Page 10 (1/2)

Her eyes ide Carefully, I brought the yellow box over She helpedthe holiday cake inside I broke off a piece and gave it to her

“Thank you, Mohtly as she ate

I reached up, brushing her hair fro had been different in hter, Ethan Callahan’s daughter?

No I don’t think I would be holding any child at all I did not think I could have kids, that I could be awith me physically, but because I never saw myself as the mommy type

And now, I kneas that type because of Ethan Callahan

I was supposed to destroy the Callahans—except hter—and even if I could hide that, it was still ironic that in order to defeat them, I had to become one of them

A further irony, I felt like I had developed a split personality, too I was Calliope Orisni and now Calliope Callahan And the dread I felt noas the sael and devil within us all, one of them was real and would dominate the other in the end

“Mommy, you eat,” she broke a piece off for me

I leaned in and bit her finger

“Mommy”

I giggled at the face she made

If only it could be this simple

3

“That which has a bad beginning,

is likely to have a bad ending”