“Who says you’re too far away? You are right here…” My grandmother walked over. “You might not be able to touch anything, but you still have your power. It’s connected to your very soul.” Her hand came to rest on my shoulder. My power is connected to my soul. I turned away and headed away from the light. I needed to be alone to see if this would work.
As I walked, I mentally scrolled to the page in the book I needed. A shatter spell. It was pretty simple. But it had rules attached. It could cause no physical harm. If it did, it would rebound three times stronger back to the caster. So practice was necessary.
I picked a big rock, and with a flick of my hand and a quick mumbling of the spell, it violently shattered, sending shards everywhere. Well, that would kill Aurora. I turned to the next, but someone had come running, and I froze.
“What the hell was that?” The rogue looked off into the distant dark, trying to see if anyone was around. But when nothing moved or breathed, he turned back around to the light. “These fucking caves are creepy. I need to get out of here.” His mumbled words carried back to me, hiding in the shadows as if he could see me. I stepped out of my hiding place when he turned the corner and readjusted my shoulders.
This would take longer than I expected.
I tried over and over, doing my best to adjust the power level each time. Once I mastered one rock size, I got smaller and smaller until I could shatter the smallest rock in two without exploding the shards. Once I was confident, I turned to head back to Aurora, but I stumbled to a stop when something in the shadows moved.
“Grandma?” I called out, thinking it was just her coming to check in on me, but the way the shadow moved, I knew it wasn’t. “Who are you?” I started towards the light and the shadow shifted.
There was a whisper, a grating along the back of the next that had my feet moving quicker. “So cold.” The words were a soft, lilting song that called from the darkness and I turned away. I ran as fast as I could away from the shuffling form in the darkness.
I had this sinking feeling that if I was caught, I would be stuck here, in this cave forever.
I ran back to the light, following the dark chain back to where Aurora slept, and the figure standing over her. “Grandma?” I sounded a little panicked, so I steadied myself as I stepped closer.
“Did you see her?”
“See who?” I walked next to her and my grandmother turned to me with a knowing look in her eyes.
“The lost soul calling out from the darkness. She walks here.” Her voice held a well of knowledge I was too afraid to face.
I gave a tiny nod. “Who is she?”
“One of our lost.” She turned to face the darkness, and I swear I could faintly hear the soft whisper from the black. “She spirit walked without anchors. And when she went to return to her body, she couldn’t find it.” My grandmother turned back to me. “If you let her find your shell, she will take it. Leaving you down here alone for the next foolish girl to leave her shell open and alone.” She turned back to Aurora. “Do you know what to do?”
I nodded. “I think so.”
“Well, do it, and return to your body before someone finds it vulnerable.” She kissed me and then was gone.
I shivered at the thought of that soul entering my body, but I couldn’t focus on that right now. I got closer to Aurora and thought of the spell I needed to stop the cleaving. I thought of my wolves and the power sucking them dry and I felt my power swell. I would not allow this to go on any longer. “Alta nim for cle de nagh.” I repeated the counterspell for the cleaving as I moved closer. I watched the stone around her neck flicker as I tried to break the hex.
I leaned down and as I repeated the counter spell; I focused on the stone and sent a tendril of my power down into the inky jewel. I shattered the rock, repeating the cleaving counter spell, and Aurora sat up with a scream.
“No.” She clenched the chain around her neck, but with the stone gone, the links of the chain broke apart. “How is this possible?”
Garren came running. “What?”
“She broke the spell.” The metal was crumbling in her hands as she screamed her frustration. “Stupid fucking bitch. I’m going to kill her.”
I smirked as I turned away from the screaming woman. “Not today.” I started out of the cave, trying to remember my way out, when I heard the scrape of a foot on stone.
“So cold.” The words were whispered right over my shoulder and this time, I screamed.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ifelt something move over my shoulder and I dove. “Come back, I’m so cold.” The woman’s whisper sent chills down my spine. I rolled and sprang back up, facing the woman, or the creature the woman had turned into. Her hair was stringy and matted, clumping together in long tendrils that were a mix of dreadlock and braid. Chunks were missing, leaving pale skin in the gaps. Her eyes were sunken down into dark pools of need. She knew nothing else, only need. Lips had pulled back, leaving her teeth exposed, giving her a perpetual manic grin. A dark dressed body, once beautifully draped and stunningly jeweled, that now hung off her emaciated body. It was like her entire soul had whittled down to nothing while her dress stayed pristine.
The thought was terrifying, knowing that she was looking to take over my body, my life. “Stay away.” I turned and ran asshe started after me, moving surprisingly quickly. She scrambled over rocks and dips as I ran, but somehow she was quicker than me, moving like some kind of spider, coming closer and closer to me. If she touched me, I shook as I dove away again. I felt the whisper of her fingers on my shirt. “Wendy! Toya!” I called, hoping they would realize I needed them.
I stumbled back again as she dove for me. I hit a wall and screamed as she started to laugh. “So warm. You’re so warm.” She stumbled over a boulder, trying to move too quickly to wrap me into her arms and I dove to the side, slicing my leg on a sharp shard of rock or glass. When my blood hit the air, it was like a shock went through the ghoul in front of me. Her tongue darted out, and her dark eyes rolled in the sockets. I screamed as I pushed up to my feet, running once more, but it was like my blood was somehow feeding her. Her skin started to fill in, and she became more animated. “Tastes so good.” Her words, once sluggish and slurred, became clearer.
Every drop of my blood she passed was pulled into her. Every drop strengthened her. “Get away from me.”
“Oh…sweet girl…I just want your warmth.” She moved quicker, and finally, like a beacon, I saw the light to the outside. I ran full speed, using as much of my wolf’s strength as I could. Yet she kept up.
