“I’ll ask her if she knows anything about the clocks. You guys are obviously not going to rest in peace, but I’ll make sure she does. After the life she’s had, the last thing she needs is a tormented afterlife.”
Gavin closed his laptop. “We are due to drop off those clocks. I’ll see if I notice anything different this time around.”
“You guys are being shifted around, too?”
They all stood. “We’re trying to stop it, but my theory is if our minds keep taking us back to the same scenes, then there is something we are missing or need to understand,” Gavin said.
“Yeah, like we’re supposed to be dead,” I said under my breath.
Mason squeezed my shoulder as he followed Gavin out, leaving me alone with Wilder.
After a second or two of awkward silence, I spoke up. “Look, I’m sorry for that crazy ex-girlfriend thing I pulled. I’m sure it aided in killing us in the long run. This sucks. I know it does. Let’s just not hurt each other anymore.”
He grinned. “The only time you ever showed any emotion toward me was when you knew I was hooking up with someone else. Why is that, D?”
“Um, listen,” I said as we both rose to our feet.
He raised his hand. “I know. Friends. Arm’s length. But D, you need to stay grounded. Don’t let the others get you riled up. Ending Rasure has become a game and addiction for them and had been long before death. This is not a game. This is our reality, and I seriously doubt stepping on the playing field with Rasure before you know all the rules is a wise thing to do.”
My breath became fog, and the room was instantly covered in ice as I took in that warm, uncalled-for scent he always carried.
“I never expected…to feel this way about you,” Wilder said under his breath, as if it were a curse. He stepped forward and pulled me against him, leaning his forehead against mine, ignoring the shiver that my touch sent through his strong body. “Fate brought us together for a reason.” He raised his fingertips to trace my jawline. “It’s so we can protect each other. I’m not going to let Rasure hurt you, no matter how bad it gets…remember that.”
Fearing that he would freeze to death, I moved slightly away from him. “I’ve been promised that if I stay on this path, it will be wicked, that I’ll become vengeful. I don’t want that for you, for any of you.”
“Wicked is my gig,” he said just before kissing my forehead, causing the room to freeze even more. He walked away then.
In frustration, I fell back on my bed and reached for the key that Mason had left there. I studied every part of it, wondering if that missing piece was still in the lake, and if so, how I would ever find it. As my hate for Rasure consumed me, the ice began to thicken.
Just as I was about to go and inspect the clock that was here, Cadence walked in the room holding a warm cup of coffee.
“Looks like you need this more than I do,” she said to me.
I smirked, remembering this exact same conversation. She really didn’t know, and I wasn’t going to tell her, either. She would be just like the guys, vow to fight at my side.
“Your head looks better,” I said, noticing that the wound on her forehead wasn’t as red and swollen as it was before. I guess her body was healing, on the outside at least.
“Crazy. I woke up with this. Gavin is becoming violent in his sleep.”
“Yeah, you guys looked pretty aggressive when I came in.”
“He’s deflecting. Every time I try and get him to talk about his past, the next thing I know my clothes are across the room—not complaining, but geez, he needs to face this. Maybe you should talk to him, like start by talking about how you handle grief.”
“He doesn’t want to talk about it, and Cadence, that is not the issue between the two of you. He knows about you coming on to Mason.”
Her skin blushed, making her strawberry blonde hair seem redder. “Mason is making up crap to come in-between us, to make you mad.”
“I don’t care who you come on to,” I said boldly, locking eyes with her, letting her know I knew she came on to Wilder, too. “But you need to make peace with that, make peace with your own past.”
“Yeah, fine, so what are we doing? School is cancelled, I guess. No one was there. You want to go to the coffee bar early, work on your portfolio—what?” she asked as she set her coffee down on the edge of the bookshelf and started to layer on another jacket that she had tied around her waist.
All at once, the room became warm, really warm, and I felt a flaming sensation of energy course through my body—two quick beats.
