The Cursed (The Unearthly) (23 page)

I blinked a few times, and then looked at him, really looked at him. “With my life.”

“Good.”

Andre glanced over his shoulder at the cabin. “If we stay in the air, you die. If we’re in the plane when it lands, you die.”

“No Andre, please don’t sugarcoat it,” I said.

His hands squeezed my arms tightly, his way of telling me to shut up. “The only situation where you live is if we jump.”

“Please tell me you’ve done this before.”

He nodded but looked away.

The jet dropped, and I grabbed ahold of Andre to steady myself. “Andre? How many times have you jumped out of a plane?”

His arms went around me, holding me to him. “Enough to tell you that you’ll be safe.”

“Will it hurt?”

“Compared to what you’ve been through? Not at all.”

That wasn’t exactly reassuring.

I took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

Andre handed me a pair of goggles and helped me strap the parachute on. Then he pulled a pair of goggles over his head and fastened his pack on. Once everything was secure, Andre instructed me on how to jump out of a plane, how and when to release the parachute, and how to control my landing.

“I’ll be with you the entire time, so watch me for cues.” He glanced over his shoulder at the front of the plane. “Give me a second to check how high up we are. If there’s anything you want to keep, you better grab it now.”

He walked over to the cabin, and I scrambled to my bag to grab my wallet. As I did so, a letter slipped out. I was about to put it back in my bag when I caught sight of Cecilia’s handwriting.

Child of penance and pain,

Dealer of beauty and bane,

A coin’s been flipped,

The scales tipped,

Nothing will be the same.

Goosebumps broke out along my skin. It was the same letter Cecilia had sent me for my birthday, but the riddle had changed.

How was that possible? 

“It’s time to go,” Andre said coming back over to me.

I shoved the card and my wallet in my pockets and followed him to the door of the plane.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I muttered as Andre worked on opening an emergency exit located at the back of the plane. From the glimpse I caught out of a nearby window, the land below us was dark, meaning it was either wilderness, countryside, or water.
At least it’s better than certain death.

“Ready?” Andre asked, eyeing me.

I squared my jaw and nodded.

I might be wanted by the entire supernatural community and the devil, but they wouldn’t get me. Not yet.

Andre flung the door open, and together we jumped.

Keep a lookout for the sequel:

The Forsaken

Coming January 2015

Be sure to check out the Laura Thalassa’s new adult science fiction series

The Vanishing Girl

Out now!

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Laura Thalassa lives
in Santa Barbara, California with her fiancé, Dan Rix.
The Coveted
is her second novel. When not writing, you can find her at www.laurathalassa.blogspot.com