Undone: The Complete Duology, page 38
“What are you doing?” I asked. My words sounded softer than I had meant.
He tugged me back from the brink and helped me to my feet. We stood facing each other on the edge of the pit.
“I’ll do it,” he said. “Apologizing was stupid. I can’t make anything I did better, and I don’t deserve that sort of reprieve. My sins will stay with me until the end, just as they always have done. I understand now.”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t accept your apology.”
“I know,” he said, “but you accept my sacrifice.”
It wasn’t a question.
Inside myself, I found a strange calm. It hadn’t just settled over me, but I only noticed it now.
Forgiveness was a strange word with too many definitions. Because of that, I would never forgive Robert. He might have been a victim of Thorn Tree too, but he had chosen to create new ones himself.
That was not forgivable.
But somewhere along the way, my quest for revenge had changed. It had become only a quest for freedom, for me to live my life outside the shadows of Thorn Tree. My hatred, my loathing, my need to hurt and destroy anyone, especially Robert, had softened until it had vanished.
And with that had gone my need to believe in anything that would save my life. Somewhere along the line, I’d become certain I was a witch. That I had magic. That I was powerful enough to defeat not just the demons in the town, but the ones in my head.
Imagination was magic in its own right. It had given me the faith to actually become strong enough to win.
In the end, I didn’t forgive Robert, but he no longer ruled my thoughts, my decisions, or my life. He simply was, as much my history as the time I’d skinned my knee in third grade or wrecked my father’s car in tenth. Robert and his atrocious acts were part of my story, and that was all he ever would be again.
He nodded once then looked back over his shoulder at Mac. “Thank you.”
I could only imagine the depths behind those words. Mac had put so much faith in his brother, up until the very end. And now, he was willing to let Robert redeem himself.
With that, Robert closed the distance to the beast. I almost expected the demon to slam its mouth shut and refuse the sacrifice, but the demon didn’t budge as Robert stepped over the edge. He dropped straight down the demon’s throat, disappearing into the fiery stomach.
The demon snapped its mouth closed and began to sink down into the pit. Its head and body disappeared, followed by its horns. The last to go with the top of the tail.
The fire in the pit extinguished and only darkness remained.
The blood red clouds were replaced by twinkling stars that faded against the first rays of sun. A gaping hole stood where Thorn Tree had once been.
The world was silent.
Then, the twittering of an early morning birdsong broke through the air.
Mac took my hand, and we walked together with Lexi away from Thorn Three.
After so many years, my soul’s journey was over. Now, my life could begin.
The End
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Rainy Kaye, Undone: The Complete Duology
