trembling under my feet. White buildings crumbled to the ground around me.
The sound of the flying cannon balls made a deafening boom. I cupped my hands over my ears trying to block it out just as relentless sounds of gun fire filled my ears. I recognized the sound from that awful war over a century ago, before the theme park ever existed. Tiny holes blasted through the wall next to me. I cursed and dove to the ground. I looked to the end of the alley to the rubble that was left of this town. I needed to find out what year this was or I needed back in that tunnel, except I didn’t see a person in sight. Dampness seeped into my bare feet yet the sky above didn’t hold a cloud. I looked down – and gasped. My hands were red. I glanced down at my feet and found the ground was also red…blood red. I was huddled in a pool of blood. And it wasn’t mine. My stomach turned.
I’d stepped out of the tunnel and right into the middle of a war.
Wait. War…blood…death was here.
The XIII Mark on my arm practically sang for attention.
I took a deep breath, then pressed my palm into the puddle of blood that still clung to the warmth of whatever body it came from. Then I pushed my magic into my hand and whispered, “Are you still here?”
Blue light flashed from the edge of the blood puddle. It rose from between the cobblestones until it towered over me and took the form of a man wearing a helmet and guns strapped to his body. He glanced left and right with wide, panicked eyes and I felt the fear rolling through him.
“Down here,” I hissed and tugged on his pant leg.
The spirit looked down and gasped. He tried to jump away from me but I had ahold of him.
I smiled. “It’s okay. I’m going to help you.”
“Y-y-you c-c-can’t. I’m d-d-dead—”
“And I can send your soul to peace.”
His face fell. He just stared at me.
I pulled my hand off of his leg and then waved for him to join me crouched behind the wall. “Come down here so no one sees us. Please?”
He crouched down and our eyes met. “Who are you?” he asked softly.
“A friend. Don’t worry, all this fear and pain will be over. I’m going to help you…” I licked my lips and glanced around. “But first, can you tell me where we are?”
“This is France, ma’am.”
France? I frowned. “What year is it?”
His eyes widened. “It’s 1944, ma’am.”
I sighed. So close. SO close. Tegan and Tennessee weren’t alive yet. Hell, their parents weren’t even alive yet. This meant I had to try again with the tunnel.
“Ma’am, I don’t know where you came from but the Nazis aren’t going to treat you nicely. You need to get out of here.” He pointed backward to his right. “The bombs should drop less that way. I can try and guide you out—”
“No.” I pressed my palm to his translucent glowing blue chest and his form solidified under my touch. I still didn’t know how I was doing this, but it felt like it was working. “Thank you for your help. Be at peace now.”
Then I pushed my magic into him. Golden glitter coiled around his body. He glowed a soft golden light and hovered off the ground. He sighed and then a huge smile spread across his face…and then he was gone.
I took a deep breath, then sprinted in the direction he’d pointed to where there was an opening between two walls. My magic was going haywire. Normally I could tell if other living creatures were nearby but with my new Mark, it appeared my magic registered spirits as living as well. So while there was no one within view of me, I felt at least a dozen eyes on me. I hated that so many lives were lost here and their spirits couldn’t pass on, I wanted to put them at rest but I didn’t know how to do that in bulk…or if I’d give myself witch’s shock in the process.
So with a heavy heart, I jumped through the opening and sped around a corner— and slid to a stop.
A dozen men in dark uniforms stood in a straight line in front of me with massive long guns pointed right at my face. They each wore that same red flag with the strange black symbol like I saw on the planes. Then it