The Villains We Desperately Needed

Someone was breathing on my face. The realization of this unsettling thought jerked me awake with a start.

The peaceful face of a boy, the spitting image of mine, swam into my vision. He had a shaggy mop of hair the color of silver, the ends of it almost completely covering his peacefully closed eyes. But even closed I knew the color of them. It was the same as mine - ocean blue.

I had shared a womb with this boy, but not a life. Seeing his face in real life and so close to my own was a jarring and completely surreal experience.

I heard someone clear their throat from somewhere and from the corner of my eyes saw the movement of long legs crossing.

Another boy.

This one had midnight black hair and the sharpest eyes, the color of molten gold, oddly warm for this boy’s stormy glare. Not to mention the daggers in his sharp eyes, all directed my way, charged with suspicion and potentially murderous intents.

“Who are you?” I croaked out. I must have been asleep for hours. My throat was dryer than the dirt in my mother’s potted plants.

“That’s irrelevant. Instead, you should be asking why all these people are crammed into this tiny wagon with us?” The boy retorted.

My mouth popped open to ask what he was on about, but as I looked around, I saw it too. He was right. There were several other people in this wagon.

Next to the boy with the sharp eyes slept a beautiful, physically fit girl with a black mask across her mouth. It had a picture of a grin going from one corner of the mask to the other that made the girl resemble the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

On the other side of the rude boy was a boy that can only be described with one word – a thug. He had short dark brown hair and an untold number of piercings lined his ears. He had a skull tattoo on the back of his right hand that had a cigarette coming out of its teeth.

Next to Ezra, my brother slept a most delicate-looking boy. He was as thin as a willow tree and had long black hair tied in a knot on top of his head.

By far the oddest sight, however, was the presence of Waylen FUCKING Dumont laying on the floor in the fetal position with his Armani-clad knees tucked almost to his chin.

Okay, what the FUCK is going on here? Why am I on a train with a bunch of kids and WAYLEN FUCKING DUMONT?!

The last thing I remembered was that I was getting on a bus to go meet up with some friends. Did I get kidnapped? Did someone chloroform me on the bus? In plain sight?

I looked back at the rude boy and just as I opened my mouth to speak, a loud yawn came from the other side of my brother’s. The scrawny boy with the top knot was stretching and yawning with his eyes still closed. The rude boy’s eyes shot to the newest addition to our awake club.

“What the fuck,” the boy mumbled and finally zeroed in on the floor too. “Why is Waylen fucking Dumont on the floor?”

My thoughts exactly!

“Who?” The rude one with the sharp eyes scrunched up his brows in visible confusion.

“Uhm, Waylen Dumont, the heir to TrainWays International, the largest public transport manufacturer in the world?”

The sharp-eyed one said nothing and seemed to lose interest already as he decided to stare out the window instead.

“So, what’s going on here?” Top knot boy asked.

“I have no idea. And I imagine you lot have no memories of getting on this train either?” I queried. The scrawny boy shook his head.

“Not a clue. I was just in my room, beating the shit out of a final boss, and then everything went dark. The name is Kenji by the way. Pleasure,” the top knot boy smiled warmly and extended his hand to me to shake.

I took his hand and said, “Layla. Despite the circumstances, it’s nice to meet you too,” I smiled back at Kenji and looked over to the stormy one in the wagon. “How about you? Are you ever going to introduce yourself?”

The boy shot me a look of disdain and smirked as he replied, “Still debating whether I should.”

I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to Kenji. Fine, keep your secrets.

“Any ideas why you may have ended up here, Kenji?”

“Not even a notion.”

I blew out a frustrated breath and looked at the slightly opened mouth of my still sleeping brother.

There was some rustling and all of a sudden, the thug-looking guy jumped to his feet and bumped his head into the luggage compartment above us with a loud thwack.

Kenji and I drew back away from him and receded further into our seats, but the rude boy took out a cigarette and lit up like it was the most normal reaction to have in a situation like this.

“Sit back down, Arrow, no one is jumping you,” the smoker said in a calm voice. So, he knows the thug. Why am I not surprised? They look like a drug dealer and his crony sitting next to each other.

The delinquent was breathing heavy and still looked just as tense and freaked out despite his friend’s reassurances.

“Where am I?” He asked.

Well, isn’t that a good question?

