Page 114 of Soulmateless
My eyes strain and the wish glows brighter, the voice still loud in my head. I struggle to suppress it as the orb begins to shake and glow brighter.
Will it work?
The ball grows, rays of blue light flashing out of it. I shield my eyes with an arm to keep from getting blinded.
The wish isn't supposed to do this, is it?
Boom!
I duck and cover my ears at the noise. A few seconds go by as my lungs try to capture more air.
Is it okay now?
I look at where the wish once stood, only to see it's floating remains, now only glowing particles, fizzling out. My jaw hangs, my hands buzzing.
What just happened?
“Your wish…” I look over to Grandmother, her eyes narrowed on the remaining dust.
I step towards her, needing reassurance. My words didn't do that, right? There's no way that…“Grandmother?”
She doesn't even look my way as she watches the fading particles drift past her. Once the final specks dissipate, she gasps. “It got… corrupted…”
“What?” I whisper.
I stare at the crowd. To everyone staring at me. My throat tightens, strangling itself. Each heartbeat hurts. My stomach ties into a knot and squeezes up bile.
The crowd murmurs among themselves, raising their brows at me.
No. No way this is happening.
“The wish doesn't work if someone does it with malice. All wishes must be pure of heart…” Grandmother's eyes slowly widen, her lips twisting in revolution when she turns to me. She holds a hand to her chest, as she speaks loud and clear. “Which means…you'recorrupt.”
My body solidifies. My lungs completely deflate.
What? No. I didn't…
No!
I refused those hateful thoughts! How could seeing the truth be corrupt?
“You wanted to hurt our people!” Grandmother yells. Everyone must've heard.
People yell and gasp at her statement. My glance darts between different parts of the crowd as they angrily point at me.
“I told you he was evil!”
“There's no way he would've been refused the gift otherwise!”
“He's a dreamscreecher fucker! That's what he is!”
My throat releases hoarse pathetic breaths as the maids and servers rush over to comfort Grandmother. Her breath is heavy too, tears streaming down her cheeks. “After all I've done…” She whispers, hunching over the balcony.
No! This can't be real! Am I really corrupt? Did I learnnothing?
“Dove!” Hands grab my stiff shoulders and twist me around to face Mother. Her eyes scan my face. “Are you okay?”
I can't respond. I step back from her, nearly falling from how numb and weak my buckling legs are. I shouldn't have let that voice in! It changed everything! Now Grandmother thinks I'm corrupt and everyone else in this room thinks I'm a sick monster and Cosmo has-
