Kill them both. Become stronger. Two shifters…
No.Fists punch my head with the same intensity as Ryder is on my barrier.I won’t hurt them. Take me home. Home. Home. Home. Oh, Hecate, why don’t I have that ability? Why wouldn’t Mom teach it to me? If only I could just leave. Home. Home. Home.
The ground disappears—replaced by my couch.
Home.
Banff—mountains in general, really—are known for their clean air, the way humans appreciate inhaling something not tainted by smog or vehicle emissions. I’ve always agreed, and the occasional trip to Calgary has my lungs crying for help, but for the first time in my life, the mountain air isn’t clear.
My breaths are rapid, my chest unable to keep up with what my body needs. Fingers dig into the couch cushion as I try to regulate the impossible. The fear, the panic, the shock from one second screaming into the ground, trying to show Ryder why he needs to stay away, to the next being home.
“Did you hear that?” a voice down the hall calls. The blood rushing through my head makes it impossible to distinguish who’s speaking.
“It feels like—Carina!”
Feet thunder down the hallway until my vision is swimming with a few different faces. Familiar ones. Familial ones. Ones who won’t harm me, whom I won’t harm, and most importantly, who don’t want anything from me.
“Holy shit, how?” Aunt Dominque’s face swims in my vision, but between concentrating on breathing and my head not fully present, she’s blurred. As is Uncle Frederic standing beside her.
“Move!” Mom shoves Jasper’s parents—her sister and brother-in-law—out of the way to practically tackle me. “How are you here? Are you alright?” She pulls back, studying my face—my eyes darker than when I left and the black my hair’s become. Her movements grow sluggish as she looks from me to Dominique and Frederic, worrying her bottom lip.
As the room starts becoming clearer, so does Jasper standing behind Mom and his parents. Jasper, who helped the pack find me. The pack who I left behind, provinces away.
“Jas…” Razorblades slide up my throat.
Frederic conjures a glass of water and hands it to me.
“Jasper,” I manage after a small sip, the glass quivering in my unsteady hands. “They’re in Manitoba. Ryder—the others. I, I left them. Help…please?”
Confusion clouds his eyes for a second but a brief look towards Mom earns him permission. “I will. I’ll bring them back.”
Jasper blinks out of the room and with him gone, well on his way to helping the others, my body collapses into Mom’s arms. The glass of water spills, instantly getting scooped and cleaned by someone’s spell.
“We should go.” Dominque rests her hand on my shoulder. “Welcome back, Carina. We’re down the road should you need anything. Update us when you can, Morgan.”
The two wave goodbye and leave the house, letting me be alone with Mom.
And Darkness, who’s been silent since leaving Manitoba, settling into the crevices of my mind where it knows it’s not needed. The coven poses no threat. They are magick, and magick will find magick, no matter the kind.
Mom cups my face in her hands which only makes me start crying when it reminds me of last meaningful way Ryder held onto me.
“Everything’s different now. S-she did it. Sloane. I’m Dark.”
“Shh.” Mom presses a kiss to my forehead. “You’re no different than who you’ve always been. We’ll help you.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“Why would you hurt anyone?” She slides from the floor to the couch beside me, taking my hands in hers. “What they did to you wasn’t your fault.”
“It was.” A sob blubbers, snot following, but I don’t care enough to wipe my face. “They wouldn’t have been there if it weren’t for me.Hewouldn’t have died if it weren’t for me.”
Mom sucks in a breath. “Who, honey? Not…Ryder?”
I shake my head because it’s the best I have to offer.
“I think you need to start from the beginning. From the second you were taken from Banff.”
So I do, pushing everything out between sobs—because once started, they’re difficult to stop—monosyllabic symbols, and lots of pauses for deep breaths and sips of water.