“No one knows. We are on a train that’s headed to an unknown destination. We have all been dragged here against our wills with no prior knowledge as to how we got here and why we have been taken. Extortion, you might think. Unlikely. No offense but none of you look like you come from money except for the blond one on the floor, who as I have just been informed, is some sort of a celebrity or whatever. That’s about all the information we have currently, so sit down, shut up, and wait for the others to wake up. Maybe we will learn more then.”

Both Kenji and I stared at the rude boy with our jaws nearly touching the floor. Arrow turned his icy blue eyes at the smoking boy and sneered at him but didn’t say anything else as he dropped back into his seat, flipped the guy off, and crossed his arms over his chest.

Well, maybe they weren’t exactly ‘friends’ judging from the dirty looks Arrow was giving the rude one.

The only other girl was the one to wake up next and we rehashed everything we knew with her as well. She provided no more insight into our situation and never took that mask off either.

We chatted quietly amongst ourselves. Mostly Kenji, Zya, and me. The perpetually angry-looking one had still not bothered to introduce himself and still stared out the window as though he had not a care in the world, chain smoking one cigarette after the other. Arrow was doing what the chain smoker was.

Ezra started tossing and turning and I knew he was about to wake up soon. I stopped talking to the others and looked expectantly at my brother. He is about to experience the shock of his life seeing me, the same way I had. I swallowed hard and my pulse picked up.

Ezra lifted his hand and started rubbing his eyes in an effort to open them. I held my breath as he opened one and then the other, blinking hard trying to adjust to the streaming sunlight.

“What the …,” Ezra took his time looking at everyone else, then finally turned my way and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as his mouth opened in a perfect O shape.

“Layla?!”

“Hmph, I thought you two would know each other. So, it’s not just Arrow and me. You two are siblings,” Smokes declared with a smirk.

He is a clever one, I give him that.

It was him. Ezra.

I could not hold it in any longer. I threw my arms up in the air and jumped him, bringing him into a tight lock of a hug. He gasped and I laughed. Ezra joined in, wrapping his arms around me too and squeezing me just as tightly as I was him. We did not break the hug for a good few minutes. It was bliss.

We resumed our chatter and we got Ezra caught up to speed with our situation. Our reunion and catch-up had to wait. This was potentially a life-or-death situation we found ourselves in.

Only one sleeping person remained. We waited patiently for Waylen Dumont to wake up, but our kidnappers must have given him a horse’s dose, as the guy would not wake up even an hour later.

“Fuck this,” Arrow grumbled and stood up. All of us looked at him in surprise as he dropped down to his knees and started shaking Waylen’s shoulder to wake him up.

“Hey! Wake up, asshole, you are the only one left.” But Waylen kept sleeping and did not move a muscle, his head lolled from one side to the other, lifelessly as though he was dead.

Something was off.

Could he have been overdosed? I stood up as well and to my shock, the rude boy stood up at the same time as me, we shared a look, and it appears we both had the same thought.

What if this was a set-up? Waylen Dumont is the heir of a rich family, a corporation with unfathomably deep pockets. What if our kidnappers had aimed to abduct Waylen and had wanted to extort money from his family, but killed him by accident with a large dose? What if they dumped his body on this train and decided to put him with a bunch of drugged-out kids his age to make it look like a hang gone wrong? Would we be held responsible for Waylen’s death?

This is bad …. This is very, very bad.

My ears were buzzing. I was trying to find a pulse, but my brain was just not functioning right, and the bloody chugging of the train did not help either. We couldn’t hear a damn thing, let alone the beat of a slow heart.

Rudeboy and I started performing CPR. I moved to Waylen’s chest. I pressed down once, twice, ten times. Nothing. I kept going and the boy finally pinched Waylen’s nose and opened his mouth as he dropped down and sealed his lips over Waylen’s.

All of a sudden Waylen’s right arm shot up and his hand clutched the back of rudeboy’s head and held him in place, burying his fingers in his hair. Rudeboy struggled to free himself, but Waylen kept him sealed to his lips with one hand, and then when he finally released him and started clutching his sides howling with amusement.

Rudeboy’s eyes were two blazing coals, he wiped at his mouth with the sleeve of his dark polo and spat on the floor. If Waylen was not dead, he was about to be if the look on rudeboy’s face was anything to go by.

“I knew you wouldn’t let me down, Silas,” Waylen said through tears. He had been laughing so hard that they were streaming down his perfect face.

“What the fuck is your problem?!,” Silas shouted at him and got up in a huff, seeming tense and ready to fight.

So, his name is Silas. I caught his eye and smirked at him. He rolled his eyes at me.

Waylen looked around and took all of us in from head to toe seeming pleased with the sight before him.

