29. Evil Stepmother

She had a knife.
I was breathing hard, my heart a beating drum in my ears, sweat seeming to stream out from every pore in my skin, but the world seemed to narrow all the way to the knife in her hand. I was only vaguely aware of how cool the air was against my heated skin, or how each breath of that chill wind brought the smell of blood up my nostrils. There was the knife, and the knife only.
The knife my mom was holding.
She knew it was me despite the mask- she regarded me with wide almost accusing eyes, her frightened face still very pretty under the glow of the roof's lights.
I kept my eyes on the weapon, but when she didn't move- only stared at me like I'd just killed several hundred puppies- I allowed my attention to shift. She wore a long yellow dress, simple but alluring against her curves. Her dreadlocks cascaded freely over her shoulders, dark as the night around us. Dark as the atmosphere around us. But she appeared, thankfully, unharmed.
"What have you done, Ember?" She asked with dismay.
I didn't know how to answer that, but I forgot all about doing so when I heard a snarl. On the floor, a few paces from Mom sat Aster, rubbing at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were half closed, the lids a nasty purple. Her dress wasn't in the same elegant state it'd been this afternoon but there were no open wounds that I could see.
I felt all the fear I felt while running down the seemingly endless stretch of hallway- while taking the steps to the roof two at a time, when the tip of my left foot faltered, tripping me and resulting in the bruise on my lip- evaporate. I made it in time. I won the stupid game.
I don't think so, a part of me warned.
"I win," I said out loud, stubbornly.
"You did."
Alpha walked past me-his previous limp gone- and stopped between the three of us. His longish hair was standing up in places, his cheeks flushed and that nasty grin stretching his lips. So completely different from the boy I once knew.
"Where's Kane?" I asked.
Dead, because you didn't help him while you could.
"I'm afraid he's encountered some problems," Alpha replied, tapping his temple, "up here. He won't be joining us for a while."
There was another wave of relief- at least he was still alive. Now for getting the rest of us off this roof.
"I won," I said, planting my hands on my hips and trying not to convey the fear in my voice. "Let Aster go."
Alpha nodded. "I will, after the bonus round."
Knew it. The voice inside was smug, but terrified in its arrogance.
I clenched my fists to keep them from flying out and pummeling him, the last two times I got too close to him didn't end well. "I'm not playing a bonus round."
He chuckled. "You're not the one setting the rules, Emy."
"Stop calling me that," I gritted out.
He stepped to the side so I had an unobstructed view of Mom and Aster.
He swept a hand grandly in their direction. "Another game of life and death. Mother or beloved friend, whose life will you choose over the other?"
I thought I knew what hate was. Until now I was actually under the impression we were dear old friends, thought it was with me whenever I saw Helen and Kane together, thought I felt it clench around my entire being in a frigid hug when Kane told me I would never be good enough for him, thought I saw it grinning beyond the mirror whenever I was having a low day. But I was wrong. That was hate's nicer twin I'd been chumming with. I was finally getting acquainted with the real thing.
"Don't try attacking me again, we both know how that will turn out," Alpha said calmly. "Now go on, choose who lives and who doesn't."
"No."
"Choose."
"Go to hell."
"Fine, I'll help you make the choice," he said.
I started in alarm- imagining him turning around and cutting through one of them with that evil magic, could already see the blood splattering against the cement floor- but he wasn't there anymore.
Neither was Aster.
It was just my mom...who was sitting at her small desk- in her bedroom. We were at home somehow. Home, but not home either. Aside from obvious reasons, it didn't feel right. For one thing there was the sunlight that fell through her windows even though it had been nighttime only seconds ago. Then there was her bed, the sheets were not only different from the ones that had been on her bed this afternoon, they were her favorite blue frilly ones that we'd thrown out years ago. They'd been faded by then, but these were still bright and new.
I felt a chill snaking its way up my spine. Where was I?
* My love.*
I turned at the sound of my mom's voice, but she wasn't looking my way. Her head was bent over a sheet of white paper, her pen moving fluidly, leaving elegant ink in its wake.
*I know it goes without saying, but I miss you. As always, I hope you'll return home for good soon.*
She paused, brow narrowing, mouth twisting. She was completely unaware of me watching her. And I was hearing what she was writing, right in my head.
The pen started moving again, her expression changing into something I'd never seen on that usually drowsy disconnected face. A thunderous sort of anger.
*As for what you mentioned in your previous letter, the answer to that is no. It hurts me to say this but Ember does not want to speak to you. I've done my best to raise the child but she is sadly very unappreciative and bitter. She hates you and sometimes I think she hates me too, but I'll continue raising her with love instead of finding you because she is your child and I love you more than anything. Enough for the two of us, so you don't have to worry about her. All you need, all you'll ever need is me.*
The vision shattered with that last sentence and I was suddenly on my knees, my palms flat on the floor. Blinking, I looked up. Mom looked back, her mouth slack in shock, but there was no mistaking the guilt in those hazel eyes. The eyes that were nearly always foggy and unfocused, the ones I thought to be innocent this entire time. Aster had been right, she'd been purposefully punishing me. And now that I was faced with the truth, I could see everything she'd been doing all those years. Ignoring me since I was old enough to remember, offering snarky comments when she wasn't, barely providing us both with food or cloths until I started working and bought them with my own cash, no savings for college, no interest in almost anything I was doing.
She hated me.
My dear mother had been hate's greatest friend while I was hanging out with the phony.
Hands, pulling me to my feet and rubbing at my shoulders.
"People are a real disappointment, aren't they?" Alpha said, tilting my chin upwards so I could meet his gaze. "Getting rid of that disappointment isn't a crime. Go ahead, tell me to do it."
Maybe it was the shock of the revelation, the absurdity of the idea which my rational mind was still poking at with a stick. Maybe it was just me being pathetic, but I didn't- couldn't- hate her. I don't think I could love her either though, it was...empty. An empty feeling.
I swatted at Alpha's hand. "No."
He didn't look surprised by my decision. A little disappointed, but that emotion quickly flew off. He pointed at my mom, his blue eyes burning.
"You, Evil Stepmother. Choose. You can either kill the fae or dispose of the despicable daughter you've been putting up with-"
"I wasn't putting up with her!" Mom shrieked, the guilt gone and hurt swimming with with the tears in her eyes. Her famous poor-old-me line of defense. "I stayed in this wretched city for her, she should be grateful I didn't leave even though I wanted to so badly. She should be grateful."
"You didn't leave because Dad would've hated you if you did."
Her head snapped in my direction, mouth popping open again. "Don't you dare speak to me that way!"
"Yeah, yeah," Alpha waved a hand impatiently. "I just want to see a murder going on, ladies. Evil Stepmother, make your choice, annoying daughter or faerie? Stab whichever, I don't care."
She was going to choose me, I thought numbly. She was going to choose me and I wasn't going to be one bit surprised if she did.
She didn't though. "Of course I'm choosing the faerie- you think I'd suffer all those years for nothing?" She scoffed, wiping at the tears. "You'll leave us alone if I kill her?"
"Yes, Evil Stepmother," Alpha said solemnly.
Mom nodded. Then she turned to kill my friend.