Before the monster disappeared, I suddenly realized their screams had stopped. My sisters were immobile in the monster’s hold, their heads turned at unnatural angles.
My heart dropped just as the monster disappeared under the water with my sisters, and I fell to my knees, shuddering, tears falling down my face, lips parted, and a terrible sense of shock spreading all over my body.
They are dead,a small voice whispered in my head, shaking too.You saw their heads. They cannot be alive.
The river, which had undulated with the monster’s appearance, and now disappearance, suddenly washed over its banks, like an ocean wave, before returning to its serene, tranquil state, as if nothing had happened.
As if my sisters weren’t dead, their bodies taken underwater by a monster.
Still shaking, still unable to comprehend what I’d just seen, I somehow climbed back to my feet and took step after step toward the river.
Then I paused, seeing a sign carved on the muddy ground, as if by a knife. It was neither big nor small, just close to the water, and I wouldn’t have noticed it if something else didn’t catch my eyes.
The small puddles of water near that sign weren’t really water. It was some sort of liquid with a murky color that, despite the last rays of sun, didn’t shine like water, but remained muted.
And it surrounded the odd sign, which consisted of a mishmash of lines and dots that looked like an ancient sigil from another realm.
Present Day
“Later, after I checked the river’s water, diving in and out in a desperate attempt to find my sisters, and the monster, I took a photo of the sign—the Spellscript—with my phone and returned home, still in shock, still shivering, still filled with terror at everything I’d seen, and also full of a different kind of fear. As in, how would I break the news to my family?”
I was shaking, unable to look at Lucien’s eyes anymore. “No one believed me when I explained about the monster. Everyone thought it must’ve been some sort of an accident in the river, that I’d been irresponsible in taking care of my sisters and that their bodies must’ve been washed into the Pacific Ocean, which was the so-called reason why they were never found.”
Something salty touched my lip. Fresh tears burned my eyes. “That’s why I started researching the supernatural. Why I’m writing forThe Hallowing Hour. Why I hoped someone like you would appear and help me find answers.”
I couldn’t help but glance at Kate’s bed, feeling drained, exhausted, and utterly helpless. “I couldn’t help them,” I whispered, thinking about Dianna. “I wanted to so much, but I couldn’t move, like a fucking coward. But even if I could move, I know I would’ve simply died too. And that, more than anything else, kills me inside.”
I covered my face with my hands, trying to get ahold of myself as I sobbed, “Julianna was close to Kate’s age too.”
Wordlessly, Lucien pulled me to him again, holding me close. He didn’t offer empty encouraging words; he seemed to understand there was nothing he could say that would make it any better.
This kind of pain and grief would never go away, and a deep feeling in my gut told me he knew that. That he understood.
And faintly, I wondered why.
Chapter 25
Not Her Wolf
I felt completely empty by the time Lucien pulled into the gravel driveway near his cabin. It had been a silent trip from the Concordian Ward back home, with me stuck in my own thoughts and Lucien remaining silent, as though he understood I needed space after my emotional breakdown.
Once inside, Lucien grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward him. His arms enfolded me, and his lips brushed against my forehead in a soft, comforting kiss.
My heart rebelled against my rib cage at the sudden act, and the emptiness within me filled with so much warmth, I had to close my eyes and instinctually lean into him, needing his heat.
His soft kiss, his strong muscular arms around me, holding me close as though I mattered, as if he cared, spoke more than any words could, and I was a little scared I would burst out crying again at the almost painful feelings he brought up inside me.
Thankfully, though, before that happened, Lucien abruptly let me go, giving me a loaded look that made me freeze.
Before he could say or do anything else, a door opened from the corridor’s direction, and Thayer appeared. He was freshly showered, histoo-long hair damp, and he came to a stop when he saw us, glancing between Lucien and me with narrowed eyes and open suspicion. “Good evening,” he said in a slow, assessing voice.
Lucien stepped back from me and nodded curtly. “Evening. How was your time with Anaïs and Enoch?”
His eye twitched slightly as his jaw ticked, but his voice was calm when he replied, “Enlightening, and very informative.” He paused and looked at me. Something lit up in his gaze that I couldn’t quite decipher—pride?—when he added, “Your notes were extremely helpful. More than you could ever realize.”
I flushed at the unexpected compliment. “Really?” I asked in a small voice.
“Yeah,” he murmured, glancing hesitantly at Lucien before returning his eyes to me. “Especially a certain Spellscript you recorded from ... eight years ago.”