“Hey, asshole, start talking. What was that about knowing that I won’t let you down? Do you know what’s going on here?”

“Maybe I do, or maybe I don’t.”

Silas’s jaw ticked with irritation.

“Ugh fine. I am just here to observe.”

“Observe what?” Ezra croaked from behind me.

“How you work together to solve the mystery of your kidnapping, of course. Also, have you noticed that the train has steadily been picking up speed over the past hour?”

More quietness descended around us. None of us had noticed that.

“I did.” Silas and Arrow said in unison.

Is that why they had been staring out the window? Were they trying to estimate the speed at which we were moving based on how quickly the scenery changed? If so, I am begrudgingly impressed.

Waylen smirked at both of them then and added, “Of course, you did.”

Out of nowhere, Zya spoke, “Right. Guys, check your pockets. If this is a test for something, then maybe they planted some clues around the place or on us.”

We all did as Zya said and checked our pockets. Nothing. Not even tickets for the mystery train. Then we started looking under the seats, above our heads, and in between the seats. Still nothing.

“Perhaps we need to leave the wagon and start searching the train?” Kenji suggested and we all nodded in agreement.

Waylen was currently blocking the door. Arrow got up and stood in front of him.

“Move,” he said to Waylen with ice in his voice. Waylen did not object at all, nor did the smile leave his lips. He simply stepped away to the side.

Arrow tried to push open the door, but it wasn’t doing anything.

Locked.

He tried again, even slammed his shoulder into the door. It didn’t budge.

“This isn’t one of those times when brute force will get you out of a situation, Arrow,” Waylen piped up unhelpfully. He was humming happily and tossing a golden coin up and down with his right hand. Silas gave him a look of pure murder and narrowed his eyes at the coin and frowned seeming to consider something.

“I will tell you what, I like you guys, so I will add an extra incentive for you to get out of this wagon,” Waylen suddenly said as he kept tossing his coin. “If you can leave this place within the next ten minutes, I will tell you why you had been gathered here.”

We all stared at Waylen and as soon as he said that the room exploded into movement.

Silas never lifted a single thing in the wagon just kept observing Waylen and smoking in the corner opposite him.

I noticed my brother had crouched down next to Waylen’s polished boots and was trying to pry some of the wooden flooring open. Waylen glanced at him, and the corner of his mouth lifted in amusement. At that moment, Silas left his spot by the corner and moved closer to where Ezra was.

That piqued my interest as well.

“What have you got there, bro?” I asked.

“When we woke up everything in the wagon was perfectly organized and spotless. It was almost as if this train was brand new. Every surface was polished, every piece of cloth neatly folded and organized, so I found it odd when I noticed that in this corner there was one nail sticking up. It was by a little more than an inch, but it still felt out of place.”

At that, Waylen, grinned from his spot towering above Ezra and I ran over and crouched down by my brother.

Everyone else stopped doing what they were doing and gather around us.

Silas dropped to his knees on the other side of Ezra as well. The three of us pried the wood open and revealed some sort of insanely complicated mechanism. There were gears and locks constantly changing positions and random keys in various shapes were placed in a glass box next to it.

Arrow was already getting ready to smash the box when Waylen stopped him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. The moment you try to smash the glass, the box will drop in a compartment underneath that will shoot it out from an airlock under the train. You will lose all keys and every chance to leave here.”

Arrow grumbled something under his breath, and we all started looking for a way to open the glass box.

“What’s the purpose of that circle thing in the right corner?” Kenji suddenly said and all our eyes darted to where he was pointing. There was a small flat circle that seemed like it didn’t belong there at all and served no purpose. Silas shot up to his feet and put his hand out to Waylen.

“Give me that coin.”

The coin! Of course.

Waylen smiled at Silas and then stopped tossing the coin. Instead, he clutched it tightly in his right hand.

“You need to ask nicely first, Silas. Did no one teach you any manners?” Waylen crooned then leaned towards Silas as though he was going to steal another kiss from him. Zya jumped to her feet next, she bunched up Waylen’s fancy navy jacket and lifted him up in the air. Waylen’s eyes bulged out of his eyes from shock and so did ours.

My mom did always say to watch out for the quiet ones.

“I have had it enough with you. Give me that coin or I will beat you to a bloody pulp,” she hissed, and Waylen gulped audibly. He seemed to gain control over his emotions a second later though as the smile returned to his face again and said, “I am afraid I cannot do that. You have to earn it. I need one of you to volunteer a secret they have never told to anyone before. It needs to be dark, make you vulnerable and potentially embarrass you. It might even make you seem like a terrible person. That’s the price for your coin.”

