Wings of the Wicked - By Courtney Allison Moulton Page 0,83

a voice.

I opened my eyes to see Nathaniel crossing the room. He knelt by the bed. Will’s bed. I was in Will’s room, but Will wasn’t there.

“How are you feeling?”

I was puzzled by the worried look he gave me. He also looked exhausted. “Hey, Nathaniel. I feel terrible, like I’m hung over. Was I drinking?”

He shook his head, and that worry spun into sadness. “No. I’m glad to see you’re awake.”

I frowned up at him. “Yeah, I guess. I’m fine. My head just hurts. What am I doing here? I thought I left to go home.”

“Ellie …” His gaze drifted away.

Then I saw the blood and dust caked across my clothes and skin as if I’d bathed in it. Seeing it, I remembered why I was there, and my veins filled with ice. Images flashed through my head, each stabbing like cold metal as it hit me. My past human incarnations, feathered wings splashed with blood, winds blowing the dust of ancient cities over barren landscapes, silver blades clashing with silver blades and ripping flesh. My mother. My father. The thing that killed her killed them both. Will tried to stop me and I hurt him. He tried to pull me away from my mother’s body, and I’d nearly killed him.

“No,” I breathed.

“Ellie.” Nathaniel’s voice was calm and cool.

I shook my head, weakly at first, then furiously. “No. No!” More images flashed in my mind, but I couldn’t handle them all at once. They were tearing my brain apart. I sat up, scrambling off the bed, and my feet touched the carpet. Nathaniel moved with me, keeping himself between me and the door.

“Ellie, relax.” His voice was in my head, warm and comforting, but no. No!

“My mother!” I shrieked. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God!” My entire body shook and I covered my mouth with my hands. I dry-heaved agonizingly.

“Ellie, please!” Nathaniel cried. “Sleep, sleep!”

I ignored the voice in my head, his mind tricks. “Where’s Will?” I cried, knocking Nathaniel’s hands away when he reached for me. “Where is he? Where’s Will?”

“Stop! Ellie, stop now!” He was shouting now, giving up on controlling my mind. I was too strong for him in every way.

I shoved my hands into his chest with a burst of power, and his back hit the far wall. Bones cracked and he moaned in pain, but I didn’t watch him hit the ground. Making a dash for the bedroom door, I slid on the carpet and into the hallway wall. I screamed Will’s name as I ran down the hall, knocking over an end table and a vase and smacking into the balcony railing overlooking the living room. I screamed wordlessly as I flung myself down the stairs, slipping again at the bottom. Pushing through the pain shooting up my legs, I dragged myself to my feet and scrambled for the kitchen.

The front door burst open and I felt the warm rush of Will’s presence. “Ellie!”

I doubled back and flung around the corner toward the foyer. He was there in the open front door, his white wings spread wide as if he’d just landed, his chest heaving, out of breath. I threw myself into his arms, the only place I felt safe, the only thing I had left, and we sank to the floor as I sobbed and wailed. He whispered something to me, stroking my hair and holding me close, but I couldn’t hear him. I screamed for my mother, screamed for my family over and over until my throat and lungs burned and became useless.

I pulled away from him and struggled to my feet, wiping at my face, my legs trembling as I backed away. My tears streaked through someone else’s blood on my face. “I have to go back,” I sobbed. “I have to take care of her.”

“It’s done,” Will said, standing and reaching for me, his own hand and voice shaking. His wings lifted and spread as much as they could in the house. “Come to me. Please, Ellie. Come to me.”

“I have to take care of her!” I was so hysterical that I wasn’t sure if any of my words were even comprehensible. He grabbed my arm as I twisted away from him. I pounded my fist on his arm and he cried out but kept his grip firm. “Let me go! Let me go to her!”

He yanked me around and threw me back onto the floor as I screamed and flailed against him. He leaped over me, straddling me, pinning