But now it’s here. In my hand.
Whatever. Let’s do this.
I grip the weapon in my hands and stare down at the words on the page. “Elanor Eldrith,” I start, conjuring an image of her in my mind. “Hac in hora sacrosancta pot—” Fuck, I should have paid more attention in Latin class. “Pote…”Jesus Christ, how do you pronounce that? “Potestate…? Te appello.” At this rate, I’m going to accidentally summon Satan. “Audi haec verba. Exaudi clam…” Oh, fucking hell. Kill me now. “Clamorem meum?” Screw it. It’s good enough. “Ex altera parte veni ad me.”
I peer at the summoning circle, heart in my throat, expecting to see… what? Ella? A floating orb? A man with a white beard and a cane or lightning bolt, or whichever old man in the sky is real.
I probably messed up the incantation.
Shaking my head, I take a deep breath and try again.
Nothing happens.
Another attempt, but this time I focus more on the words. By the fourth try, I can recite the incantation with my eyes closed. Something… foreign settles over me as the words flow past my lips. My blood warms, the heat starting from the object in myhands. It floods the rest of my body, and I become lost to the buzzing in my veins, chanting the incantation over and over. The frigid air sears the soft tissue in my lungs until it’s hard to breathe through the shards of ice in my throat.
My eyes shoot open as I gasp, lurching forward like I’ve just been shoved.
The eerie silence skitters down my spine. No crickets. No birds. Nothing. Total stillness. Clouds of condensation plume with my shuddered exhalations, and I stop breathing altogether when I realize the candles have blown out.
A faint trickle of mist whispers over my fingers, drifting around my kneeling form before swirling toward the middle of the circle. It builds into smoke, growing thicker and faster with each passing second until a void forms in the center.
Holy fuck…
It…
No way.
The bottle of wine and cup noodles weren’t a good combo. I’m seeing things.
A faint tugging sensation starts at my chest as the dagger vibrates in my hands.
It’s her.
I huff out a startled laugh. I did it.
“Ella,” I call, rising to my feet. More drunk on hope than wine.
The inky darkness grows, turning the silence deafening as the temperature plummets dangerously low. Something isn’t right.
“Ella?” I repeat nervously, taking a step back as the black hole grows, swallowing the summoning circle.
Then I hear it, somewhere in the distance—thetick, tick, tickof the clock.
The shadows in the room shift, climbing the walls and bending against the moonlight. Hushed voices penetrate the air, whispering words I can’t make out as a form ascends from the hole—thin and wiry, like a string. Slowly, it twists, taking human shape.
My grip tightens around the knife as slender shoulders grow wide, the form elongating in height to well over six feet. The darkness morphs the being into shape before seeping back into the void, swallowing the smoke before closing completely, leaving something behind.Someone.
My pulse roars in my ears as I take in the man in front of me. Short, charcoal-black hair cuts off above a pair of broad shoulders that narrow into a tapered waist. Black leather pants mold around solid legs that seem to stretch for miles.
The shadows along his body shift as he tips his head to the side, surveying my sister’s bedroom. Then he moves, turning himself my way so I can see runelike tattoos peeking out from beneath a black shirt—blouse?—that looks like it was taken from the set of a fantasy movie. Moonlight glints against the silver studs and hoops climbing his ear.
When my perusal ends at his face, every thought disperses from my mind. He’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. Sharp jawline, hard eyes, and a scowl that could topple armies, and yet, it’s a face that breaks hearts and belongs on billboards.
His eyes flash red when they fix on me. “Well, well, well. Now what do we have here?”
I swallow, frozen to the spot.That’s not Ella.
Fuck.
