Lux by Courtney Cole Page A

bigger than us, more powerful than us. And sometimes, a sacrifice must be made for that.”
    “What do you mean?” I ask and I’m afraid, so so afraid, so afraid that I want to break free and run.
    “A sacrifice is something you give,” she looks at me, her dark eyes so cold and flat. “You give it willingly, to save something important.”
    “I know what a sacrifice is,” I tell her. “But what does that have to do with me?”
    “Everything, my girl. Everything.”
    I break free from her grasp and I run, and she doesn’t follow.

Chapter Twelve
    I summon all of my courage and I open the doors to Eleanor’s office.
    She sits at her desk, sharp and stern in her tightly buttoned sweater and she stares over her reading glasses at me as I approach.
    “Grandmother,” I say hesitantly, and she waits like a serpent on a rock.
    “Yes?” her eyebrow arches.
    “Will you tell me the story of our family?”
    She is silent as she puts her book down and stares at me, examining me.
    “You’ve been speaking to Sabine?”
    I nod. “Is she your sister?”
    Eleanor looks out the window and for a moment just a moment, I see the young girl in her face, the one that was in the locket. She looks softer for a second, then she hardens as she looks at me once more.
    “Yes.”
    “So we’re all related?”
    “All?” She raises her eyebrow again.
    “Me, Dare, Olivia, Finn….”
    There’s something in her eyes something something something, but then it’s gone and she shakes her head and she denies everything.
    “You’re still troubled, child. Olivia died when she was young. I don’t know who ‘Dare’ is.”
    “He’s her son,” I cry out, and my fingers shake. “I know him. I knew him. I was raised with him.”
    “You’re so troubled, girl,” Eleanor says, and her voice is softer now, softer.
    “How can we all be related?” I ask and I feel weak now, like my knees will collapse.
    She sighs and she breathes. “Because our bloodline is pure,” she says and I think briefly of the royal bloodlines of Egypt. They married amongst themselves to keep their bloodlines pure.
    “Like that,” she says and I don’t know if she read my mind, or if I said it out loud. I never know these days.
    “We’re from the oldest bloodline in the world,” she adds proudly. “We have powerful blood, Calla. Ancient blood. You have no idea.”
    “No, I don’t,” I agree. “Does my mother?”
    My grandmother seems amused. “Your mother has always known,” she tells me. “Since she was a child. She’s known her place, she knew her purpose. She was strong. Unlike you. Your mind is weak and we must handle you.”
    “Handle me?” my words are a whisper and she smiles again.
    “A sacrifice must be made,” Eleanor says bluntly. “And you must make it. We’ll shelter you and strengthen you until then, but when the time comes, you will be strong, girl.”
    It’s a directive, not a question.
    I will be strong.
    I’m not strong now as I fumble out the door and trip down the long halls to my bedroom. When I arrive, when I tumble through the door, Dare is sitting in my window seat and he’s pale and he’s troubled.
    “Something isn’t right,” he says, and his British accent is clipped. “Something is very wrong.”
    “I know,” I agree, and I collapse next to him and he rubs my back and we stare out the window together at the moors and the moors growl.
    “We’re all related,” I tell him, and he stares at me in surprise.
    “That’s not possible,” he replies, but I can hear the doubt in his words.
    I nod. “Eleanor just told me. Only she said that your mother died young and that you don’t exist.”
    “I’m as real as you are,” he says firmly, and his hand is on my back and he does feel real.
    “She says we’re like the Egyptian pharaohs,” I explain. “Our bloodline is pure.”
    “What does that mean?” Dare asks, and he’s dubious now.
    “I don’t know.”
    And I don’t.

Chapter Thirteen
    D ays