waist, steadying me, but I was determined to ignore his touch.
“Yes.” I glanced down my leg. “Just my knee, but I think it’s nothing.”
“Let me see.” He knelt and leaned against the steep rock.
I felt stupid as my cheeks warmed. He touched the scratch through the tear in the jeans and I winced. Victor tugged me down to sit beside him. “It’s not much, but you should be more careful.” He put his finger under my chin and forced me to look at him. “I know I’m distant and on the defensive sometimes, bu—”
“Sometimes?” I interrupted him without meaning to, but the words were out of my mouth before I could think.
His lips curled up in a faint smile, and I dreamed of kissing him again. “Most of the time. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings.” Hmm, I was hooked. Maybe I’d been too hasty back at the diner when I’d shut him out. “It’s hard for me to—”
“Hey, pretty boy and vision girl,” Micah shouted from above the rise, interrupting the words I was now dying to hear. “Pause the melodrama and drag your butts over here. We don’t have much time.”
He glared at us, and I noticed the mood was now dead. Victor was back on the defensive. Clearing his throat and extending his hand to me, he helped me up. However, this time he sent me ahead in case I slipped again.
I returned my attention to the trek. Well, sort of, because I couldn’t stop thinking about him. What had I learned about this Victor so far? Was he the same Victor from my dreams or not? There were times when I simply didn’t know. There were times my heart beat for him the way it had for my vision Victor. Or was I imagining that too?
According to Micah, we had reached Grandmother Rock, which was the name of the saddle between two rising spires on top of Cathedral Rock. The splendid view amazed me.
“So, where to now?” Victor asked.
“No idea.” Micah shrugged. “We’re at the top, and I can’t see anything around us. No aura, no signature. Maybe we’re at the wrong place.”
Victor scowled. “Yeah, that would be perfect.”
Then it came. I felt it. The same vortex of spirits the tourists came here to feel. I sensed it and it was strong. However, what I sensed wasn’t the energy of spirits. It was pure energy, pure life, pure power.
Victor was about to say something, but Micah shushed him, his gaze on me.
Smiling, I closed my eyes and let the vortex wrap around me. The energy touched my skin. I gasped as its current ran through my veins, lifting me into the air. A vision took over, and I saw the place we were in. The Everlasting Circle symbol was drawn on the floor with seven circular signs I didn’t recognize drawn tangent to it; each of us stepped into one of those signs.
The vortex died out and, in slow motion, I dropped down to where the center of the Everlasting Circle sign should be.
Victor stepped toward me. “What the hell was that?”
“Do tell,” Micah asked, serious and unmoving. “I felt it too and, damn, it was strong.”
“It’s here,” I whispered. “We need to draw some symbols.”
“With what?” Victor asked, sounding irritated. “A red pen? Perhaps a marker?”
I glared at him. God, I hated his mood swings. At least they served to remind me he wasn’t the Victor I thought he was—the Victor I wanted him to be.
“With this.” Micah produced white chalk from my bag. “During the rite Morgan performed, I felt this chalk was different and … I ended up grabbing some.” He didn’t seem too embarrassed for it. “I wanted to examine it better.”
I grabbed the chalk from him. A shock ran through my fingers. This was the right tool to draw the symbol with. “In other circumstances, I would reprimand you for stealing.”
The guys stood still, Micah smiling and Victor glaring, while I knelt down and drew the Everlasting Circle symbol and the other six smaller signs around it. I didn’t know them, but I could still see them clearly in my mind. Some had wavy lines, another had spirals, and others had hard lines, and all of them were enclosed in a circle.
When I finished, the jolt ran through my fingers once more and the lines shone a faint white light.
“That’s it?” Victor asked, crossing his arms.
Pure energy flowed inside my chest and I smiled as I said, “Now, we