O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;

It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mockThe meat it feeds on.

 Othello, by William Shakespeare

"I bet you they'll love seeing Maisie finally die." Joanne said, sitting on the floor and looking for me with her angry gaze. "And you will die this time, Maisie, because I will make sure of that!"

She came at me at full speed, but Izak took me by the arm and tossed me away from Joanne before she got close to me. Crawling on the floor, Jace crawled towards me and tried to get up and off the floor, as if determined to stand.

"This time I'm going to make it," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. "This time I will be a good older brother."

Repeating the words almost as if they were a mantra, Jace stepped between me, Joanne and Izak. My head throbbed and I had to blink hard to clear up my vision; when I did, I realized that Izak was looking at Jace with a mixture of pity and humor, as if he found all his effort rather funny.

Clearly trying to provoke us, Izak approached slowly with a grin on his lips, and when Jace tried to punch him in the face, he grabbed his hand hard and launched Jace away. I screamed, I think, trying to see my brother in the darkness - but nothing. It was as if he was swallowed up by it.

It seemed that even the candle flames were a little less bright.

"You know, with each passing day, I hear more and more whispers from my allies," Izak continued, as if throwing poor newly initiated souls and their brothers was something he did every day. He didn't even seem to notice the shocked expression that Joanne had on her face. "... about the soul that refuses to die. The soul that, despite the great pain it carries within itself, also carries a will to live, a thirst for life that is something unbeatable."

Something in Izak's voice made my eyes widen, and despite the pain in my arm and head, I took a deep breath and forced myself to pay attention to what was going on.

"It's funny you know, the mistakes we end up making in life," he said, a laugh that could be called 'charming' coming out of his lips.

I think, perhaps, that was the scariest thing about Izak. With slightly ruffled hair, jeans and a beautiful pair of all stars, he was a guy you expect to find starring in advertisements, soap operas or magazine covers.

No one would ever imagine that he would be able to play target shooting using my body as a dart.

"Maisie, ah Maisie..." He shook his head, laughing as if I had said something silly. "I know you're mad at me. You know, I don't even blame you... Besides our little misunderstanding, I'm sure that Malach and my dear Natalia over there did everything they could to destroy my image to you... But you know, deep down, all of this is your beloved sister's fault."

My eyes strayed from Izak just for a moment, for a second, to find that my sister was looking at us with a mixture of horror and anger on her face.

"When I met Joanne, I was sure that I had found my ideal partner." he said, waving for her to come closer. "Unfortunately, Joanne let me down."

Eyes widening, Joanne jumped back, away from Izak.

"B-but she should be dead!" She said, gesturing to me in despair. "I don't know what went wrong, I did everything you said and—"

"And are you suggesting that I was wrong?" Izak's eyes narrowed in a thin line. "No, Joanne. You were wrong. You told me that Maisie would not struggle to live. You told me that she only lived for books, that she had nothing in her life that really made her worthwhile. You said she was weak... Clearly, Maisie Pereira is not the weak sister in the family..."

Joanne started to take a few steps back, her eyes shining with tears... but when her eyes finally met mine, fear and sadness turned to hate again.

"Why? Why couldn't you, at least once in your life, do something for me Maisie?" Joanne shouted, and I had to look away. That whole scene hurt me a lot in my heart. "Why didn't you die and stay dead! But no, once again you had to steal the attention!"

I wanted to cry, but honestly, I couldn't. The spot where Joanne had stabbed me was hurting, my head was pounding and the wind was starting to pick up. Izak laughed.

"Oh, Joanne. So much hat ... you know, some people think that hate serves as motivation." Izak told me, in a tone of confidence that made me freeze. The last thing I wanted in life was to be friends with Izak. "But that's a big lie. Feelings only make you easier to manipulate, you know?"

Joanne seemed to foam with rage.

"Manipulate me?!" She shouted, and finally seemed to forget that I was there. "You made promises to me, Izak. You promised me power!"

"Ah, yes, I did promise, didn't I?" Izak laughed, shaking his head "Ah, but what can I say? I changed my mind."

