Read The Space Within (The Book of Phoenix #3) for Free Online Page B

love you, your so-called Pops, and led your best friend to be murdered? Even in this life, you’ve rejected Theodethan, the person besides Jeremicah who cares about you most, just as your parents denied you.”
    My stomach fell, and tears stung my eyes. I’d never thought about things in that way, but I could see the truth in them. Feel the truth. And it hurt so much. The realization of how horrible I’d been as Jacey and Leni sent my emotions crashing over me in a tidal wave. She didn’t have to make me relive it all to Darken my soul. I could already feel it tainting.
    Enyxa stopped in front of me and raised her hand near my head. I flinched as she drew a fingernail down my cheek.
    “Don’t worry, darling, you have lifetimes of pain and hurt to relive,” she drawled. “But there’s more from this one than you realize.”
    White-hot pain suddenly seared through my head, blinding me. When the brightness faded, several memories ran through my mind—pushed through it by Enyxa. Memories of me shoving my fist in my mouth to stick my finger down my throat, making myself purge all the calories I’d eaten behind my mother’s back. Memories of her forcing me to dance on a stress fracture in my foot. Memories of learning I didn’t get into a company or earn a part in a production, and other memories of girls’ faces full of hurt when they saw I was awarded a part over them. Memories of sitting in the corner of a dark closet where my mother had locked me up when I was little, my punishment for not mastering the pirouette yet.
    “Besides, I have my own special plans for you, Jacquelena,” Enyxa said, wiping out the visions. She gripped my chin in her hand now as she looked down her nose at me, her eyes such a deep black, I didn’t know if it ever ended. “Plans that have been in the works for eons. After all, you’re the cause of all of everyone’s pain. Too bad you couldn’t figure out all the ways to use that Book of yours, which is pretty stupid of you, considering you created it.” She let me go and strode over to her hellhounds. “Have fun trying to escape the Dark worlds. As I said, my babies love a good hunt, and they always find their prey. So … I leave you with this until next time.”
    She snapped her fingers, and she and her monsters disappeared into thin air, and my surroundings vanished once again. I was in Mason’s apartment, lying on my back, looking up at him as he hovered over me, a shard of glass carving into my breast. Except it wasn’t mine, of course. I was reliving Bex’s memory. Reliving her physical pain and her emotional hopelessness. Then I was transported again, now sitting in the driver’s seat of a car at twilight, witnessing an accident—a truck T-boning a small sedan in front of me. My heart buckled along with the bodies of the vehicles, folding in on itself just like the metal of the cars, becoming something much smaller and crushed until it was no longer recognizable. No way could anyone have survived that crash or the fire that exploded. A female wailed “Nooo! Oh, God, no!” next to me. She sounded like Asia, but the memory vanished before I could know for sure, leaving only agony in my heart.
    Somehow, I was still standing when I returned to the present. Not for long, though. I fell to my knees and bawled. Ugly, snotty, gut-wrenching sobs tore through me until I no longer knew why I cried. With one arm held tightly against my stomach, I scrubbed at the wetness on my face. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d sobbed so hard. Probably never—my mother wouldn’t have allowed it. My eyes burned, and my skin felt gritty from the sand that had stuck to the tears. I tried breathing deep breaths, but the air hitched all the way in and all the way out. My heart and soul weighed so heavily with the spots of Darkness Enyxa had left, I didn’t know if I could even stand and support their weight.
    “Fucking bitch,” Hayden groaned from my right. He rolled onto his knees and