Chapter 66 The Intruder

Chapter 66 The Intruder
DESIREE

The wall was cold against my back.

One moment I was standing beside Jane, trying to explain why I'd been so distant lately. The next moment, I was falling—falling through the wall, through the floor, through reality itself. I felt my body dissolve, felt myself become part of the shadows, felt the world spin around me.

Then I was back.

Jane was staring at me, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "Desiree! You just—you disappeared!"

"I know," I said, my voice shaky. "I didn't mean to. I have no control over it. It just happens."

I discovered that I have the power to disappear into thin air the day I got lost in the woods after freezing my mates. Little by little, my powers were unfolding and I don't know if to say I was scared or..afraid.

"You need to learn to control it." Jane rushed to her closet and pulled out a thick, leather-bound book. "I have a spell book. It has some grounding techniques in it."

She flipped through the pages, her fingers moving quickly. I watched her, my heart still pounding.

"Okay," she said finally. "I found something. It's a manifestation spell. It should help you stay solid."

She read the words aloud. The language was ancient, melodic, unfamiliar. I felt the magic wrap around me, pulling me back into my body.

"Good," Jane said. "Are you okay?"

"A little dizzy," I admitted. "But I'm fine."

"Let's try something else." She closed the book and set it aside. "I want you to focus on your hands. On your ice form. Can you try to manifest ice?"

I looked at my hands. I thought about the cold. The frost. The way it had spread from my fingers when I'd frozen the triplets.

Ice formed on my palms. Thin at first, then thicker. Crystals of frost spreading across my skin.

"Good," Jane said. "Now focus on controlling it. Make it form a shape."

I concentrated. The ice shifted, forming a small sphere. It was rough, uneven, but it was a sphere.

"Amazing," Jane breathed. "You're a natural."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"You are. You just need practice." She sat down on the floor across from me. "Now, let's try something else. I want you to make the ice disappear."

I focused again. The sphere melted, fading back into my skin.

"Perfect." Jane smiled. "You're doing great."

I felt a surge of relief. Maybe I could learn to control this. Maybe I wasn't as helpless as I felt.

We practiced for another hour. By the end, I was exhausted but satisfied. I could manifest ice, shape it, and dissolve it. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

"Thank you, Jane," I said. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Probably disappear into a wall and never come back," she teased.

I laughed. "Probably."

We sat in comfortable silence for a moment. Then Jane leaned forward.

"Did you hear about the twins?" she asked.

"Our roommates, the goth twins?"

"Yeah. Destiny and Chanel. They're not back early today. I wonder if they're being caught up in another world doing stuff or probably, they're with their mean bully friends."

"Haha. You're a riot, Jane. Don't let them hear you. You know they're rich and they may probably find a way to expel us from camp."

"Well, apparently, one of them was crying about heartbreak earlier. I heard her in the bathroom. She was sobbing so loudly I could hear it from down the hall."

"Which one?"

"I think it was Destiny. But I'm not sure. Chanel was the one comforting her."

I frowned. "I didn't know they had any relationships."

"Apparently, one of them was dating a girl from another school. They broke up right before camp."

"That's rough."

"Yeah. But they're so mean to everyone, I don't feel that bad."

I laughed. "That's kind of harsh."

"It's true. They're terrible. They deserve a little suffering."

We gossiped for a while longer, talking about the twins, the other students, the weirdness of the camp. By the time we were done, I was exhausted.

"I should sleep," I said.

"Yeah. Me too."

We said goodnight and climbed into our beds. The room was quiet. I closed my eyes and let the darkness take me.



I don't know how long I was asleep.

But something woke me.

A creak. The sound of a door opening. Slow. Careful. Deliberate.

I opened my eyes. The room was dark, but I could see a figure standing in the doorway. Tall. Shadowy.

Destiny was already awake. She sat up in her bed, her voice sharp.

"Who's there?"

Jane stirred beside me. "What's happening?"

I sat up too. "Someone just entered the room."

"I see it," Jane said, her voice trembling. "Oh my god. The door is ajar."

"It's probably nothing," I said, trying to convince myself. "Maybe it's one of the faeries doing a checkup that missed their way."

"The faeries don't do checkups in the middle of the night," Destiny said.

"Maybe the wind—"

"The wind isn't that strong."

We sat there in silence, all of us staring at the open door. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke.

Then Destiny sighed. "It's probably nothing. Let's just go back to sleep."

She lay back down. Jane followed.

I lay there, my heart pounding. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

I got up and walked to the bathroom. I needed to pee. I needed to calm down.

The bathroom was cold. I stood at the sink, splashing water on my face.

Then I felt it.

Hands. Strong hands, wrapping around my waist from behind.

I tried to scream, but a hand clamped over my mouth.

"Hi, Desiree," a voice whispered in my ear. "Long time no see."

The hand materialized. The body materialized. And standing in front of me, grinning like he owned the world, was.... JAXON!!!

"You," I breathed, trying desperately and struggling to understand how he smuggled himself into the room at such an ungodly hour.

"Me." He smiled. "Did you miss me?"