Chapter 02

Valarie's POV

Elle held up her phone and shoved the live stream camera right against the glass coffin, so close that I could see my own reflection warped in her screen, my face already turning a color I didn't recognize.

"Guys, look!" she said, her voice bright with excitement. "My sister's eyes are rolling back! Her acting is literally next level. Everyone, drop a follow for my sister's crazy acting skills. Let's see how long she can keep this whole pity act going."

Pity act. The words barely registered anymore. My mind was somewhere far away, chasing after the last scraps of air my lungs could find.

I rolled in pain inside that narrow glass box, my body twisting against the flowers Caspian had arranged so carefully, crushing every single one of them beneath me now. I slammed my elbows against the coffin lid. I slammed my knees. I even smashed my forehead against the glass, again and again, until blood ran down and covered my vision in a warm, red haze. I couldn't see them clearly anymore. I could only hear them.

Osborne walked over. I heard his footsteps before I saw his blurred shape through the blood and the glass. He sighed, the kind of sigh someone gives when they're tired of dealing with a misbehaving child.

He bent his fingers and tapped the glass right above my face, gently, almost fondly.

"Enough, Valarie," he said. "Stop making a scene. Save your energy."

There wasn't much anger in his voice. If anything, he sounded amused, like an adult who had caught a child trying too hard to win an argument.

"I drilled the air holes in this coffin myself," he continued. "You're not going to suffocate in there. One full night means one full night. Lie there and behave. Don't think you can force us to open it like this."

No. I shook my head against the flowers, desperate, my whole body screaming the word even though my throat couldn't make a sound anymore. No, Osborne. The air holes were sealed. I checked. I felt every inch of that glass with my own hands, and there was nothing. No holes. No air. Please, believe me.

But I barely had the strength left to keep my eyes open, let alone convince him of anything.

Caspian bent down next, his face pressing almost flat against the glass, studying me the way you'd study a bug trapped in a jar. He smiled and pointed at me like I was something amusing.

"You little drama queen," he said, shaking his head. "Gerald even picked the softest fabric for your burial clothes. Just close your eyes and go to sleep."

He patted the top of the coffin lid, the same way you'd pat a stubborn toddler who refused to nap.

"As long as you make it through tonight and pass this final test," he said, his voice softening into something that almost sounded caring, "I'll take you to buy your favorite cupcake first thing tomorrow morning. That'll be your reward."

Osborne and Gerald laughed from somewhere off to the side.

"Caspian, you think we didn't already plan that?" Gerald called out. "We already ordered it from the bakery. It'll be delivered first thing tomorrow morning. Think of it as Valarie's welcome gift. Her official gift for joining the family."

My welcome gift. I almost wanted to laugh, if I'd had any air left in my body to do it with. They were standing out there, planning cupcakes and celebrations, while I was dying just inches away from them, separated only by a thin sheet of glass that might as well have been an entire world.

Because of the lack of oxygen, black spots started spreading across my vision like ink dropped into water, swallowing everything at the edges first, then creeping toward the center. Outside the coffin, my brothers were still laughing, so sure that tomorrow morning I would wake up smiling, eating cupcake, finally accepted as their real sister.

They had no idea that there might not be a tomorrow morning for me at all.

My mind was already fading, slipping away like sand through fingers that couldn't hold on any longer. I could no longer see their faces clearly, only shapes and shadows moving beyond the blood-streaked glass. My hands, which had been slamming against the coffin just moments ago, went completely limp at my sides, fingers curled and still.

I looked at them one last time. At the blurred outlines of the three brothers I had wanted so desperately to call my own. The family I had washed dishes every night to save money for, hoping that one day they would look at me and see someone worth loving.

Then my pupils lost focus entirely, and the world dissolved into gray.

All at once, my body felt strangely light, lighter than it had ever felt before, as if every ounce of pain and fear had simply been lifted away in an instant. There was no more burning in my lungs. No more pounding in my chest. No more desperate scratching at glass that would never open in time.

My soul floated out through the glass coffin and rose gently into the air above it.