Page 47 of Deck of Scarlets
She nodded once, the smile never faltering. “Yes, my child. Your path had been chosen before your birth. Regardless of how far you strayed, I ensured certain obstacles put you back.”
“I don’t understand. Am I dead?” If it were true, I wished Grams had greeted me at the pearly gates.
“Not dead, but reborn.” Her smile never faltered.
Looking around once more, I noticed a marble structure in the distance.
“Remi?”
“It’s just… I thought I would see my grams here.”
“I’m sorry, my child. She is not allowed to be here.”
A strange wave of emotion came over me, prickling my skin with tiny goosebumps. If Grams were exiled from whatever this place was, could it mean she ended up in… hell?
She touched my cheek, her palm feeling the finest silk as she looked into my eyes. “I’ve shown you the beginning.”
Her unexpected change in subject brought more questions than answers. “I’m sorry… I don’t understand.”
It was the first time since arriving at the beautifully carved bench that she truly looked at me, wearing the brightest smile. Lush green eyes swirled in the sunlight, her complexion flawless, like her presence. Freckles kissed her nose and cheeks. She was the epitome of holy, a rare purity that became somewhat blinding, but her hair, the color of fire, was familiar to me, yet I could not recall why.
“Let me show you,” she said.
“Wait—”
A bright light obscured my vision, and I felt like I was being pulled through a vortex, spinning uncontrollably until my mind suddenly became clear in a memory that wasn’t my own but one I’d had many times before.
Once again, a beautiful redheaded female approached the two-story building made of gray stone with wide wooden doors. Snow fell sporadically, coating the ground and dead trees. Her hand was about to reach the handle when that familiar voice called out to her.
“You made it.”
But I couldn’t see him; I was too busy staring at her. My breath hitched in my throat as she turned, her hair moving across her back, and the same lush green eyes pierced through me.
Realization hit as I returned to the beautiful meadow, her hand still pressed against my cheek. Her smile was warm like the sun, but her eyes seemed sad, as if she, too, were watching the same memory she showed me.
“It’s you,” I breathed.
Her hand finally left my face. “Yes, it’s me.”
I shook my head, disbelief coating my tongue. “This can’t be real. None of this can be real.” The woman I often saw when I dreamed sat mere inches from me on the bench, the essence of beauty.
“It is very real, Remi. It was real the first time you saw that Magidoz demon outside that night.”
An intense wave of shock rocked my body. The gruesome memory of the sludge-like beast in the alleyway, claws scraping against the brick walls, stalking in a stance that only made sense to a lion about to kill its prey. Her knowing something I never spoke of to anyone…
I inhaled a shaky breath, tears threatening to escape. “I don’t want this. Please. I can’t.” The floodgates opened wide as tears escaped my eyes, and my chest tightened with fear. I never told anyone about the creature, and her knowing what I saw made everything all too real.
“What we fear often makes us stronger,” she said softly.
I wiped my eyes aggressively, taking deep breaths to calm my emotions. “What I fear shouldn’t exist.”
“They exist because one could not simply let the world be.” She rose from the bench, extending a hand to me. “Come, we must go now.”
I hesitated, looking at her open hand. “What if I don’t want this anymore?”
She shocked me by lifting my chin, her bright green eyes fierce with emotion. “You have the strength of thousands of Scarlets within you. Harness their power and embrace yours.”
Wide-eyed and unsure, nonetheless, I clutched her hand as she led me further into the meadow. Cobblestone pathways jutted in different directions, but she kept us on the path in the middle, the forest thickening the further we explored. Light started to fade, the temperature decreased, and my arms were raised with goosebumps. Colors were less vibrant, fading into grays and blacks; even the sky’s blue lost its intensity, and an uneasy feeling formed in my gut.