“This wasn’t the reunion I planned,” he said with a shallow laugh. Somewhere deep inside I knew he was worried as much as I was, but he hid it with humor.
“I saw her run out here,” Kye’s voice carried through the air. I raised my head from Aiden’s chest and listened as footsteps approached the hedge maze.
“Gwen?” Holly called. My heart rate sped up while my hands pushed Aiden. “You have to leave,” I whispered. He listened for a few moments then leaned down and kissed me. I forgot myself as our tongues swirled together, and Aiden pulled me into the hard plains of his body.
“What would she be doing out here?” Holly questioned.
“The maze is quite lovely, perhaps she’s meditating,” Kye answered.
I broke our kiss and shoved Aiden again. If Holly found out he was here, she’d kill him. “I’m staying in Seattle at the Hilton, meet me tomorrow night,” Aiden whispered and vanished in a blur.
My hands were shaking and my breathing was labored like a kid who’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep gulp of air, releasing it through my nose. By the time I repeated the breathing exercise a few times my hands stopped quivering and my heart was back to a normal rhythm.
Holly and Kye rounded the corner, and I turned to face them. Kye grinned like he was onto me, while Holly inspected me with curiosity. “Didn’t you hear us calling you?” she asked.
I shook my head and shrugged to feign innocence. “I was trying to relax. I must have slipped into a daze. I’m sorry I didn’t hear you, what did you need?” I hoped my voice didn’t betray my lie.
“I just wanted to make sure you were ready for training tomorrow,” Holly said. Her eye twitched like she was daring me to refuse. My heartbeat started to pick up speed again. I had to follow her orders, so I nodded my head, afraid my voice would be too harsh if I spoke.
“Very good. Itineraries have been delivered to every room. We must be organized if we hope to win the fight,” she said.
I glanced at Kye to keep from rolling my eyes and saw his jaw tighten and his body stiffen. There was something going on with him, something I planned to find out.
3
I was scared awake bright and early the next morning by a loud banging coming from my door. I hopped out of bed and rushed to the door, expecting someone to tell me the sky was falling. Instead, Kye stood on the other side, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face as he observed I was still in my pajamas.
“You have ten minutes to meet me out front,” he turned and headed down the stairs.
I rolled my eyes but hurried to dress for the day. Deciding I needed to be comfortable, I slipped on a pair of black yoga pants, a black tank top and topped it off with a black and pink jacket. I tied my Adidas shoes and pulled my hair up into a messy ponytail. I wasn’t much to look at, but then again, I wasn’t trying to impress anyone.
I hurried down the stone staircase and made a detour to the kitchen, a girl had to eat. I scoured the expansive kitchen for something quick and easy, finally settling on a banana and a bottle of water.
When I walked outside, Kye’s disapproval was obvious. I rolled my eyes and finished the last bite of my banana. “Someone must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed,” I mumbled.
“Anyone who has to train you would be in a foul mood,” Kye snapped back.
“Hey, I’m all for not training. Tell Holly to pick someone else for her evil plan.” I headed down the stone steps and waited for Kye to follow me. There was no way he would suggest Holly find someone else, she had her mind made up—I was her sole focus.
Kye padded down the stairs and headed to the right. “Well, come on then,” he called over his shoulder. I snorted and followed him back to the graveyard. I was coming to accept I may be a spirit walker, but I didn’t have to like it or graveyards. I didn’t want to befriend the things that go bump in the night, well except for a certain sexy vampire. I followed Kye through the leaf-littered grounds. He stopped in front of a large tombstone which looked newer than the ones I’d seen last night. The only words inscribed on the stone was a name—Irene Bartlett. I found it odd that no dates or personal inscription was added.
“I was told you interacted with a spirit a few weeks ago. What was it like?” Kye asked.
I stared at the ground and bit my lip while I thought of words to describe my time with Bridget Downing. She was the second victim found, only she had stuck around. She visited me through dreams, but Ms. Ozland assured me my time with her was in the ghostly realm. She knew this because I have gray swirling within my aura, something only spirit walkers have I guess.
I looked up at Kye, “Scary and confusing.” Those were the best words to describe my experience, but they didn’t do my encounter justice.
“That was the first time you interacted with the dead?”
“On a personal level, yes. I first read a dead person here when I was sixteen. Holly had just given me Aura, my cat and familiar, and then a warlock was murdered. Holly told me to check him and when my fingers made contact, I saw his memories.”She had to have known what would happen once I touched the dead warlock, or why would she have asked me to do it? How did she know what I could do?
