“I cannot bring my fire,” Mum ground out.
I tried to reach out to Arric, but it was no use.
“Whatever’s preventing the use of our powers is also blocking telepathic communication,” I said.
“Who’s squashing our powers like this?” Charlotte asked.
“My bastard of a mate,” Abela hissed, pointing to a man standing in the distance.
“Wasn’t he banished?” I asked.
“He should be rotting in a prison cell as we speak,” Abela replied. “Somehow he’s managed to escape.”
“He’s working with an oracle,” Andi said, placing her palms on the invisible barrier. “An extremely powerful oracle.”
“Are you certain?” my mother asked.
“He’s trapped us in a binding circle. I saw this in one of Haddi’s books. It’s a spell known only to oracles. No one gets in or out until the circle is broken.”
“You’re an oracle,” Charlotte said. “Can’t you break it?”
“Even if I knew how, the strength of this spell is far too strong for me to break.”
“If only Soph was here, we might have a fighting chance as the trifecta.”
“I don’t know that that’s true, love,” Abela countered. “It’s quite possible she’d be in just as much danger, so it’s good she’s not here.”
“I’m going to kill Gillian,” Payton snapped. “God! She was always a bully when we were young, but she seemed to grow out of it. Apparently, that was all an act.”
Just then our men showed up to find us trapped. We tried to call out to them, but they were clearly unable to hear us.
“I need to reach Arric,” I breathed out. “I can feel he’s in pain and I can’t do anything about it.”
“I know, honey,” Samantha said. “I feel Kade as well but can’t communicate.”
I tried so hard not to completely freak out as I held onto my mother and sister. “I can’t lose him, Mum.”
“I know, baby girl.” She stroked my hair. “Daddy’ll figure something out.” She glanced up at Sam. “I hope.”
* * *
Arric
The instant Sindri spoke to me a veil was lifted and the memories of hundreds of years merged into a single point of bright white light burning at the very center of my mind.
My tattoos burned with an intensity unlike anything I’d felt before and I screamed out in agony, as my knees hit the ground. During my time in the wilderness, I’d psychically shared lives with hundreds of humans. I was now experiencing the birth and death of each of them all at once. Payment for use of their memories.
Arric Mann, descendant of first-generation Scottish immigrants, died in a railyard near Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, but not before I befriended him. He was a transient with no family who’d had a rough upbringing. The perfect type of identity for me to assume. His Scottish heritage made him an excellent candidate for a strong link, and when he died, I was there. There not only to comfort him, but also take from him the memories necessary for my survival. He was the last of many identities I’d assumed.
Haddi was right. I was in fact a world walker and as such, had the ability to hide myself by assuming the psychic identity of others. What Haddi did not know, was how his brother Sindri had used my own gift to imprison me for centuries.
Sindri, my master.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, waking up to find my master leaning over my bed.
“I’m doing what has to be done, boy,” Sindri said, placing his right palm on my forehead. In his left hand he held a small green stone.
“Why can’t I move?” I asked, unable to budge an inch.
