“You waiting for the bus?” I smiled tentatively at him before sitting back down as far away from him as possible.
“No,” he said.
“Friends?”
“No. You?” He canted his head. “Where are you headed?”
“Me? I’m…” My mind was blank, and maybe that should have bothered me, but it didn’t. “I…don’t know. I guess I’ll find out.”
A tugging sensation lit up my chest again, momentarily stealing my breath.
“Someone wants you back real bad,” the guy said.
“Huh?”
He studied me for a long beat. “I could keep you. In fact, I might.”
Keep me? “Look, you’re lovely and all, but you’re a little young for me.”
“Am I?” He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth. “How old are you?”
“Me? I’m…” Panic bloomed in my stomach. How old was I?
“Pretty girl like you must have a pretty name.”
“I…” What was my name?
I looked up to find him sitting right beside me, his eyes all pupil as he locked onto mine.
“Yes… Yes, I think I’ll keep you,” he said.
My hand tingled, and when I looked down, there was a ticket clutched in it.
Cora
“Again! Do it again!” Vi orders.
“I am. I am,” Missy says. “It’s not working.”
The room is in an uproar. Mal, Uri, and Bastian have Azazel pinned. He’s a fucking beast trying to tear his way to Fee, which confirms one awful thing.
She’s dying.
She’s fucking dying.
“I had her,” Missy says. “I had her, and then she flatlined again. Why is she flatlining?”
She sounds genuinely confused.
Grayson is on his knees by Fee’s head, his mouth moving silently. Is he fucking praying? Hunter stands by the fireplace staring, just fucking staring as if he’s frozen in time.
No. We need to do something. An idea forms in my mind. A fucked-up, crazy plan. I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t even know if it’s possible, and I have no clue if I’ll be able to make it back if I succeed.
But I have to try.
I step forward, grab Fee’s hand, and make the most fucked-up, biggest jump of my life.
Right into nothingness.
It’s dark. Like, can’t breathe, suffocating dark.
For a moment, panic overtakes my common sense, and I’m hyperventilating, fear a fist around my heart.
Fee. I came for Fee. I have to focus because I know without a shadow of a doubt that I don’t belong here. This place knows it, but it’s hungry, and I can sense its claws. If I’m not careful, I could lose myself. I could become a meal for the claws waiting in the nothingness. If I’m not careful, I know I can lose myself in here.
Focus, Cor. Focus on Fee.
A light blooms in the darkness, turning the world gray. I run toward it.
Fee
“You could ride the bus,” the young man said. “Or…” There’s a vroom and a huge bike appeared in front of us, silver and black. It revved its engine. “You could ride with me…”
The bike was hot. Like super-hot, and I’d always wanted to ride one…at least I think I had. “Where will we go?”
“Wherever you want.”
He stood and held out a hand to me.
The bus chose that moment to show up.
Shit. I had a ticket, but…the bike was so much cooler.
I reached for the young man’s hand.
“Fee!” A woman came running out of the darkness. Slender, fierce-looking with golden hair that came down just past her shoulders. Her gaze flicked from me to the guy with the bike. She gave him a wide berth and held out her hand to me. “Fee, come on. We have to go.”
She seemed concerned. Worried. “Um…Do I know you?”
“Dammit, Fee, snap the fuck out of it. If you stay any longer, you’ll die.”
“Die?”
The young man leaned back against his bike and studied his nails. “You’re too late,” he said. “She’s already dead.”
The heat that had my chest in a grip began to melt.
The woman stared at me in horror. “No. No. Fee. Take my hand.”
“It won’t help,” the guy said. “But I’m not a monster. I’ll let you say goodbye.”
He flicked a wrist my way and a weight settled in my head—colors, names, and places. Memories flooded me. I was Seraphina Dawn. I was…I was me again, and I didn’t belong here.
Fuck! “Cora!” I made a grab for her hand, but my fingers passed through hers.
Oh, God. It was too late. I’d stayed too long.
“No…” Cora shook her head. “Please.” She turned to the man. “You can change this, can’t you? You can give her back. There’s still time.” She looked from the bike to the bus. “There’s