Fate's Surrender (Eternal Sorrows Book 3) by Sarra Cannon (android based ebook reader txt) 📕

neck, she knew she’d run out of air fast if it didn’t break the bones in her throat first.

She dropped her sword and clawed at Silver’s hands, trying to gain any leverage she could to pull them apart.

She couldn’t breathe.

Since she was on the other side of the bus, there was nothing Karmen could do to help her either. Karmen wouldn’t be able to see what was happening over here, and without line of sight, it would definitely be harder for her to get inside this thing’s mind.

So, what could she possibly do?

Her feet dangled at least a full foot off the ground, so she kicked backwards against the side of the bus, hoping to at least pull this thing off balance. Silver didn’t budge, though, no matter how hard she kicked and protested.

Instead, the silver rotter just looked at her. No emotion on its face or in its eyes. It had a job to do, plain and simple, and once it was done, she had no doubt it would go after the rest of them, too.

She couldn’t fail them all like that.

So she did the one last thing she could think of. She wrapped her fingers around the fatalis stone and asked for help.

She had no idea the true power of this stone or even what it was meant to be used for. In her dreams, she had seen the fifth use it on the island to retrieve or reset their memories but other than that, she wasn’t sure how to use it.

But she sensed in that moment that it could help her at least communicate and connect with the others. To ask them to come help her.

Because she understood now that even though she wanted to take this burden on by herself sometimes, they were so much stronger as a group. She never should have come out there by herself.

Please, she said in her mind. If you can hear me, I’m on the other side of the bus. A strong zombie made of silver or steel has me trapped. I can’t breathe.

I’m coming for you, Noah responded immediately. Just hold on.

At the sound of his voice, Parrish felt renewed. She reached into the stone for more power and then pressed her hand against the rotter’s silvery arm, pouring as much of her icy cold light into it as she could.

Frost built up on the outside of its armor, but it didn’t let up on its grip.

She was running out of air, praying she could hold on until Noah got to her.

But then, after Noah’s voice faded from her mind, there was another.

Parrish?

Tears welled in her eyes, and hope flooded her heart.

Zoe, is that you? Are you safe?

Hearing her sister’s voice was like feeling the sun on her face after a long winter.

We’re safe, and I miss you. But I need you to listen to me. The boy here says to use your fire, not your ice. I don’t know what that means, but he said you can melt metal.

Parrish gripped the fatalis stone tighter.

In all the craziness after the hospital, she hadn’t even thought about the moment her hand had practically burst into flames. She’d been so used to using ice as her main power that she still wasn’t even sure how she’d created flames.

From what she could tell, everyone in their group—even Lily—had powers that were based in either ice or fire.

No one else seemed to be able to control both, but somehow she had done it.

Parrish stared at her hands and focused everything inside her to this one, singular image. A hand covered in flames.

The instant the thought took hold inside her, a flame appeared, covering the hand that gripped the silver zombie’s arm. Remembering what Lily had done to kill the rats in the apartment, Parrish took what was left of her precious breath and blew across the top of the flame, directing it up and down the rotter’s body.

Silver screamed and released her, stepping back as the silvery armor melted onto the skin beneath it. Parrish didn’t let up. She blew more flames onto the rotter, coaxing them hotter and more powerful. The zombie writhed and kicked and screamed until whatever was left of its life faded away in pain and horror.

It worked, she said to Zoe in her mind. I can’t believe it worked. Tell him thank you.

But instead of Zoe’s voice in response, she heard the boy.

Parrish, watch out.

The moment he said it, a figure moving toward her caught her attention. Hope drained from her face as the sheer power radiating from the zombie woman almost pulled her to her knees. There was no thought of trying to run or fight.

All Parrish could do was watch.

This rotter had been beautiful once, she had no doubt.

Long black hair that, though matted now in parts, still cascaded down her back in curls. Her black dress was partly sheer at the skirt with a tight, leather bodice that reminded Parrish of a corset.

It was the kind of dress Parrish might have chosen for herself if she’d ever been asked to Prom.

The woman barely had any signs of decay on her dark skin, except for an occasional bruise-like mark on her face or arms. Maybe she’d only been dead a short time, though Parrish couldn’t imagine why anyone would have been so dressed up during this mess.

The woman’s eyes glowed with a deep, amethyst light, and Parrish knew without a doubt that she was, for the first time, standing in the presence of the Dark One.

Not in the flesh.

Not yet.

But it was her, nonetheless.

“I have waited so long to see you again,” the Dark One said, coming up so close to her that Parrish could now smell the woman’s decay, despite her lingering beauty. Her voice was almost wistful and sad. “You don’t remember me, though, do you? All these centuries dreaming of my revenge, and you don’t even know who I am.”

“I know some of it,” Parrish said. “I know you’re the one who started