“What is it?” Cole whispered to me, glancing around nervously. “What did
you see?”
“I'm not sure, but I thought something was down there,” I whispered back.
Slowly, we resumed our descent. It wasn’t long before we were met by Gram
and my father. Unfortunately, they were not alone.
“How nice of you to join us,” Eliza icily purred as she appeared, dragging my grandmother behind her.
My mother had a handful of Gram's silver hair twisted in her clutched hand.
My grandmother wore a brave face to hide the pain, but I could see the agony she really was in. A dark bruise shadowed her eye, and her face was covered with small, bleeding cuts. Running to help her, I was stopped in my tracks by Cedric, yanking my father out of the darkness and into our view.
Cedric Drygen had a long silver knife pressed against my father's neck as he
roughly shoved him forward. Blood ran down his swollen and bruised face,
indicating my father had been severely beaten. Even though he was probably in
great pain, his expression only showed anger. Struggling against his adversary, my father continued trying to break Cedric's tight hold. However, his efforts were fruitless.
“Careful, Elliott,” Cedric taunted. “You wouldn't want to cut yourself
accidentally.” Then, he pressed the blade harder against my father's neck,
breaking the skin and causing a small drop of blood to form.
“Stop!” I moved towards my father. “You're going to kill him.”
“Oh, Marina.” Eliza dragged my grandmother forward, blocking my line of
sight. “Your father died a very, very long time ago. Who would really miss him
if he died again?”
“You are no longer my daughter,” Gram growled.
With a look of hate in her black eyes, Eliza slapped my grandmother with the
back of her hand. The force of her strike sent Gram reeling to the ground.
Without hesitation, Cole ran to my grandmother, where she lay crumpled on
the dirt. He put his arms tightly around her and whispered quietly into her ear.
Responding to his words, she leaned on him for support and sat herself
upright.
Cole wrapped his arms tighter around her.
“I'll never understand what happened to turn you into this person. You were
not raised this way.” Gram's voice was filled with sadness.
Eliza stood over her defiantly. “Your mother, Genevieve, created me. She brought this pain to the Silver family. She should have left Camille Drygen alone. You think you know everything, but if you would've left my magic alone,
we would not be here today, Mother."
Gram said in a defeated tone, “You are so consumed by the darkness you
allowed inside of your heart that there is no hope for my daughter to return. You
truly are a Drygen now.”
Eliza shouted at her, “You will not talk to me like this. You will show me the
respect I deserve.”
Snorting at her, Gram said, “You'll never have my respect.”
My mother’s rage boiled. She shoved Cole away from my grandmother and
pulled her up by her hair. Shaking and slapping her, she screamed at her. Her words were so full of anger and venom that they were incomprehensible. They
