Awakening (13 page)

The glass dropped and bounced against
the floor as I spun around. The overhead light flicked on. It was
Luke standing beside me, and at the sight of him, I instinctively
took a step back.

“
Sorry, did I wake you?” I
asked, my breath coming out in a rush.

Luke moved toward me. “Another
nightmare?”

I took another step away from him.
“No. I couldn’t sleep.”

One more step in my direction and he
had me cornered against the counter. My heart pounded in my
chest.

His hand reached out, and he gently
brushed a tear from my cheek. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

I tried not to shy away from him this
time. I took a deep breath and met his gaze. “It’s okay. I’m
fine.”

He squeezed my arm. “You’re not
okay.”

“
I am. I wish you’d stop
fussing over me.”

“
You know I would never
hurt you.” His voice was low, concerned filled his eyes.

“
I know you wouldn’t,” I
answered, trying to keep the fear from my voice.

“
But you’re afraid of me?”
Anger now filled those dark eyes.

“
I don’t want to be,” I
whispered.

He turned and started to walk away,
but then he spun on his heels and reached for me. He pulled me hard
toward him. His lips crushed down on mine. This kiss wasn’t gentle
like before--this kiss was demanding.

My lips answered his. My arms came up
and encircled his neck. The kiss deepened. His tongue was like
velvet against mine. Shivers of, not fear, but desire ran across my
skin. It felt so good to be in his arms. His hands came to rest at
my back and he pulled me closer.

We kissed again and again. His mouth
broke away from mine, and his lips trailed down my neck. His right
hand came up and glided down my throat, gently following his lips.
Strong fingers brushed against raw bruises on the surface of my
skin.

He’d tried to kill me. He
strangled me.
The words screamed across my
brain.

Luke was unaware of the panic that
began to fill me. He brought his lips back onto mine and kissed me
again, but instead of kissing him back I pushed hard against him.
He stopped and took a step back. But he was still close. I reached
out and shoved his body back further.

“
Don’t touch me,” I said,
my breath coming out in a harsh gasp.

Luke’s eyes filled, first with
confusion, and then with realization. I expected him to get angry,
but instead he suddenly looked helpless. We faced each other for
several long minutes and then he gave me a ghost of a smile,
shrugging his shoulders before turning and walking away.

I was left alone in the kitchen. I
suddenly felt extremely cold, but I realized my body still burned
everywhere his skin and lips had touched mine.

* * * *

I made my way back into the bedroom,
tears streaming down my face. Tumbling back into bed, I wrapped the
comforter tightly around my body and lay there sobbing, my body
shaking as both fear and anger raged inside me. I had never cried
so hard. When I thought I couldn’t shed another tear, my body and
mind shut down, and I was able to drift off to sleep. But it was a
restless sleep. I tossed and turned. Nightmares, horrific images of
my family and Darla suffering kept jarring me awake.

A pounding at my door forced me
upright. Light streamed through the windows. The clock on the
bedside table now blared one pm. I had slept ten hours, but I
didn’t feel refreshed. I felt exhausted both physically and
mentally.

The door slowly opened and Luke stood
in the doorway, a plate piled high with eggs and bacon in his
hand.

“
Hi,” he said, stepping
into the room, his expression guarded.

“
Hi,” I answered
back.

“
You can sleep more if you
like. I just wanted to check on you.” He lifted the plate in his
hand. “I thought you might be hungry since you didn’t eat last
night.”

“
I am.”

Instead of handing me the plate Luke
walked over and put it on the dresser. He walked back toward the
open door and stopped just inside the doorway. “I went to the
market earlier. I didn’t want to wake you. Did you sleep
well?”

“
Not really, but I’m
okay.”

He nodded his head and stood
there.

I felt self conscious as I got out of
bed and retrieved the plate. I sat on the edge of the bed and took
a bite of bacon. “It’s good, thanks.”

I could tell by his expression there
was something he wanted to tell me, but he just stood in the
doorway, silent, watching me. Waiting for me to do what? Probably
scream at him to get out and slam the door behind him. He hadn’t
wanted to hurt me, I reminded myself again.

I forced a smile onto my face. “So
what’s the plan for the day?”

“
When I was at the market
there was talk…” he hesitated.

“
Talk about
what?”

“
A girl was killed a few
days ago in a lake not far from here. We could go check it
out.”

“
But I thought we were on a
mission to save your sister? Shouldn’t our focus be on the
rituals?” at the last word, my hand unconsciously reached up to
touch the bruises on my neck.

Luke’s eyes followed the movement. At
the sight of the bruises, he flinched and looked away. “Yes, but
the other night, when those men attacked us, there were spirits
there in the room.”

I nodded my head. “The ones you
called? The banshees? I saw them.”

He took a step forward. “No, not the
spirits doing my bidding. There were others. Spirits full of unrest
calling out to me. They were tied to the men. The spirits were
calling for vengeance. They whispered of murder, of being bound and
then drowned.”

“
Bound and then drowned?
You mean like the people the Redeemers have killed?” I was truly
shocked by what he was saying. “You think those men had something
to do with the death of those people? How could anyone mage born
have anything to do with the Redeemers?”

His expression turned grim as he
answered, “I don’t know what’s going on, but we can’t do the next
ritual until the witching hour, and the lake is only a short drive
from here.”

“
You want to go
investigate? And what, hope to see the spirit of the girl drowned?”
I asked, afraid to hear his answer.

He nodded his head. “If she was
murdered and is wandering the ether sea in a state of unrest
there’s a good chance she’ll come to me.”