“You don’t actually need your cat. Holly gave her to you so you would feel comfortable with your gift. Spirit walkers have their own connection with death, they don’t need a conduit such as Aura,” Kye explained.
I scrunched up my face. “Of course I need Aura; she’s my link to the spirit world.” Every time I read the memories of the dead, Aura was there. She’s a spirit who assumed the body of a cat. She fed me energy so I could delve into the ghostly atmosphere. Of course I never tried doing it without her. I assumed I needed her and even though she was just an animal, I felt safe having her with me while I read the dead.
“Have you ever tried without her?”
I began to speak but shut my mouth when I couldn’t refute his observation.
“I didn’t think so. So how do you know you can’t interact with the dead without her?” Kye tilted his head to the side.
“Holly told me with her I would accomplish great things,” I said. I was beginning to think I couldn’t trust anything Holly told me.
“And so you will, but with your own magic. I want you to place your palms on this tombstone and tell me what you feel,” Kye instructed.
“The last time I did what you told me, my hands fell through the ground,” I accused with an arched eyebrow.
“Which proves your power, now, put your hands on the tombstone.”
I did as he instructed. The marble was cold beneath my palms, but I felt nothing else.
“Close your eyes,” Kye ordered.
With an annoyed huff, I closed my eyes. I didn’t know how running around the cemetery was going to help the NAWC win their war, but if all I had to do was touch gravestones, I wouldn’t complain, much.
“Connect with your magic and wield it towards the stone.”
I concentrated on my magic’s steady hum of energy. It was a constant purr under my skin, but when I focused on it, commanded it to come to the forefront, the steady hum became a prickling tickle which danced throughout my body.
I exerted the tickling energy out of my palms and into Irene Bartlett’s tombstone. I could hear my magic sizzling and popping as it made contact but nothing substantial was happening.
Kye dusted something over my hands, and when I cracked an eye open to inspect, my hands were covered in dirt.
“Keep concentrating, connect with the tombstone,” Kye said as he continued to sprinkle dirt over my hands. Soon a steady stream of energy ran from me to the stone. I opened my eyes, and Kye was gone. The sky had turned gray along with the rest of the town. All of the buildings, the trees, and plants were in different shades of gray. The ground had a thin layer of fog rolling across, lending an eerie feeling to the already creepy graveyard.
“Kye?” I called, my eyes roaming over the bleak landscape, but he was nowhere to be found. I turned around and gasped.
A woman in her late thirties, or early forties, was sitting on top of a tombstone. Her hair, although the color was muted, was red and cascaded over her shoulder. The woman’s skin was ashen and contrasted against the black dress she wore. A smile played at her lips and mischief danced in her dark eyes.
She floated, literally floated, down from the tombstone and over to me. My feet were frozen in place while my heart pounded against my chest. I could see the similarities between her and Bridget, but unlike Bridget, this ghost seemed threatening. She threw her head back and laughed like the wicked witch of the west. Goosebumps danced along my skin, and my once frozen feet stumbled backwards. Her wide black eyes darted back and forth as her lip curled up over crooked teeth. She took a jerky, unnatural step towards me. My entire body trembled at the sight of her.
I tripped trying to get away and landed onto my back. Before I could scurry out of her reach, she was on me. She hovered horizontally just inches above me, her hair dangling in my face. She trailed a dirty nail down the side of my face, and I whimpered in pain as she scratched me. A cackle of joy filled the cemetery while she observed my blood on her pointer finger with wild eyes. The ghost smeared my blood across my forehead and swiped at my scratch again.
My magic revved up with my fear. I shoved both of my hands at her and sent a powerful jolt towards her chest, but my hands went right through her, an icy coldness caressing my skin. However, she floated up and off of me. I scrambled to my feet. She was sitting on the ground and rocking back and forth as she stared at her bloodstained hand.
My head felt heavy, and my vision blurred. Dizziness washed over me, and I fell onto the ground again. My vision darkened into nothingness.
When the world stopped spinning, I opened my eyes sluggishly—afraid I’d see the insane ghost again. The first thing I noticed was the grayness was gone. I could see the green of the grass and the blue sky.
“Gwen?” Kye said.
I blinked a couple of times before my eyes would focus on his face. He knelt over me with concern.