“Maybe I don’t need this, you’re getting control,” she said, glancing back at me. “Make that hot...hello, and where did you come from?” she said with a mischievous grin.
Nervously, I glanced over my shoulder to see Phoenix standing right behind my bed. I looked back at Cadence. “Um, the darkroom. Can we have a second? I want to work with the portfolio before we go to the bar. I want to look at all the boxes. Will you get them ready for me?”
“You sure that’s a good idea? I mean, it’s kinda cold outside,” she said, glancing from me to Phoenix, clearly not knowing if he was aware of my curse and not wanting to let my secret out if I wasn’t prepared to share it.
“I’m sure. I’ll meet you in the playroom.”
“Ok, then,” she said, blushing slightly, nervously letting her hair fall over her face before she turned to leave.
I waited for her to close the door before standing and turning to face him. Slowly, holding my gaze he walked around my bed. When he reached my side, he raised his long fingertips to my forehead and outlined the place where Wilder had kissed me goodbye. I saw the fiery jealousy in his eyes. “It was innocent. We had to close a door,” I whispered as my chest rose and fell rapidly. His touch was so seductive that it was taking away my ability to breathe.
“He had to kiss you to close that door?” he murmured as his fingertips traced the outline of my cheek, then my lips, one by one. I gasped and swallowed nervously. I had to find control.
“You know what? Whatever,” I said, looking away from him. “I don’t like repeating myself. I already told you who my beats were.”
With far too much caress, he pulled my chin up so I would have to look at him. Within that beat, his warm, inviting lips were on mine. Rapture. That was the only word I could fathom to describe how insanely awesome it felt to feel his flesh move against mine. Slowly he pulled away, but not before gently biting my bottom lip. “I’m not mad,” he whispered.
“Then get that look out of your eyes,” I said, daring to meet his sultry gaze.
That made him smile. “Never the bashful one.”
“Life is too short for that nonsense.”
“That it is, Love,” he said as his grin grew.
“You’re in a good mood all of a sudden. Did Skylynn show you what Wilder drew?”
“Why would I care what Wilder drew?” he asked as he reached his hands for my hips and slowly pulled me closer.
Guardedly, I asked, “What is it, then?”
“You know,” he said quietly as one arm held me against him and his other hand began to trace my side with his fingertips, sending warm chills through my body, “living a long life has granted me at least one lesson.”
“Hmm,” I said, tilting my head and slightly squinting my eyes. “One that mine was surely not long enough to learn, I suppose.”
“Hopefully, it will be,” he said with a ghostly grin. “You see, Love, you’ve always pushed me, known exactly how to drive me to the edge and leave me there—giving me one of two choices: to either fall for your plea, or stop and think.”
“I never begged you for my life…you have your reasons for not saving me, or whatever.”
“You can’t become what I am,” he stated with absolute certainty, a heated warning in his gaze.
“If I understood what you were, then I would be able to tell you if I agree or not. Either way, I’m not going to let go.”
“Let’s hope
that was the truth,” he whispered.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He smiled tenderly. “It means that one way or another, this choice before us will soon cease to exist.”
“Do tell,” I said as I tensed. For all I knew, he’d found a way to make me let go.
“Well…either I win the battle I’m in now and simultaneously make Rasure weak enough for you to kill her, then you move on…or I lose and I won’t have to worry about you facing death’s door alone.”
“Such grim outlooks. Call me crazy, but I kinda hope you lose.”
“No, you don’t. At least you wouldn’t if you knew what was at stake.”
I knew exactly what was at stake. I knew that people like Rasure were breeding evil, and that evil was threatening to take over every ray of light in both realities. I knew that the universe was out of balance, that only a few were even aware of this war, that this war had stolen everything from me. I was only teasing when I told him I wanted him to lose. I wanted him to win. I wanted this all to be over with. I wanted the life I started with him so long ago back.
“Maybe so. Option three: you fight your war, and I fight mine.”
