When The Grave Calls (The Veil Diaries #9) - B.L. Brunnemer Page 0,76

to say anything, I shook my head repeatedly and tried to get enough breath to speak.

“It’s okay, Beautiful.” Ethan smiled a sad smile. “It’s going to be okay.”

I met his eyes. My world was shattered around me. My heart in pieces. They were gone. There was nothing left for me, not without them. My voice trembled and croaked. “It’s not okay, it never will be okay again. Not without you.”

“Lexie, breathe. Please,” Zeke rasped.

Shiny drops moved down all of their faces as I looked up at them, still gasping. Still trying to just exist. Trying to get through the next moment.

“You have to let us go,” Asher said as he knelt down. “Please. You’re alive, and we’re okay with it.”

I shook my head as the answer hit me. “I-I can bring you back.”

Miles shook his head as he stepped closer. “Don’t do that to us. Don’t make us zombies.”

I wiped my face and put my hand on the chest of Asher’s body. “The Veil energy.” Desperate, I went down deep to that place where it connected to me and pulled. Energy of creation, Jadis had said. I could save them. The energy slipped from my grasp. Desperate, almost out of my mind, I mentally scrambled for it again.

“No, Lexie. That’ll close the Veil again.” Mila grabbed my hand and pulled it back from Asher, turning me to her.

I jerked back and broke her hold. “I don’t care.”

“You can’t do that,” Mila said.

I shook my head and reached out. I connected to the Veil again. Gold light glowed under my hand. Heal. Please.

“You’d doom the world to save the people you love?” Mila demanded harshly.

I turned on her. “Yes! Fuck a world that doesn’t have them in it!”

Her eyes narrowed on mine. “How does that make you any different than the person who started this?”

I flinched at her words, trying to hide from the truth of them. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t save them. I wasn’t like that person. I crumbled against her. “I can’t do this.”

“Where’d Ethan go?” Isaac asked behind me.

That broke me all over again. I sobbed into her shoulder. He’d moved on, left me. Left us. Why?

Thunder clapped above. The ground shook. A wave of energy ripped through the ruins, shaking me to the bone. I didn’t care. Let it take me out. They were gone. That’s all that mattered.

“Beautiful,” a voice called.

I shook my head. He was gone, he’d never call me that again. The scent of spicy cologne reached me. I lifted my head only high enough to see him. Ethan. Whole, covered in blood, but healed. Was he real? Could he really be here? Or was I just losing my mind? Wait … he was a phoenix. I reached out a shaking hand. My fingers touched wet cotton. Awe crashed over me as I launched myself into his arms. I clung to him as I sobbed into his chest. “I love you. I love you.” I barely managed between sobs. “Please don’t go away again.”

He held me tighter than he ever had before as tears poured down his face. “I’m alive, I’m here. I love you. It’ll be okay.”

“You guys can do this.” Zeke knelt beside us. “You’re both strong. And you have each other.”

I pulled back from Ethan and looked up at one of the pieces of my heart. “Don’t lie to me. Not now.”

Zeke closed his eyes as more silver tears fell down his cheeks. Those icy-blue eyes met mine. “You can. You have to. For us.”

I shook my head as Ethan held me close.

“You have to live for us,” Isaac said, his voice a barely-there rasp.

“Hermano …” Ethan gasped.

Isaac shook his head. “It’s okay, brother. It’s going to be okay.”

“I’ll never see you again.” Ethan croaked as his grip on me tightened.

“That’s the way it’s gotta be.” Isaac’s voice shook. “See the world. Make your band a success. Love Lexie. Do everything we won’t be able to.”

Unable to take it, I buried my face in Ethan’s neck as we cried.

“Father,” Mila said.

“It’s over?” a man’s voice asked.

I struggled to breathe with the loss coursing through me.

“Yes,” Mila answered.

“Good,” the man said.

“Can you save them?” Mila asked.

That brought me back enough to lift my head and turn to them. His square face was dour and tan. Death didn’t look like a skeleton. He looked like a normal human being who worked outside a lot. Dark hair, dark eyes. His jaw reminded me of someone. Dad. He looked vaguely like my father.