“I’ll do it,” Silas said, and my jaw nearly touched the floor. I never pegged him for a sharer, let alone someone self-sacrificial like that.

“No, I don’t want your secrets, Silas. I know you would do just about anything when you are faced with a challenge that excites you. You would sell your own mother if that was the price.”

Silas smiled evilly at that.

“If you know so much, then you know my mother isn’t worth much, to begin with.”

Wow … Okay …

Waylen chuckled at that but said nothing, instead, he turned his eyes on me.

“I want Layla’s secret,” he said, and everyone turned to look at me expectantly.

What? … Why me? I am the plainest and most uninteresting person here. My secrets will never tickle anyone’s pickle.

My thoughts on the other hand though …

“I don’t know what you want from me …,” I wrung my hands nervously, “I have nothing. I am no one interesting. Maybe you should ask Silas. He looks like he might have buried a body or two in his heydays. That’s a juicy secret right?”

Silas glared at me, but I also saw the corners of his mouth twitch a little bit and Waylen chuckled.

“You are right, he does have that look about him, but no. Tell me a dark thought you have had then, something you want with all your heart that you know is wrong. A secret wish you won’t share with a living soul under normal circumstances. You have to have one of those right? We all do. And if you deny it, you are a liar.”

I swallowed hard at that. I did have one of those. It was buried deep, deep inside my heart. Every now and then I took it out and relished in it, but then once I was done thinking about what it would be like, I felt guilty as all hell. It made me feel sick to my stomach that I even contemplated this, but it felt good to imagine it.

I summoned my courage and began, “I … I hate my mother. And … And sometimes I wish she would just die” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I continued, “I used to love her deeply. In fact, I worshipped her as a child, but then, she joined this church … At first, the changes to her were small and imperceptible, but then she started making me wear long dresses that went below the knees and forbade me from having my shoulders bared even in summer. Then, she started taking me to sermons with her and made me have private lessons with the priest of the church. He had told her that the devil was in my eyes, and I needed extra lessons with him so he can chase away the devil.”

“The first time he made me strip and beat me, he had invited my mother to bear witness and make sure that she learned from him how to purge the evil out of me. The church was filled with people and none of them came to my rescue. The worst of all, however, was the fact that my own mother was right there in the room and just stood there, a blank expression on her face as though she wasn’t seeing her own child get beaten by a strange man who leered at her naked body and enjoyed causing her pain. She was paying more attention to the fall and rise of his belt on my back than to my face and my streaming tears.

“From that moment forth, I decided that I was going to be good. I would never give them any excuse to hurt and humiliate me again. But no matter how well-behaved I was, the priest always said the devil was still there. The beatings went on for years … T-they still do,” tears had started to stream down my cheeks, the wagon was deathly quiet. No one was saying anything, but I still couldn’t face the people in the room with me. The pity, the judgment. It was all too much right now.

“One day I stole a bunch of her sleeping pills, crushed them to a fine powder, and laced her dinner with it. I wasn’t sure if I had stolen enough pills to do the job. I didn’t want to alert her to my plan so I didn’t take as many as I should have upon reflection. That night after she had fallen asleep, I snuck into her room and took one of her pillows. I was going to do it. I had replayed this time and time again in my head to the very last detail. I knew what I should do but when I saw her sleeping peacefully like that …. I just couldn’t do it. I hated her I truly did, but she was still my mother. I put the pillow down and left her room. She slept throughout the whole night and even the day after. I sobbed quietly in my room thinking I had murdered my own mother, but then she woke up. She was alive and furious. She knew what I had done and was convinced I was beyond help now…, “ I took a deep breath to continue but all of a sudden Silas’ voice rang out and broke the silence.

“That’s enough! You got what you wanted, Waylen, she hates her mother and wants her dead. That’s her dark little secret.”

I opened my eyes and was startled at the angry expression that had lined his face. He was furious, but I couldn’t tell if it was on my behalf or if he was angry at me for being so callous. Considering what he suggested about his own mother I was inclined to think it was the former. I looked around the room and saw similar reactions. There was no pity, only fury.

I didn’t look at my brother. We had no time to unpack all of that. I only saw from the corner of my eyes that he was shaking with fury, his teeth bared in a snarl.

“Anyway, Waylen, I believe you owe us a coin,” I brushed off the conversation. The ten minutes were ticking by fast.

