aside the curtain of