“You’re not supposed to,” I whisper against his ear.
Shane laughs and kisses a line down my throat, keeping me pinned. Before things can get too hot, though, he untangles himself from me, settling beside me on the floor.
“We really should call the others soon,” he says.
“Yes,” I reply, snuggling against him. “We will.”
Still, neither one of us moves, and after a few minutes, I hear Shane’s breathing deepen with sleep. I slide my hand across his chest and press it against his heart, wondering if I can bring back the vision I had before. The second I close my eyes, the lines of light appear around me again. It’s as if Shane’s energetic body has been projected around me, enabling me to see all of his soul as if I’m standing at the core of his being.
The light pulses strongly, and it’s brightest where my hand touches his heart. The malignant shadows gather at the edges of his soul, bubbling and growing like tumors. When I take my hand away, the light dulls, and the shadows grow immediately.
I sit up and break the contact, shuffling over to the table to eat a couple of cookies and sip the now-cold tea.
Something is happening to me. It’s happening so fast, it should scare me. But all I can feel is excitement, as if I’m finally learning who I really am.
I stand up slowly, heading for the back of the house. A thought buzzes in the back of my mind that I should really call Sadie and Trina to explain what’s happening, but I ignore it.
This is crazy—why don’t I want to talk to them? Everything that is happening to me happened to them, too. They’re the only ones who can understand.
As I pass through the back door into the yard, a cold breeze whips around me, soothing me. I close my eyes and tilt my head back, seeing lines of light tracing across my vision, as if my new senses are trying to show me the soul of the world itself.
Suddenly, it feels imperative that I don’t call Trina or Sadie.
Because they will stop me…
Stop me from doing what?
The wind stirs around my head again, and I walk out onto the grass, my bare feet sinking into the cool earth. There is a harmony behind every sound, a perfect symphony that’s always playing and never ending, the song of the world.
And I’ve always heard it. I just didn’t know what it was.
I turn in a slow circle, hearing Lynette’s screams in my mind. Everything that’s happened here—from Sadie being brought here by Rhys, to me standing in Shane’s backyard right now—was meant to be.
All of it is a desperate attempt to undo that pain from so long ago. It festers like an infected wound, bleeding poison into every single witch and wolf.
I close my eyes again, following the lines of light that I can only see with my eyes closed. I can feel Lynette’s pain and her curse upon the wolves, but I can also feel her hope, her faith.
She never gave up on Darian. She is still waiting for absolution in the spirit realm, and so is he.
I turn my focus even further inward so I can see where the glow of my own soul connects to the great web. By just thinking about a place or person, I can home in on their energy. Through the net, I see Sadie and Trina as bright stars, burning ever stronger as their energy works against the curse.
But it’s not enough.
From the manor, a horrific dark energy bleeds out into the web. It rots everything it touches, and I know it’s the heart of the curse.
The place where Lynette died. Where she was imprisoned.
I open my eyes suddenly, the lines of light fading from my gaze like imprints from the sun. The sky is growing dark, and the stars are coming out. Everything seems peaceful and quiet, even though I know part of the spirit world is anything but.
I know what to do… I know what I have to do!
The manor calls to me, its malignant, dark energy seeping into me as a soft voice from the past begs me to come. BeforeI know what I’m doing, I take the keys for Shane’s car and am speeding towards the manor as fast as his rust bucket can go.
To break the curse, a sacrifice is needed, and I won’t let anyone else get hurt. I can end the curse here, right now, by offering myself in exchange.
Chapter 23 - Shane
Stumbling out of a dream, I blink my eyes open, feeling so violently jolted out of my mind, I roll over and claw against the carpet. The sensation of falling is so strong, I have to press myself to the floor, concentrating on the hard surface to convince myself I’m safe and still.