“Option four: you’re healed, and we have more time to figure this out.”
I had to wonder what ‘this’ was. Was it us, or this war he seemed prepared to die in—could he even die?
“What are you?” I whispered.
“My name…an eternal soul who lives life on the edge of every wrong line to cross. When it’s too much, when the guilt, grief, and anger become too much—I destroy myself, only to be reborn, all the wiser, all the more determined…but I can choose death…at any time.”
“Your name is Sebastian,” I said with a quiver in my voice, knowing he wasn’t always what he is now, wondering which boy had actually caused my beats, the one in the past or this one before me.
“At one time, Love. You are one of two aware today that know me by that name.”
“What’s her name?” I bit out as instant jealousy consumed me.
“Guardian,” I heard a new voice say. It startled me so much that I threw myself in Phoenix’s arms. He held my head against his chest as he laughed under his breath. “I see we still share the common demon of jealousy.”
Finding my calm, I turned to see another boy. He was as tall as Phoenix, built like him. His hair was dark and wavy, and he had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen.
“Guardian,” I gasped as the memories I had of him flooded my mind, quickly leading to the end, to the point where I was supposed to watch over this manor and his lover. “I’m so sorry.”
Guardian’s eyes questioned me as Phoenix’s body tensed next to mine.
“For...?” Guardian asked as a shy smile dared to show, revealing the sweetest dimples. I vividly remembered that smile. He was the sun where Phoenix was the moon, and for every negative Phoenix ever said, Guardian had a positive. He was just as fierce as Phoenix, but he was fierce because he had no sense of self-preservation…as if he thought he could live forever, like the sun.
“I don’t know where she is. I didn’t keep her safe.”
Guardian’s eyes flipped to Phoenix, giving him a knowing glance before calmly looking back at me. “I found her, Genevieve. Long ago.” His eyes were troubled, enough to make me wonder if that girl he loved was in the same kind of trouble I was in. Guardian had changed, too. He now carried the fire that Phoenix had. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what either of them had been up to since the day I last saw them.
“How clear are the memories you have of me?” Guardian asked.
I glanced up at Phoenix to see agony in his stoic stare. “Crystal. You’re Sebastian’s younger brother. You are precognitive, at least, you dream vividly. You had passed through The Fall. You knew there was hope on that side. You didn’t want our world to seal that passage, for you knew it would rock the balance of our universe. Sebastian agreed. You left with him and promised that if you had one dream, one bad feeling, that you’d return to us.” I squinted my eyes closed. “The very end is a bit hazy.”
Guardian reached his hand for my shoulder. “We were just too far...we were too late...” He was giving his condolences to me.
“What’s going on, Mate? Shouldn’t you be doing your thing?”
Guardian sorrowfully locked eyes with Phoenix and moved his head slightly to the side as if to say no as he let his hand fall from my shoulder.
Phoenix’s hold on me tightened. “There is nothing you can do?”
“I can heal, but I can’t bring anyone back, not when they’re this far…I’m sorry. We have to find another way. I don’t like your option two very much.”
He could heal? Was he serious? I was starting to fear the supernatural path these two had walked in my absence.
“The same for all of them?” Phoenix asked, ignoring that last part Guardian had said.
Guardian slanted his head, asking Phoenix for a private word. After a warm rush of air, my eyes found them both across the room. As Guardian spoke in a whisper to Phoenix, every part of Phoenix tensed in what could only be rage.
I felt like I was waiting for the judge to decide my method of execution. I was starting to think that Phoenix was not sending me to death so he could fight a war, but because he thought what he had become was too dark and dangerous for me to become. I couldn’t figure out how that could be any worse than a vengeful spirit.
I started to take a step back, make my escape, but then all at once my lawyer arrived. Skylynn appeared next to them with the drawing she had in hand. I would never be able to repay Skylynn for always being my voice.
Both Guardian and Phoenix seemed shocked, confused, and maybe even angry at what Skylynn was showing them.
