Prologue

Humanity is cursed by many things. Anger, depression, self-doubt, risk. There's a brilliantly lit beacon in humanity's center called hope. Some say it's the one thing that can guide us from the darkness we encase ourselves in. Others disagree. Reign disagrees. Sometimes, hope just...dies.

2012

New York City, Queens

It was a damp Thursday evening and Reign was seated in her usual situation at the garden table in the kitchen, nursing a mug of something dark and bitter. The apartment smelled of dirty leather and burnt popcorn.

She'd gotten used to the odor by now and was able to concentrate on the history book set in front of her. She had an assignment due the next day and was determined to receive a decent grade.

Reign was clever. She followed the rules - when she could - and she stayed out of trouble. For the most part. It wasn't easy growing up in a life where she was expected to be an adult. When opportunity knocked, she often had to close the door and attach a come back later sign. It wasn't easy, but she got by.

Life was life and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

Just as she removed a highlighter from her pencil pouch there was a sudden sound of obnoxious laughter and a couple of robust thumps against the front door. Reign ignored the disturbance, but her heart dropped below her stomach.

She knew what was coming.

"I told you, no," came a voice, followed by a flirtatious giggle, "My husband will be home soon."

Reign rolled her eyes at the lie.

"Oh, come on, give me an hour. I'll pay for it."

"Night Romeo," Veronica said, before slamming the door with a satisfied sigh.

Reign could hear her mother stagger down the short, narrow hall, obviously tipsy. She tried to stay focused on the words on the page, but they'd somehow shifted into alphabet soup in her mind and she couldn't make out a coherent word.

"Out of beer already? You been stealin' my stash?" Veronica's voice hit an octave as she slammed the door to the near-empty refrigerator closed.

Reign raised her gaze to meet her mothers.

"Don't you think you've had enough?"

"Don't take that tone with me," she said, jabbing her pointer finger in Reign's direction, "The only thing I've had enough of is your attitude."

Biting her tongue, Reign returned to her book, seeing through the pages.

She remained stiffened in her position until she could hear the opening of Wheel of Fortune coming from the TV in the conjoined living room. She knew her mother wouldn't last much longer, and she'd be out like a light within a few commercial breaks.

The prospect brought Reign relief.

Dinner was a quiet event, as usual. Reign ate the remnants of stale fruity pebbles dry out of a cup and her mother was passed out on the couch. A typical Thursday night.

It was near two in the early morning when she finally finished her project, stapled the corner, and shoved the items back into her ratted bag. Rats had literally chewed holes through the fabric.

The faint snore coming from the living room guaranteed her mother wouldn't be waking any time soon and that meant Reign could stash away her spoils of the day.

Since the moment she'd turned fifteen, every day after school and on most weekends, she worked as a waitress in a nearby pizza place. The tips she made she kept safe, in other words, hidden from her mother.

Behind the shabby coffee maker was a loose tile just as dull blue and inconspicuous as the others. Using her fingernail, she pried the piece off and set it gingerly on the counter before shimmying the brick behind it out.

It had taken her ages to hollow it out enough to hold what she needed, but it was the perfect place to keep the money she'd been collecting secure.

She'd given some thought to what she would do with the money after she'd turn eighteen. She could put it into an apartment in the city and get away from her mother, or maybe purchase a car that could take her out of the city altogether. Start fresh somewhere else.

A place in the countryside where she'd breathe in the scent of strawberries and linen from her backyard. She'd have her own garden with clothes drying on the line in the breeze. The thought made her smile and then quickly faded.

Her heart dropped.

"No..." she murmured to herself, staring blankly at the empty space she'd crammed her bills into just the other night. It was like she was standing in freezing rain, her body losing heat and becoming numb.

Her cold gaze shifted to the lying form on the couch.

Reign was suddenly furious, unable to contain her rising anger. She couldn't think, acting on pure adrenaline. She strode into the living room and slammed the brick down on the side table.

"Where is it! What did you do!" she demanded of her mother, who woke startled and sat up bleary-eyed on the couch.

"What?" she asked, hazed with drunken sleep and confusion.

Reign grabbed the brick and held it up, speaking in a dangerously slow voice. "Where is it..." She could see a glimpse of comprehension in her mothers' eyes.

Veronica hesitated before speaking. "I needed the money."

"For what? Booze? Drugs? What!" Her head and heart swirled with mixed emotions of despair and hate. It was enough to make her dizzy with grief.

"I am your mother and you won't talk to me like that. I provide for you..."

Reign cut her off. She no longer held her tongue.

"Provide for me? You provide nothing!" she practically screeched, passion straining her voice.

Her mother was a stumbling mess as she got off the couch and grabbed her purse, making her way for the door. "I don't gotta listen to this. I'm leavin'."

Fighting the tears that stung her eyes Reign wanted nothing more than to cry out. Not because her mother was leaving, again. And not because the money was gone, but because for the first time she truly felt hopeless.

Two years of savings gone in one night.

"I wish you never come back" Reign retorted through a tight throat. She watched the door slam and listened as her mothers' footsteps faded away.

Reign received her wish.