Chapter 41 "An Old Sin a Living Price"
In the ice baths, Ember's body convulsed.
Her lips moved, forming words in a language that hadn't been commonly spoken in over a century:
"Sanguis pro sanguine. Sanguis pro sanguine. SANGUIS PRO SANGUINE!"
Blood for blood. Blood for blood. BLOOD FOR BLOOD.
The words grew louder, more desperate, echoing off the stone walls of the church basement.
Maya and Kelly's hands, still gripping Ember's, went white-knuckled. Their own bodies started twitching, reacting to whatever Ember was experiencing.
Adrian, in his separate bath, began to seize, his recent surgery site bleeding through the bandages as his brain struggled under the strain of what it was witnessing.
"We're losing them!" Dr. Victoria shouted, her eyes fixed on the monitors. "Heart rates dropping too low Adrian's at twenty beats per minute"
"Not yet," Father David said, his voice strained. "They're almost there. Almost done"
Ember's eyes snapped open underwater.
They were completely black.
And then she started choking.
Ember erupted from the ice bath, water cascading off her body, gasping and coughing and screaming.
"Blood for blood! BLOOD FOR BLOOD! SANGUIS PRO SANGUINE!"
Hands grabbed her Father David's hands, gentle but firm pulling her forward, keeping her from falling back into the water.
"It's alright," he said. "You're safe. You're back. You're safe"
But Ember couldn't stop screaming. Couldn't stop seeing Rosanna's baby being murdered. Couldn't stop feeling the rope around her neck. Couldn't stop tasting the despair and rage that had consumed Rosanna in those final moments.
Blood for blood.
The curse had been born in blood. In the ritual murder of an innocent child. In the systematic destruction of an innocent woman who'd dared to dream of freedom and love.
Ember's screams finally faded into sobs. She clung to Father David, shaking violently, her mind trying to reconcile what she'd just witnessed with her understanding of reality.
In the other baths, Maya and Kelly were waking up both gasping for air, both looking shell shocked.
But Adrian
Adrian wasn't moving.
"Adrian!" Kelly shouted, pulling himself out of his own bath despite his shaking legs. "Dad, something's wrong"
Dr. Victoria was already there, her hands on Adrian's neck, checking for a pulse. "He's in cardiac arrest. His heart stopped"
She started CPR immediately, her hands pressing rhythmically against Adrian's chest. "Come on, come on"
Father David moved to help, abandoning Ember to Maya's arms. Together, Father David and Dr. Victoria worked on Adrian while the monitors screamed alarms.
Thirty seconds passed.
A minute.
"Please," Ember heard herself whimper. "Please, not him. Please"
Adrian's body jerked. Once. Twice.
And then he gasped a huge, desperate intake of air that sounded like drowning in reverse.
His eyes opened, unfocused and wild, searching for something.
"Rosanna," he gasped. "The baby they killed they"
"It's okay," Dr. Victoria said, helping him sit up. "You're okay. You're back."
Adrian's eyes found Ember across the room. Even in his disoriented state, even with his brain barely functioning, he looked at her with such relief that Ember's chest ached.
"You're alive," he whispered.
"So are you," Ember managed.
For a moment, the basement was quiet except for their ragged breathing and the steady beep of monitors.
They'd done it. They'd gone back. They'd seen the truth.
And now they knew exactly what had created the curse that was destroying Ember's life.
Kelly pulled himself fully out of the ice bath, his muscles screaming in protest, his mind still reeling from what he'd witnessed.
"I saw it," he said, his voice hollow. "I saw everything. Thomas Ashcroft raping her. Margaret killing the baby. The curse being born. All of it."
"Me too," Maya whispered. She was wrapped in a blanket, shaking so hard her teeth chattered. "Oh God, that poor woman. They destroyed her. Completely destroyed her."
"And then they blamed her for it," Ember said, her voice stronger now. "They turned her into a monster and then punished her for being monstrous."
Father David helped Adrian out of his bath. The younger man could barely stand, his legs wobbling like a newborn calf. Blood was seeping through his head bandage, and Dr. Victoria immediately moved to check on it.
"The surgery site reopened," she said grimly. "You need to go back to the hospital"
"No," Adrian said. "Not until we figure out how to fix this."
"You could die"
"I already almost died. Five minutes ago." Adrian looked at Ember, then at Father David. "We saw what happened. We know the truth. So how do we break the curse?"
Father David was quiet for a long moment, his expression troubled.
"The curse was born from innocent blood shed in ritual," he said finally. "To break it, we need to either: undo the ritual, which is impossible"
"Or?" Kelly prompted.
"Or we need someone from the bloodline that cast the curse to willingly undo it. To renounce what was done. To ask for forgiveness."
"Margaret Crane," Adrian said. "She's the descendant. She has to"
"She won't," Ember interrupted. "She tried to kill me. She's not going to suddenly develop a conscience and undo her family's curse."
"Then we force her," Kelly said.
"You can't force someone to be genuinely repentant," Father David said. "The magic requires sincerity. True remorse. If Margaret goes through the motions without meaning it"
"The curse stays," Maya finished. "And Ember dies."
The words hung in the air, heavy and final.
"There has to be another way," Adrian said desperately. "There has to be"
"Wait," Maya said suddenly.