CHAPTER 126: 126-SHE MADE HIM CHOSE

Clementine:

It was sweet, calm, and full of emotion. We all looked at Haiden, whose eyes were stretched wide, staring at the door.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to understand why he was reacting this way. Did he recognize the voice?

"Haiden, open the door."

We didn’t have to think long. Whoever the voice belonged to, it was Haiden’s loved one but it was also a lie. But Haiden didn’t seem to believe it. He looked stunned.

"Haiden, please open the door. I’ve been so lonely here."

We began to tense up, breaking formation and gathering behind Haiden. Ian eyed Yorick and Troy, eyeing them to stand behind Haiden just in case.

"Sister." Then a Haiden called out, and I realized why he was listening so intently.

"Yes, you still remember my voice?" The voice on the other side suddenly sounded so hopeful, but we knew that wasn’t true. It was Medusa.

They were the patterns we had been noticing, and one of them, we just figured out, was the one she would knock on the door to enter a closed space. I wondered if that was the case in the open as well. Did she need permission to attack someone? Or was it only for closed doors?

I rushed to the edge of the rooftop, looking down. Nobody was there. So she was behind the door this time.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had died." Haiden’s voice shook a little as he spoke to her. As soon as he stepped closer to the door, Ian and Yorick grew tense. They almost stood in front of him.

"I thought I had died. But I woke up here. And now I’m just lonely. But what are you doing here?" she asked, still carrying on the conversation.

She sounded so convincing. If we hadn’t known there was a Medusa who could do this, or that this was one of her powers, we might have opened the door for her. But we had seen her trick people before. First, all of us, when she pretended to be the ringleaders. Then Yorick, when she pretended to be his best friend.

So I knew this was a lie. This wasn’t Haiden’s sister. She was dead.

"I didn’t know I’d get to hear from you again," Haiden said, a wide smile on his lips. He looked at all of us and pointed at the door, almost reminding us that his sister was here.

"That is not your sister," Yorick said, and Haiden’s smile began to fade.

"What are you talking about? Of course it is my sister." Then the urgency in the voice broke my heart.

"Don’t listen to them. They’re not telling you the truth. The truth is that I’m alive, and I’m outside this door. All you have to do is open it and meet me."

It gave me such an eerie feeling. Honestly, it felt like she was right there, clinging to the door, waiting for him to open it.

"I don’t care what you guys say. I’m opening this door." Haiden hissed at us, trying to push past the alphas, but now all three were ready to stop him. Ian wrapped his arms around Haiden’s back, holding him down, while Yorick and Troy grabbed his arms.

"What are you guys doing? You’re my friends. Don’t you know how badly I wanted to meet my sister?" Haiden struggled, fighting against them.

I stepped toward the door and stood there, frozen. I didn’t know what to do. How could I force her to drop the lie and show Haiden that she wasn’t real, that she was Medusa?

"If you’re truly his sister, how have you survived here?" I asked, my heart racing. I heard her sniffle a little, then pause.

"You’re that asshole’s daughter." The words made the hair on the back of my neck rise.

"You’re that asshole’s daughter, aren’t you?" she screamed from the other side, making my eyes widen. Yorick pulled me back, but I went numb as her screaming cut through me.

"Haiden, throw her away from you! Her father is the reason I died!" And then she screamed again. That was when she made her mistake.

"Am I dead?" Haiden asked. She went silent for a moment.

"I mean, because of her father I’m here," she tried to correct herself, but it was too late. Haiden was already pulling away from her words.

"Listen, Haiden, I need revenge. This anger in me won’t stop. Her father did this to me. So why don’t you open the door and throw her out for me?" There it was, her carefully trying to turn Haiden into her weapon.

"No!" Haiden yelled. "I have taken your revenge. I exposed her father. I got him punished and sent into the north. But Clementine is innocent. She is my mate. She will not suffer at anyone’s hands." Tears streamed down his face as he shouted.

At that moment, I remembered what Ian had told me about Haiden. He claimed Haiden once said he would take revenge on me for my father’s actions by playing with my heart. But how could I believe that now?

"Haiden, it is the right moment for you to choose, to choose between your family and someone from the bloodline that ruined your entire family, that destroyed our happy life."

She sounded so convincing that even I almost felt sorry for her, but I knew this was not Haiden’s sister. Still, it was messed up how much Medusa could twist someone’s mind just by pretending to be their loved ones. She could even sense our thoughts and grief, which was how she managed to manipulate us, or at least try to do so.

"So Haiden, tell me, who is your pick? Who would you choose, your sister or your mate?"

She gave him a clear option, and I noticed Haiden staring at the door.

"Haiden, tell her. What are you thinking?" Troy shook him, urging him to show that he would not choose her.

"Haiden, don’t let them get into your head. Use your own emotions and remember how much you’ve missed me. You’ve been fighting so hard to find me all these years, and now you finally have. All you have to do is choose—between me and this mate of yours from that nasty bloodline. So who is your pick?"

She pushed again, and I silently watched. I wanted to see if what Ian had said was true, because in this very moment, it would be proven.