First And Last - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,47

that sat deep within me.

Suddenly, the rune beneath my hand began to warm. The feeling of power began to come forth.

“Yes,” Kyden whispered. “Focus on that. Let the power fill you. Speak to you.”

The light within me began to glow deeper. My blood slowed as calmness spread throughout. The feeling was all the same, the sense of light remained, and I knew this was fueled my magic. What made me different? I’d never felt anything like it or seen it in anyone else for that matter. I still couldn’t indentify or explain it. I was back to square one.

Just as I was about to open my eyes, the rune began to burn. “Ouch,” I screamed as I tried to yank my hand way, but it was glued to the page.

“What…” Kyden started, but then his words faded away as I was pulled into a memory. I knew exactly what it was because I’d been in Zia’s before and it looked just like this. Almost as if I were watching a movie, but was in it and could see everything, hear words. Yet, not interact with anyone.

A witch stood in a dark forest near some large apple trees with the rune I’d just seen drawn in the air, but this one was a little different. Within the inverted pentacle was another symbol. Á Ù.

Six demons surrounded her and I could immediately sense their power. But even more shocking, it was hers that astounded me. Her strength was unparalleled.

She was a White Witch, that I could tell, but I’d never met a witch this powerful before, not even Zia. I couldn’t see her face since her back was to me, but she wore a white cloak with a hood. All I could hear was the sound of her soft voice but was unable to make out anything.

Swiftly, the demons shifted into their black form, and just as they did, she began to chant in Latin, Primoris quod Permaneo, over and over again. Her words smoothed together as she stood strong against the earsplitting shrieks around her.

Suddenly, a blast of white energy erupted, and with loud piercing screams, the demons evaporated into thin air, then it all went quiet. The witch repeated the line again, but she sounded so sad, like she failed. It didn’t look like she failed to me. The demons were gone, shouldn’t that be a cause for celebration?

As quickly as the vision came, it vanished, and my eyes opened to Kyden. He looked beside himself, to say the least, which only told me one thing. “You saw that?”

“Indeed I did.” His voice wavered, not in fear, just incredulous, and that coming from him meant he was very shocked.

“What the hell was that?”

He shook his head slowly. “I haven’t a clue.”

“Holy shit.” I could barely breathe, confused as to what had just happened. “The rune was like this one,” I pointed at the book. “There was an Alpha-Omega symbol in it. Did you see that?”

“I did.”

It was hard to get a grasp on anything, to understand what this meant. It didn’t take a genius to know that the witch in the vision was the one who Quinney and Tyde spoke of. The one who held the same magic I did. Who was she? How did she attach the memory to the rune so I would see it? Why did she act as if she failed?

I had no answers. To focus on these things was pointless, so, I stuck to the stuff I could find out. “What was she saying?”

“First and Last.”

Right then, our door flew open and Zia stood, breathing heavily.

“I saw that.” It didn’t surprise me that she had, our connection was wide open right now, in case I needed her. “Come quickly. I know of someone who might help us here.”

I jumped to my feet, as did Kyden. Zia stopped him with a hand in the air. “No, Kyden, you must stay here. We don’t want to scare her off by bringing too many. Nexi will be safe. I promise you that.”

Kyden nodded firmly. As I took off, he gave my ass a hard slap.

“Ouch.” I hurried to the door, rubbed my butt the entire way. Just as I stepped out, I quickly glanced back over my shoulder. “But I liked it.”

Kyden winked.

* * * *

Snow layered the ground. Evergreen trees and snowy peaked mountains provided the only shelter from brisk winds. Zia started forward quickly toward a small stone home nestled low in a valley.

“Where are we?”