“
And if she does?” the idea
of calling on spirits still made my skin crawl.

“
Maybe, we can get some
answers.”

I didn’t want to go, but what was my
other option? Sit around all day feeling scared and freaked out as
I waited for the clock to tick away until midnight? There was
another nightmare ritual heading my way and the last thing I wanted
to do was sit around and dwell on it.

I raised a piece of bacon and tried to
give him a smile. “I’ll finish eating and get ready.”

But the minute he walked out and
closed the door my appetite vanished. I put down the plate and got
up and started pacing across the room.

Now that I had seen the other side,
did that mean I could communicate with the dead? I tried to imagine
driving up to the lake and seeing the dead girl’s ghost pop up. I
shuddered at the thought. Dealing with the spirits was no big deal
to Luke, but the only spirits I had ever seen were the banshees
Luke had summoned. Luke had said the next trial was possession. The
whole point of me dying and coming back was so that I could
communicate with the other side. But I didn’t know if I was ready
to face the spirit world.

I stopped pacing and looked out the
window. The thing I feared the most was seeing my family. I closed
my eyes and took a deep breath. What if my family came back to me
and they looked like the faces of Luke’s banshees? I tried to shake
the image of my mother’s eyes filled with suffering and
pain.

I clenched my fists and forced myself
to think of the men that had killed her. Those men needed to pay
for destroying my world and killing my family. Revenge. It was what
I wanted most in the world and if it was going to happen I needed
to stay strong. I opened my eyes and straightened my shoulders. I
had died and come back--I could talk to spirits. I could do this. I
turned and headed toward the closet. I needed to get dressed and
prepare myself for what came next. And as I started to pull out the
clothes I was going to wear, I whispered to the empty room, “The
undead, the unsettled, ready or not here I come.”

* * * *

The lake was bigger than
I’d imagined. I could see wood cabins hidden amongst the
trees.
The lake itself was crystal
blue
and
small
waves floating across its surface sparkled in the
sunlight.

It was a beautiful fall
day. The trees around us were all shades of red and orange. They’d
started shedding their leaves, and I shuffled my feet through the
colorful foliage on the ground as I followed Luke toward the
water.

“
The spirit is here. Can
you feel it?” Luke asked. He was now standing a few feet from the
water’s edge.

There was something out there. I could
definitely feel it. The hair on my arms was standing up, and a
chill ran down my neck. “Yes,” I answered, taking an unconscious
step closer to him.

He turned and grabbed my arm. “Try not
to concentrate on her.”

“
I thought you wanted me to
commune with the dead.” Wasn’t I supposed to talk to spirits?
Hadn’t it been the reason I had to go through that first horrendous
ritual of his?

“
You will, but not like
this. Not yet. You aren’t ready.” He started to move toward me, but
seemed to change his mind and instead he let go of my arm. “You
don’t know how to handle spirits yet. Until you’re ready, it’s too
dangerous. A spirit can take you over.” He took a step closer to
the water. “Try to fill your mind with other things.”

Like
what
. And at the thought I felt a sudden
chill run down my arm and a strong breeze whistle past my
cheek.

Luke spun around. “Colina, listen to
me. You have to focus on something else!”

At his words, I could feel pieces of
my hair lifting in the breeze. But not all my hair--only a piece
here and there. I looked over at the nearest tree which stood only
a few feet away. It wasn’t swaying in the wind--its leaves and
limbs were still. Whatever was happening to me, it wasn’t something
natural. It was the spirit.

“
A childhood song,” Luke
said. “Start to think of a song you sang as a kid.”

I closed my eyes and tried to remember
the words to songs I learned in summer camp when I was a young. I
tried to focus on the words and ignore the breeze now blowing
across my arm.

Luke suddenly looked up into the sky.
“I hear you. Come closer. I can help you.”

I hummed to myself as I watched him.
His gaze became fixed to his left, and his head tilted as though he
was listening intently to something.

I heard him mutter, “What’s your
name?”

And for a moment I could have sworn I
heard another voice on the wind. A girl’s voice just off in the
distance.

But as I tried to focus in on it, Luke
suddenly turned to me and frowned. “The song, keep filling your
mind with the song.”

I nodded my head and took a
few steps away from him. I turned my back on him and studied the
country side. I loved how the trees had changed color--deep red,
orange, and yellow. Fall was my favorite time of year.
If things were different. If my family was still
alive.
I turned my thoughts from my family
and forced the words of the song back into my head. But my mind
began to wander again, and my thoughts this time turned to Luke.
What if I had met him under different circumstances? Would I have
been afraid of him? Would I have been scared and repulsed by him
just because he was a death dealer?

A hand reached out and grabbed my
shoulder. Startled I spun around.

“
Sorry, I said your name a
few times, but you seemed lost in your thoughts.”

“
The spirit?” I
asked.

His expression turned grim. “She came
to me. She was murdered by a group of men. Men who possessed
magic.”

I gasped in shock. “It’s not possible.
The Redeemers don’t allow mage born into their cult.”

“
They don’t.”

“
Men of magic does that
mean…” I took a deep breath, my voice was now shaking as I forced
the words out, “Was she…was she a sacrifice used to power a spell?
A sacrifice like my father?”

He shook his head. “She wasn’t killed
on a full moon or a dark moon.”

I gasped again and grabbed his arm.
“But Darla. That means Darla…”

“
Darla, is still alive. I
would know if she was…” His words faltered off.

My fingers dug into his skin. “The
spirit, can she help us find Darla?”