Prologue

“How can you do this?” Gwendolyn Winters cried out in horror as she walked up to the girl who was crying in the corner. “How can you play god with all our lives?”

“I’m sorry.” The girl sobbed, tears brimming in her crystal blue eyes. “I am so sorry Gwen, I never meant any of this to happen!”

“Oh don’t play dumb with me Arela.” Gwendolyn spat angrily. “You knew exactly what you were doing.”

“I swear, I didn’t-” Arela assured, but all she got was a slap in the face.

“Oh don’t you lie to me Arela Kent.” Gwendolyn muttered through gritted teeth. “Don’t you DARE lie to me!”

“I’m not lying!” Arela cried, trying to convince the towering blonde that she wasn’t lying at all. “I swear, I never wanted this to happen!”

“This-” Gwendolyn gestured irritably to their cold, dank and wet surroundings. “-this you never wanted to happen. But what about the rest? What about all that funny business with Jack? Did you mean that too?”

“Yes...” Arela answered feebly, knowing that there was no escaping Gwendolyn’s wrath.

“And what about what happened to your dear Derek?” Gwendolyn asked curiously, kneeling down so that she was eye level with the red-haired girl. “Did you mean for that to happen?”

“No!” Arela cried out in her defence. “Of course not! I could never hurt Derek I-”

“What?” Gwendolyn snapped as thunder roared outside. “Have you figured out something inside that cold and dead heart of yours Arela? Tell me, why could you never hurt Derek?”

Arela simply turned away from Gwendolyn’s piercing tone. She closed her sky-blue eyes and let her damp red-hair fall over her face as she leaned her forehead against the wall. ‘I never meant for this to happen.’ She thought futilely to herself as her body was wracked with sobs that she couldn’t control. ‘How could I know when I got that damn book...?’ She paused her thoughts to open her eyes; there in the middle of the soggy room was the book that had started it all. Its leather pages were curling as they dried and Arela thought back to the moment when she received that cursed book