Prologue
1979
She had been watching him for months. They didn’t talk anymore—not since that tattoo had stained his arm. At first, she didn’t care. That’s it, she thought. I can’t be a part of this anymore. I’ve done my bit.
But then, the visions came. And as always, they changed everything.
She no longer needed the visions to tell her something was wrong—it was now clear for her to see: his sunken eyes and pale skin. His once form-fitting uniform was now hanging loosely from his bony frame.
He was deteriorating before her eyes.
She had to do something, but since she couldn’t talk to him, she just watched him.
Where Regulus went, Pandora followed; during meals, classes—even in his dreams. She had seen him sway between light and darkness. She had been there when he made the big decision when he chose the light—a resolution that had dragged him straight into darkness regardless.
And that’s why she’s here now—standing on the shore of the deadly waters, watching her best friend take his final bow.
Regulus, delirious from the poisonous potion, has destroyed the locket.
There’s no way out.
He’s accepted it—he even wrote a note.
He will die for this.
Pandora watches as the grey, lifeless bodies begin crawling to shore, preparing to rip the heart from her best friend—the heart that beats in time with her own.
The skeletal fingers claw at his leg, nails biting into his skin. She sees him; his wide eyes, the pulse racing in his neck— a pulse that soon won’t be.
In a desperate attempt to save the boy in front of her, she pulls her wand and screams the words.
The spell is ancient and foreign to this place. It feels like her body is splitting, and another scream rips from her throat. The cave erupts in a cascade of light and color.
She hears the faint echo of a name.
It’s the last thing she registers before the world goes dark.