Chapter 64

I struggle to lift my hand because I want to slap my uncle, this wraith. He is the cause of so much heartache and misery in my life. And I can’t let him win.

I ball up my fists, my nails digging half-moons into my palms. In my mind, I picture Aunt Grace, my mom and dad. How the grief and sorrow of seeing them dead bruised me.

The leyline around us jerks.

“What…what are you doing?” My uncle looks around nervously.

Magic gathers and spins inside me like a cotton candy machine. Wrapping tighter and tighter with each fragment adding to the greater whole.

My rage heats me from the inside out. This monster stole so much from me. My past, my present and now he wants to rob me of my future. Not going to happen.

I stand on shaky legs, holding onto all the strength I have. Then I open my palms and jerk my arms up at my uncle. The magic whips out of me like a tsunami and crashes into him.

His scream rips through the leyline. The empty, dark void pulses around us, shaking the ground beneath my feet. Everything goes sideways and I scramble to grab the prism Ben and Kiarr are trapped inside of and my wand.

My uncle’s shrieks echo in my skull as he breaks apart. Fissures of glowing yellow burst through the cracks.

Rumbles of thunder boom.

I clutch the prism to my breast, shove my wand in my pocket, and run as fast as I can despite my muscles aching and lingering pain washing over me. Beneath my feet, the ground crumbles away and I jump on a ledge.

The leyline is collapsing. I’ve got to find a way out of here or I’m going to die in here. Crushed to death. Terror scrambles up into my throat as I run, but I’m racing ahead in the darkness. I don’t know where I’m going or how to get back to the statue and out of this disappearing leyline.

My insides burn as I force my feet one in front of the other. But I feel like I’m a hamster on a wheel and not getting anywhere.

There has to be a way out.

My stomach churns with every step I take into darkness. It feels like the walls are closing in on me and I can’t breathe.

Every time I’ve been in the leyline, I’ve had to have help.

Jacques. He had helped me before I even realized what he was. I’d been scared of vampires. Even blaming them in my early teens for my parents’ deaths as I was told their bodies had been torn to shreds. Vamps could do that. Make it look like werewolves.

But I don’t even know if Jacques is even still alive and it is my fault.

Bitter acid surges into the back of my throat.

I run blindly, hoping to stumble upon something to get me out of here. Thunder booms again.

Oh please, oh please let Jacques be okay. My heart aches with each heartbeat. “Jacques,” I yell and hold my breath.

Nothing. Not even a sliver of his magnetic presence.

A sob breaks through my lips. “I’m so sorry.” The words are a hoarse whisper.

“Come, Brene, close your eyes and follow my voice,” Jacques says in his deep, elegant French accent that makes my stomach do flip-flops.

My heart leaps in my chest and I gasp. But as the ground beneath me shakes, I quickly do as he asks.

“We don’t have much time. Come.”

I shuffle forward, my wand is tucked in the back pocket of my jeans. My hand outstretches and I cradle the purple prism in the other. When we get out of here, I’m hugging Ben, Jacques, and Kiarr for at least an hour. I miss them so much.

Feather soft touches glide across the edges of my fingertips. I peek to see what’s touching me and pretty sure it’s Jacques.

“Close your eyes,” he snaps, and I do so even though with his voice, his command doesn’t sound harsh.

Though now that I’m following after a feeling in this abyss of the leyline, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t be so trusting. I mean I know this is Jacques. I can feel it in the marrow of my bones. I can’t explain it. A bond, a connection, like how I would always know when Aunt Grace would be home without checking the garage to see if her car was there or not. There is just a peace I can’t describe. And if I’m being honest with myself, I feel this way with Ben and Kiarr too.

I hold the prism against my chest, the coolness of it against my skin is soothing as is Jacques’ presence.

So, I keep moving this way and that, trusting Jacques to lead me out of this nightmare.

Thunder booms so close I jump.

“You’re doing wonderful.” Jacques words reassure me.

If that’s the case, why does it feel like there’s an underlying tension in his voice and the air around me. A heavy pressure sticks to my skin like a hot, humid day.

“Where are we going?” I whisper, terrified if I speak too loudly it’ll be like an avalanche and everything will crash around us.

“I’m taking you back to the academy.” He squeezes my hand gently.

And I wish we are anywhere but here in a never-ending dark tunnel. That I could see his gray eyes and full lips. Kiss him and tell him how wrong I was. But I can’t even see his outline much less my hand in front of my face.

“Shouldn’t we be at the connecting academy line by now?”

When he hesitates, my stomach hurls into my shoes. My mind races with all kinds of terror. Are we trapped in here or lost?

“What is it? What’s going on, Jacques?” Sweat dots the back of my neck. “I-I don’t have to go back to the school. Any exit will do, and I’ll find my way back from there.”

His hesitation turns me inside out. “There are no more exits except the Academy one, but I’m having to take you around broken pieces of the leyline to reach it.”

“What happened to the other exits?” I had learned the hard way about the leylines about each being like a tree with many branches, some even tangled with other leylines and so forth. For Jacques to claim there was only one left is bad. Real bad.

“They’ve collapsed.”

I stop, my heart hammers in my chest. “But the Academy one is okay?”

He wraps his arms around me, and I lean into his touch. His scent of cedar, cinnamon, and musk envelops me. And his lips graze my forehead. There is so much I want to tell him, but my throat locks up. Instead, I lift onto my toes and lace my hands around his neck, pulling him down to my lips. I kiss him and pour in every emotion and yearning raging through me.

His hands tighten around me, crushing me to him. Like he can’t get enough of me either. Our kiss is like long-lost lovers and in a way, I guess we are. I want to know so much more about him and our past life together.

I cling to him, desperate for more of him and his kisses. But we have no idea how much the leyline will hold. I pull back gently, breathless.

He leans his forehead against mine. “Promise me you won’t return to this leyline.”

“Wha—” Ice slithers down my spine. A hundred questions race through my mind, but the ground trembles beneath my feet and I feel like it’s crumbling away. I grasp Jacques’ shoulders trying to hold on.

“Remember that I love you, Brene. In this life, in the last life, and any life I’m fortunate enough to find you. I will always love you.”

Then he raises me into the air.

“Jacques what are you doing?” I can’t see him. I can’t see anything but blindness.

His hands lift me higher and his body coils underneath me. Before I can squirm, he throws me. I sail through the air, wind whipping around me.

There’s a whoosh as I fall out of the leyline. Sunlight blinds me and I land on a grass-filled grave.

“Jacques,” I yell.

A pop bursts in my ears and the granite angel statue cracks down the middle. One wing falls off onto the ground.

“No, Jacques.” I scramble up and dash to the statue. Without even looking, I know he didn’t cross over with me. I know he is still in the leyline. Desperately, I touch where the wing was shorn off and the outstretched hand. Everywhere, desperate to get back to the leyline… to Jacques. Why can’t I reach him?

I pound on the statue, tears blinding me, and I crumple in a heap at the angel’s feet. My sobs wracking my body.