The wind increased even more, and a dark light came out of the Mirror that rested in the distance.

As if it were an arrow, that black energy moved directly towards Joanne, the arrow transforming into a strange black mass that swallowed her whole, leaving nothing of my sister.

Nothing.

I shouted, trying to follow my sister into the darkness, hoping I could bring her back somehow - but Izak held me tightly by the arm, preventing me from moving.

Slowly the darkness dissipated, the wind stopped and the moon reappeared in the sky.

"Ah, hello Malach. Luciano. And my good old Geoffrey." Izak greeted and turned me around so I could see them. "Always good to see old friends."

"Izak," Malach's voice was a well of tranquility. "you are surrounded. Give Maisie to us and we can negotiate."

Izak laughed, shaking his head.

"Ah, Malach. You're still the same... Oh, and Dash and Aline too! Wow, all we needed for this to really be a meeting of friends was a cup of tea and some cookies."

Izak suddenly narrowed his eyes and made a sudden movement with his hand.

A loud cry cut through the night's silence.

"Now, Tanya." He shook his head, laughing like he was having fun. And I think that was really the case, Izak was having fun with us. "Attacking me from behind? And we were such close friends too!"

"Let Maisie go." Tanya said through her teeth, raising her hand to try to stop the blood dripping from the back of her neck.

It didn't seem to work.

"Now now. Why hurry? I just want to talk." His smile seemed to widen. "You know, this life of a misunderstood genius can be really boring. People just don't understand you, and seem to want to paint you as a being of the worst kind, a real demon so to speak ... But I'm not a demon, Maisie dear. I swear I'm not..."

And I am an English princess, I thought, rolling my eyes internally.

Izak laughed again, shaking his head.

"Ah, Maisie. I understand your skepticism." He said, and I felt a shiver down my spine. Was Izak reading my thoughts?

He nodded, still looking very amused by all of this. Well, what to say, at least someone was having fun.

My dear God. How does it get worse from here?

"Well, first, I have to apologize for my mistake." Izak said, twisting my arm a little and I swear I heard my arm crack. I blanked a bit from the pain. " See if you understand me. Joanne had so much hatred, so much envy ... And this is an extremely seductive for Initiates, can you see? I ended up convincing myself that she was the right sister..."

I froze.

Me? I was the right sister? The right sister for what, my lord?

"Ah, Maisie. Everything at its right time." He gave me a smile and turned to the others. "You are after the Mirror, aren't you? You can take it. I don't need it anymore."

"You don't...need it?" Luciano frowned, as if the sentence did not compute. To be honest, it wasn't computing for me either.

It looked like a trap.

"No, no. Besides, I already planned on giving the Mirror to Maisie too."He turned to me and smiled. "You know, like an apology for choosing your sister when she was clearly not the right sister... But you know, you really should be thanking me... I gave you the body of an enemy of yours, you know? Joanne would stab you when you least expected it ... It is only fair that I offer you her urn as well."

I was looking at him in shock, and there was something in my mind screaming that I needed to get away.

Izak laughed.

"Ah, Maisie. We are really alike."Turning to Geoffrey, Izak smiled. "I hope the Army is prepared to forgive everyone for saving Maisie's life, including Aline. Ah, Aline..." Shaking his head, he sighed. "I thought you could be right once ... but clearly I was wrong again."

"What will happen to them is none of your business," Geoffrey retorted, looking at me with a concern that denied his words. "You should be worrying about your own future, son. It doesn't look good to me."

"I am not your son," Izak replied, and then gave me a smile. "and I think you're wrong, Geoffrey. My future has never been brighter."

A loud explosion happened and I closed my eyes, trying to protect them from the dust in the air.

"We'll see each other again soon, Maisie."

And soon my poor and unhappy body was flying through the air, stopping only when it found home on an icy surface.

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Hello everyone!

I hope ya'll are being safe and taking care of yourselves!

Thanks for being so nice to me :) Hope you are enjoying the story :)

Originally published: August, 22th 2020

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