And Then There Were Four by Lilith Carrie

Stopping with his mouth wide open, Silas gave me a confused look before closing his mouth with a sigh. "I guess I should have."

"Then why didn't you?" I asked, trying to understand why he wouldn't. That was something I could have used to steer me closer in the right direction but instead, he had said nothing and let me float around in unanswered questions. "I guess I didn't think about it, honestly... there is much you still don't understand."

Resting my hand on my forehead, I closed my eyes and breathed through the outburst that desperately wanted to leave me. I wanted to shout at him, scream and curse his name for dragging me around for days and giving me a history lesson instead of telling me but I knew I wouldn't get anywhere acting like that.

"Who did Inanna act like this with before... the people she was with, who were they?"

Glancing at Silas again, I watched him tap his fingers on the table. "I may have been Anna's guard, but I didn't know everything that was going on. I just saw and heard certain things."

I found it hard to believe that Silas didn't know more, considering the fact he had told me so much already. Granted, he could have read a lot of it in books, but I had a feeling everything he told me was first-hand information.

"Okay, then answer me this... how many years has Anna been dead?"

The moment that the question left my lips, Silas froze. He stared at me with such a blank expression I began to wonder if what I said was not in English. After all, he was staring at me like I had grown three heads. "A hundred years ago... three years after Inanna left the realm."

The conversation was clipped, and with the last of his words, he turned quickly and made his way toward the main door. I wasn't sure why it was his attitude changed but shoving the purple book into my bag, I quickly made my way after him. "Silas!" I called out in confusion, "Silas, stop."

My feet carried me forward, and by the time the moonlight filtered over

I

me once more, I barely had caus et

Silas', arm stopping him in his

tracks. He was angry, and as he gritted his teeth with a clenched jaw, he stared down at me. I didn't

understand why.

·AH

"Let me go, Cassie," he said sternly as he pulled his arm from my grasp. I had no clue what had happened. I did was asked when Anna died. One minute he was laughing and

telling stories, and the next, he was pissed off at the world.

"Dude... what's wrong? Why are you acting like this?"

He turned away, taking a moment before glancing back at me. "You just... you remind me so much of her and thinking of the day she died... the day she left is not something that brings back happy memories, Cassie."

There was so much emotion in those last few words that suddenly made me realize why he was so dead set on telling me about Anna, how he knew so much about her to the point where most of the memories brought a smile to his face.

Silas had cared for Anna... maybe even loved her at one point, and when she died, it left an empty place in his heart. One that the thought of death caused nothing but agony.

"Silas, I'm so sorry."

Holding up his hand, he took a deep breath and shook his head, "I'm trying to help you, Cassie. If you're not careful, you're going to end up like Anna."

"What? What do you mean I'll end up like Anna?"

Staring at me, his entire body

sagged as if the weight he was carrying was too heavy. "She allowed herself to fall for darkness and in the end, gave her life for it. Something you will do if you don't find a way to separate your

emotions and let go of what you can not change."