Chapter 66
Chapter 66
After that, she would vow never to leave the glass dome mansion again. He would keep her caged, drag her down to the depths of despair, and then, on New Year’s Eve, he would kill her.
She loved Isaac, but she had no intention of living that way. The remaining six months were too precious. And some things were best done quickly.
“I miss Izzy,” she thought, despite everything. She had deliberately allowed Isaac to misunderstand, but contrary to his assumptions, she hadn’t grown tired of him. In fact, she often wondered at the source of the passion that still burned between them after all this time. People call this fate, she mused.
Her legs grew heavy, her throat raw. Her vision narrowed, as if she were wearing a blindfold. Still, she reached her old home. She stared at it, a sense of unreality washing over her.
“It’s still here…” she whispered. Perhaps it was to be expected in Downstream, a city resistant to change. Yet, the sight of her childhood home, unchanged after all these years—or rather, after more than a century, considering her own experiences—evoked a strange feeling.
“It’s been a long time,” she murmured, words meant for no one but herself. She gently pushed against the front door. It was locked. Someone was living there. Of course, a house this well-built wouldn’t remain empty. A dwelling with four walls and a roof was a rare commodity.
Arietta traced the perimeter wall, circling to the back. She knew the layout of this house intimately, having lived there for so long. Around the back, she found a smaller door. “Jackpot,” she breathed. A crude lock hung from the latch. She knew how to pick locks like these. Despite growing up like a hothouse flower under a witch’s care, she was still a Downstream baby. She knew all the tricks a Downstream girl needed to survive.
Click. The lock yielded. She tossed it into the dirt, its edges disappearing into the dark soil. She glanced at it briefly before stepping inside, her soiled shoes navigating the familiar terrain with practiced ease. She knew where the alarms were placed, and how to disable them. Moving with the grace of a cat on a steep roof, she deactivated the alarm system. The house was silent. The occupants must have been out.
Carefully, she opened the back door. A hollow laugh escaped her lips. “Ha…” The interior was unrecognizable. A new owner meant changes, of course. But the furniture, its arrangement, even the clothes hanging on the walls—everything was different, alien. She stepped inside without hesitation, leaving wet footprints on the floor. She wanted to see the doorframe where they marked her height every birthday. But a moment later, she realized the new owners had planed down the markings, erasing the traces of her past. She stood silently, running her hand over the smooth wood.
In the end, Seia had left her nothing. No body to mourn, no lock of hair to cherish, not even a tangible fragment of their shared moments. Arietta belonged mostly to Isaac now, but sometimes, she still thought of her mother. She had been loved. And Seia had harbored many secrets. Sometimes, Arietta felt Seia’s presence looming large between her and Isaac. It was unavoidable. If it hadn’t been for Seia, Isaac wouldn’t have escaped the laboratory where he’d gained his current form.
As that thought crossed her mind, her heart pounded, her head spun. Nausea welled up. Already? She had anticipated the rapid onset of the toxins, but it was happening even faster than she’d expected. She stumbled outside, opening the front door to the familiar sight of the alleyway. Her vision blurred.
This is it. I’m really going to die. She couldn’t tell if she felt relieved or if the unsolved mysteries of her life left her with a sense of unease. Slowly, she collapsed, aware of Isaac’s men watching her. If you take me back and save me, she thought, a silent promise to unseen ears, I will find a way to kill you all. And with that final, defiant thought, she closed her eyes.
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