Fearing that my lawyer was losing her plea, I began to edge back to the door. One beat later, I was in Phoenix’s arms and had no idea how I’d gotten there. “Going somewhere, Love?” he asked, lacing his fingers through mine.
“I have half a key and a clock to find, and a date with a half-frozen lake.”
The nonchalant way I’d mentioned the impending repeat of my death seemed to anger him.
“Genevieve,” Guardian said gently to me. “Do you happen to remember anything about this house, how it was moved?”
My growing turmoil was this sensation of standing between a past and the present. My life as Indie told me this house was two hundred years old, had always been in this one place. My memories, however, along with my gut feeling, were telling me that that was a lie, that it was built in a different reality. I kept hearing Wilder’s voice in my head, telling me I needed to hold on to the life I had—what was real in that life.
“I was told it was built here two hundred years ago.” I glanced at Phoenix. “I don’t know how or why it is not where you left it.”
Guardian pointed to the points where the trees were on the paper. “Do you remember planting these trees, anything you could have said over these trees?”
My befuddled look told him I didn’t. “Why are you guys bothered by my trees?”
“They are very similar to something that is the center point of the war Phoenix and I are fighting. We just don’t understand why or how…you and this house are here.”
“Twin realities,” I said, crossing my arms, agitated that they were acting as if I were on the edge of sanity. Maybe I was, but I was not an idiot. “The Fall. The star that centers it. One side is dark, the other is light. We are from the light and stuck on the dark side now. I’m not an idiot. I’m not slipping away. More than half of me is here. In fact, more of me is showing up every second. I don’t know what you two have been up to since I last saw you, but it’s clear to me that both of you are more than human at this point. I would love to debate how a home built for a family I never had mimics the universal war we have been at for longer than any of my memories can stretch, but listen to me: Rasure is trying to seize this home, and I will not let her have it. All of you should be backing me up on this point, especially co
nsidering that at one time you called it home.”
Guardian raised his brow as a grin spread across his addictive visage. I could see Skylynn grinning out of the corner of my eye.
“I swore to you that I would handle her,” Phoenix said with a sigh.
I was making this hard on him. I knew far more than he thought I did.
“Listen,” I said, looking back at Guardian. “I’m not exactly the normal girl you boys left behind, either. I have odd traits that cause the space around me to freeze when my emotions get off point, and when I touch things I see memories of the past. Sometimes just standing in a room will make memories come to life. To help you understand why those trees are there, I will touch everything but them.” They all seemed to question me at once. “I try not to touch living things. I don’t want to hurt them. I’m sure in one of the libraries I can find the original plans that are said to belong to this house, but I’m not looking for that now. Not until I find what I’m on the hunt for.”
“It’s all right. We’ll figure it out,” Guardian promised. He glanced at Phoenix. “What do you need me to do?”
“You have your own thing.”
“This is in my path,” Guardian stated dominantly.
“How is it in your path—because it’s Skylynn’s fault?” Phoenix snapped.
“It’s in my path because it’s you. Nothing will be undone without you.”
“You’d fare well without me for a while, Mate.”
“You know that is a lie. For the record, I’m not a fan of option one either.” That was the plan where I kill Rasure then move on.
“Why is that?” Phoenix asked.
“You know why.”
“I need it all,” Phoenix said under his breath.
Frustrated, Guardian looked at Skylynn. “You’ve known her for awhile, is she brighter or darker?”
“Getting brighter every second. She’s more real now than ever before.”
“Um, hello,” I said, raising my hand. “Standing right here. Can you drop the third person?”
Guardian bit his lip to try and stop his smile. He knew it was only infuriating Phoenix. He tipped his head toward me. “You...um...you’re angrier. That could be a sign that you are slipping, with or without how aware you are of your past lives.” Guardian tilted his head as he furrowed his brow. “But as far as I can tell, the anger is justifiable.”
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