To his credit, Waylen didn’t try to wriggle out of this one. He handed over the coin and I snatched it, dropping down to my knees, and placed it in the empty spot.

Something clicked and the box popped open. We all started taking out key after key. There must have been at least thirty of those fucking things. They were all made from different materials and had different designs. How the hell were we supposed to know which one to use? Moreover, which was even the right keyhole? There were several of them and they kept changing places. There was no keyhole on the door itself, so this had to be it.

I looked around the wagon and noticed blank expressions that matched mine on Zya, Ezra, and Kenji’s faces. They all had zero clue what to make of this either. But Silas and Arrow seemed deep in thought, their eyes darting from one lock to another. Then they moved to the keys and back to the mechanism.

“Well? Anything, you two?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity any longer.

“There are thirty keyholes and thirty keys here. Each key matches a keyhole in both design and material,” Arrow spoke finally.

“Yes, we can all count,” I snapped at him. I bared my soul for this, it had better not have been in vain.

“Twenty-one of those keyholes zip around the mechanism, but nine are stationary,” he said, and my mouth popped open to protest. Was he crazy? All the keyholes were moving around. I leaned in closer to take a better look and realized he was right after all. I expected this from Silas, but Arrow? Just who is this guy?!

“Arrow is right. I believe we are not meant to get each key into the keyhole they belong to. That would be quite impossible at the speed they are moving around. We are only meant to unlock the nine stationary ones.”

“That’s quite easy then. Let’s stick them in and see what happens,” Kenji piped up enthusiastically.

“I don’t imagine it would be that simple,” Silas said as he rubbed his chin considering our options.

“May I interject for a second, guys?” Waylen raised his hand as though he was in school. None of us said anything so he took that as an encouragement to proceed, “I would just like to add that you can only do this once. If your method fails to unlock the mechanism, the whole thing will drop in a compartment underneath and be locked away from your reach.”

We all took a collective sigh. Leave it to those psychopaths to come up with a design like that. Whoever they were, they were sick in the head.

“There must be a reason why they have included all these other locks. They move around in some sort of pattern that might indicate the correct order of opening the locks,” Silas said.

These guys were so incredibly smart. We were lucky to have been kidnapped alongside them, I suppose. Had it just been us here in the peanut gallery, we would have stayed locked in here forever.

Ezra suddenly approached the mechanism and spoke up, “Do you see that one lock over there made out of wood in the circular shape, surrounded by carved leaves?”

“Yes, what about it?” Silas said.

“It’s the only lock that has traveled to each of the nine stationary locks. The others seem to miss at least one, but not this one.”

What the actual fuck?! Was my twin one of the smart ones in the group? He should be just as dumbfounded as me looking at this bloody thing.

“Well observed, Ezra. Now we need to figure out the starting point and follow the pattern,” Arrow said and turned back to observe the lock my brother had singled out. All of us did. Our eyes followed it like cats chasing lasers. Silence filled the wagon. I didn’t follow any of it but after a few minutes Silas and Arrow spoke in unison, “5, 2, 7, 6, 1, 8, 3, 4, 9, 2.”

They both turned to look at one another. Silas scowled and Arrow chuckled. What was up with those two?

They all took keys after keys and stuck them in and turned them in the order they had indicated. The locks popped open at once and the wagon door buzzed and swung open before our eyes.

At last! We were free!

But Silas rose from his spot on the floor and turned back to look at Waylen.

“We did as we were bid within the indicated timeframe. I believe we are owed an explanation, Waylen,” Silas said.

“Indeed. As promised, I will divulge the purpose of this trial,” Waylen said with a smile. He took a seat on one of the red velvet benches and continued, “You have all been chosen to take part in an important selection process.”

“What are we being selected for?” Asked Kenji.

“To become the heroes that will usher humanity into a new age.”

“Do you think we are stupid?” Asked Silas. He was losing his temper already. God, he had a short fuse.

“On the contrary. We believe you to be quite extraordinary in every manner possible. It’s why you are competing in this trial.”

“Who is ‘we’?” Silas asked again.

“It’s a secret organization called The Golden Age.”

Silas scoffed in disbelief. It was rather ridiculous not to mention pompous with that name.

“And what is this ‘Golden Age’ trying to accomplish with the ‘trial’?” Arrow finally said.

“The trial is meant to test individuals we deem exceptional to determine whether they will be up to the task of changing the course of mankind.” Silas opened his mouth to protest again, but Waylen stopped him with a raise of his hand.

