Page 16

I’d always taken the stories for granted. Red string of fate. Soulmates. All that romantic nonsense. But Jonah pressed the crayon to the page and drew a line between two small shadows far on the edge, looping them together, tying them with bows like he was wrapping a gift. Then he kept going.

The red line snaked around the other shadows, circling, gathering, until it lashed itself around the giant one. He wound it like a lasso, over and over, tighter and tighter, until the dark figure wasn’t a threat anymore. It was a cocoon. Bound. Helpless.

I stared at the page. At the red line, looping through everything, holding it all together.

Was he saying my bond with Jude tied everything together? I’d never been a believer in the idea of love conquered all. And there was no way our mate bond could stop Erlik. We were barely holding ourselves together.

It made no sense. A string of fate wasn’t a weapon. It was just a connection. Something some people could deny, if Xavier was to be believed.

But the red line didn’t look fragile. It looked inevitable, braided in and thick, heavy lines pressed into the page. Like no matter how the shadows twisted, no matter how many lines the giant one threw out, the red would keep looping, keep binding, keep holding until there was nothing left to hold.

I didn’t know how long I knelt there. Long enough for the social worker to clear her throat and tell us time was up.

As we left, I glanced back. Jonah had already torn the drawing free and tossed it aside, reaching for a fresh sheet of paper.

Victor, with elegant grace, swooped in and picked it up. “Thank you for your time,” he said to the social worker, giving her that charming smile of his that didn’t need any of his vampire power to make her smile.

He caught up to me in the hallway and pressed the paper into my hand without a word.

I unfolded it. The red line stared back at me. Bright. Unbroken.

Jonah could see it. That much I understood. Did he know that Jude was dead? That I was tied to his ghost? How long until that pretty red tie began to fray? Or was it already? And how did any of this help get him back and stop Erlik?

I sighed as I folded and tucked the drawing into my pocket. Between the hospital mess, and now this, sparkles began to crowd my right eye.

You look like shit, Victor sent mind to mind as we got back in Ezra’s SUV.

Thanks.

You barely ate anything for lunch.

Not hungry.

I wasn’t. Which was strange. Using my cat form always cranked up my hunger. Wouldn’t using the Bastion form do the same?

My head throbbed. The migraine erupted as if it had been biding its time until the semi-dark of the tinted windows. I balled my hands into fists and closed my eyes. One arm stinging with an icy pain, the other reminding me of the ring on my finger that tied me to Jude’s presence, faint and staticky.

How long until he faded and I unraveled? That’s what they were all waiting for, right?

Jonah’s drawing gave me a touch of hope. Maybe the red line wouldn’t break.

Maybe that was enough to hold on to.

8

JUDE

Ghosts didn’t need sleep. Or so Nat said.

And yet, I passed out. One blink, and nothing. Then woke to the little room of forbidden books, Nox sitting on my chest, purring like a tiny engine while I sucked in air I didn’t actually need.

Old habits even haunt the dead. All I needed was for the not-cat familiar to demand breakfast and me to clean his litter box and my afterlife would be set.

My grimoire sat on its pedestal, untouched, but pulsing with a constellation of energy. I glared at it. The desire to reach out was almost overwhelming. Would it suck me in this time? Leave me trapped as some character between the pages, unable to ever escape? I almost felt like each floating dot of energy could be what little remained of a person.

New fear unlocked.

Nox kneaded my sternum. Hard.