My fingers buzz with electricity, but nothing happens. I’m too weak, and I know if I fail, Lynn will get away. We won’t get to Jared in time.
“Open a gateway!” I repeat, falling to my knees. Sparks leave my fingertips. Lynn comes after me again, slashing her nails over my cheek. Her touch brings a maelstrom of emotions, and I feel everything she went through right before she died.
She was in a fight with Trevor because she found out he was cheating on her. She told him she was going to tell everyone what he did. That he’d be sorry.
Brokenhearted and betrayed, she went to the edge of the water. She wanted to jump, but only for a second. Then her despair turns to anger, and she takes a step back, glaring at Trevor.
Then he darts forward, hands out in front of him, and pushes her over the edge. Things happen in slow motion after that. She desperately tries to regain her footing, but the rocks are too slippery with algae. She throws her arms up, feeling the spray of cool water on her face.
And then she falls, face up to the blinding sun. It hurts the whole way down, and her head hits on impact. But she doesn’t die, and pain radiates through her entire body. She goes underwater, paralyzed from the fall, and isn’t able to swim to the surface.
She drowns and I’m left gasping for air, twisting to move out of her reach.
I squeeze my eyes shut and thrust my hand forward. The electricity leaves my fingers and crackles in the air. The rift is opening.
“Where’s the boy?” I ask Lynn. “He’s innocent. You’re angry at Trevor, and Trevor confessed. We know he killed you.”
Gemma lights the candles around the salt and starts casting the circle, waving a burning sage stick in the air as she chants. The sooner I push Lynn into the rift, the better. Then I can work on closing the thing up.
“Where is Jared?” I ask, trying to keep a level voice. Lynn is a ghost. She’s scared and confused as much as she’s angry. “You took him and now you need to give him back. He’s innocent,” I repeat.
Lynn’s eyes start to turn black. With the rift opening, she’s getting her energy somewhere else. And that energy is bad. I don’t know where Jared is, but she’s not going to tell me. I need to get her in the rift before she fills with dark energy.
Or before something dark comes out.
“I don’t know how much longer I can hold this,” Gemma says, voice shaking.
Swallowing my pounding heart, I straighten up and grab Lynn by the shoulders. Her pain radiates through me and I’m freezing cold, struggling to breathe underwater again. Gritting my teeth, I force myself to keep my eyes open.
I’m not drowning.
I’m not underwater.
Finding a new strength, I shove Lynn forward. She tumbles back toward the rift, and the darkness starts to pull her in. I let go, needing to move away before I get sucked in too.
But she reaches for me at the last second, and I tumble forward and fall into the rift.
