Chapter 15 Chapter 15
Bailey’s POV
Light.
That was all I could see. It surrounded me completely — warm, endless, peaceful.
Was I finally dead? Did I drown?
Honestly, it didn’t matter anymore.
“You’re late!”
What?
I turned, startled — but no one was there. Then the voice came again, distant and feminine, whispering through the glow.
Far ahead, two silhouettes flickered in the haze. I started walking toward them, and the light around me began to change — fading, reshaping, thinning like fog until the world itself started taking form.
And when it did, my eyes widened.
No way.
I knew this street. I’d know it anywhere — the row of suburban houses, all identical in their lifeless beige and symmetry. The kind of neighborhood where your drunk brother could never find the right house and would end up pounding on Miss Bentley’s door instead.
Poor woman. She used to come screaming down the lane every time.
Wait… what the hell was I doing here?
Was this heaven? Or some weird waiting room for it?
Or maybe the First Born was playing tricks on me again.
“Yo! Gray-skin! Are you messing with my head again?”
No answer.
“This isn’t funny, dude! I’m in a bubble-trapped lake — drowning — or maybe dead for real this time!”
Still nothing.
Great. No sass from him meant one thing: I was probably dead.
“Well, this is just peaches,” I shouted to no one.
Across the street, Miss Bentley walked toward the store, her handbag swinging, greeting a small boy pedaling past her.
Eight-year-old Toby.
Wait — what? Toby’s not eight! He’s thirty and has a kid!
“What the hell is going on?” I muttered.
“You’re late! Did they follow you?” the female voice called again — sharper this time, closer.
I spun around, searching for the source.
Two shadows flickered in our backyard.
Quietly, I crept closer — behind the garage — and froze. Two women stood there.
One wore a brown blazer and pencil skirt, her long dark hair pulled half up, half down — all neat and human, definitely from my world. Late twenties, maybe.
The other woman’s face was hidden beneath a silken white hood. Her cape shimmered faintly, the lace glinting with an otherworldly sheen — too perfect, too unreal.
And somehow, I knew she was beautiful beneath that hood. I just… knew.
“You should’ve been here an hour ago!” the hooded woman snapped. “Did something happen?”
“No! I got held up at work, you know how it is,” the other woman huffed. “In this world you actually have to make a living. And I like my job.”
They knew each other.
They were meeting here, in my backyard.
Did Mom know about this?
Never mind, rhetorical question.
“I don’t care about your stupid Earth job!” the hooded one hissed. “Now tell me — were you followed?”
“No! Now why are you here, sister?”
…Sister?
Oh, perfect. Just perfect. I should be taking notes — this is gold for a movie script.
“If I’m not dead and this is just some dream,” I muttered, “I’m cutting candy out of my diet forever.”
“I need your help,” said the hooded woman softly now. “I don’t know if we’ll be strong enough to defeat him.”
She began to pull something out from under her cape. I leaned in, my heart pounding.
“I need you to protect—”
Suddenly, something grabbed me — yanked me backward by the shoulders.
A familiar whisper brushed against my ear.
“Oh, dear,” the First Born purred. “Did you really think I’d spoil the fun and reveal the whole story?”
His laughter echoed — cold, delighted, insane — as the two women faded like mist. Their voices dwindled to nothing.
The street dissolved. The world shifted again.
My eyes snapped open.
Water. Darkness. Pressure.
I was sinking.
My lungs screamed for air — the water around me felt heavier than it should, crushing my ribs, dragging me deeper.
Think, Bailey, think!
I forced my eyes open, staring toward the bottom of the lake. Then the idea came.
I pressed my palms together, summoning the same energy I’d used to destroy the eagle statue.
The light grew — swirling blue, alive — and I hurled it downward, hoping to create a blast strong enough to push me out.
“God, please let this work!”
The energy ball shot through the depths like a comet, striking the lakebed.
The shockwave surged upward, catching me in its wake.
“Come on—!”
It hit me, hard, launching me toward the surface.
Air. Blessed, glorious air filled my lungs as I broke through. I coughed, clawed at the nearest rock, and pulled myself onto it, trembling and soaked. For a moment, I just crouched there, eyes shut, trying to breathe.
Then — voices.
Guards.
He knows.
He knows I tried to escape.
“Psst! Hey! Lady!”
I turned sharply. Across from me, behind a barred window, was a familiar face — grinning like an idiot.
“Remember me? We were looking for you in the woods! I was on the tree!”
Spike.
Bloody hell, Spike.
“You’re alive? He didn’t kill you?”
“Yeah, well… he’s saving me for later. Probably wants to use me against my boss.” He shrugged.
That tracks.
He leaned forward, hopeful. “Anyway, think you could, you know, do that thing again — the blast — and get me out of here? I’ll help you escape in return.”
Despite everything, a grin spread across my face.
If he could help me get away from Nathaniel, I’d kiss the ground he walked on — or the tree he hung from, or whatever.
Time to pull myself together.
And start making things explode again.