“If you stop interrupting my story with your questions, you might find that they are unnecessary as I will cover all points of interest. If you still have any, you can ask them once I am done.”

We all remained silent as Waylen carried on.

“Two decades ago, our world welcomed our very first-time traveler. He went straight to the world leaders of humanity. He started with countries in Europe, but no one believed him. At first, the leaders thought he was a raving lunatic, but the man-made several predictions that came to pass. He insisted that he had come from the future. There was a problem, you see. Our world was headed in the direction of destruction. Fortunately, the man was wealthy enough to invest in employing world-class scientists who were able to come up with a solution. They created a time machine, and the man took it upon himself to change the course of humanity.”

“This is preposterous! Do you honestly think that we would believe this crap? Not to mention that you wish to make a bunch of teenagers some sort of heroes?” Silas said again, he couldn’t hide his anger.

“I didn’t say you would be heroes. Quite the opposite. You will become the villains.”

“Wha-? What do you mean?” Ezra said as he stepped closer to Waylen.

“The world doesn’t need heroes for this task. It needs villains, dictators who will stop at nothing to save it. They will sacrifice as many people as needed to complete the mission. This is what we are testing for. Do you have the smarts, the talents, the charisma to lead others? Are you ruthless enough? I know at least two of you are.” Waylen quickly glanced at Silas and me.

Waylen continued, “You all possess incredible talents that would help you along the way, but you will not be alone in this. We will guide you; our leader will show you the right way. You will be given the best education money and influence can buy; you will socialize with the most important people in the world. You will be molded into the perfect leaders of tomorrow. You will know riches beyond your wildest dreams, but it will come at a price. You will be hated. History will forever blame you for all the tragedies that will follow your rule. Make no mistake, your life will not be easy. It will be hard, impossibly so, but you will have each other. And you will always have The Golden Age.”

“You are out of your mind if you think you are selling us on this,” Arrow grumbled, and I nodded in agreement. Who was crazy enough to say yes to such a thing?

That’s what a normal person would say, but was I normal?

“Why do we have to be villains? Why can’t we do good with all this money and power you would give us?” Zya asked.

Waylen took a deep breath and blew it out before replying, “It doesn’t work that way, unfortunately. Some drastic things need to happen that I am not at liberty to discuss yet. You have to survive this trial first and be selected by The Golden Age.”

“Survive? What do you mean?” Kenji asked.

“Did I forget to mention this to you?” Waylen smiled wickedly at all of us as he said, “If you don’t figure out how to stop the train, it will go off the rails in about an hour. Well, fifty-three minutes to be precise.”

“Wha-?” Ezra couldn’t even form the words from shock.

“Yes, our trials have life or death stakes you see. If you don’t pass, you die. If you pass, you can still die, unless you make the only choice available to you now that I have told you the truth – to join The Golden Age and become the villains we desperately need.”

Silence filled the wagon. Waylen was grinning at us, his eyes sparkled with excitement. The guy was a maniac. I turned to look at all the faces around me. I imagine the shock and horror written on their faces matched mine. They all looked terrified, except for one.

Silas had cracked the biggest smile I had ever seen from him. He stepped closer to Waylen and leaned closer, blowing smoke in his perfectly chiseled face as he spoke, “Well, let’s get this show on the road then. I have a challenge to win.”

Silas moved to open the door and stepped outside the wagon, leaving the door open in clear invitation for us to follow.

I took an insecure step forward and then another. What was I doing? Was I crazy? Why was I going along with this insanity? My heart felt as though it was about to jump out of my ribcage. This was thrilling, scary and utterly insane, but I suppose all villains had to have some crazy in them, don’t they?

I found myself smiling and even chuckled thinking about what my mother and Father Thomas would say if they knew I was about to become the devil they always thought I was. Maybe they had simply seen what I never could. Maybe there truly was some wickedness in my eyes that stared back at them. Maybe I deserved all those beatings after all. How many people will die because I deemed it so? Will they speak of my evil in history books for decades to come? Will my name be used as a scale for the worst people to walk the Earth? Can I do this? Can I truly become this monster they wanted me to be?

I thought about everything good in my life. There wasn’t much of it.

Only Ezra. Only my twin who brightened my days the very few times I saw him on the screen brought goodness into my life. The rest was pure pain and suffering.

Yes, I believe I could be that villain. I could be just as awful as the world had been to me.

Monsters are rarely born. They are almost exclusively made, and I had been molded by the worst of them all my life.

Oh yes, I can be a villain, and this time I will finish the job.