Death feels natural, like breathing. The water pierces my skin and floods the cab of the car. I unclip my seatbelt and float to the roof, pressing my head to the ceiling. It’s dark and the water is up to my neck so I allow my legs to float upward, and then I kick the side window with the heel of my boot until my calf muscles ache. I run my fingers along the door and grasp the handle, and then wait for the water to completely immerse the cab.
My dad was big on survival. He taught me things like how to escape a car when it’s submerged in water. If the water’s low enough, the door will open. But once it reaches a certain point, the pressure of the water inside has to equalize with the pressure of the water on the outside. Which means I have to wait for the car to completely fill up the cab, without drowning first.
I remain calm as the water rises and rises, and then I slant my head back and take a deep breath before the water suffocates me completely. Immediately, I flip the handle, but it snaps off. Bubbles escape my mouth as I bang on the door. The black water encases the cab and I swim for the other door, but I slam into the concaved roof, which is forming a wall to the other side. I spin around and bang my fist on the windshield. It’s getting darker and colder as the car plummets further into the lake.
My eyes stay open as bubbles gurgle from my mouth. I can’t see. I can’t breathe. Death is no longer peaceful. The air slips away, my heart dies, and my necklace floats off my neck as the water stills. Am I dead? The metal of the car crunches as it buckles beneath the weight of the water.
“Ember,” someone whispers. “Hang on.”
I glance from left to right. Darkness and I’m alone, just like my death omen. A faint light swims through the water to the window, illuminating the inside of the car, and I reach out to touch it.
“Ember,” the voice growls. “Don’t touch it.”
The light flashes, and then shifts into a black mass.
“Emmy,” it whispers and a black cape drapes over me. “Come with me.”
No, not again. My body ignites with flames. I scream as a tunnel opens up and swallows me.
Chapter 4
My first death omen happened when I was four. My grandma Nelly came to live with us, back when things were somewhat normal and hadn’t completely gone to shit yet. Grandma Nelly was old and suffered from dementia. By the time she moved in with us, she was fairly gone—forgetting things, wandering off in the middle of the night. My grandpa had passed away several years before and there was no one to take care of her. Eventually she started to suffer from hallucinations and forgot who everyone was. The night she died, she snuck into my room and sat down on the bed next to me. I’ll never forget that night—it changed my life forever.
She took off her necklace and placed in my hand. “Here, Emmy, this is yours now.”
The oval pendant filled up the palm of my hand. “Grandma, what are you doing?”
“Do you feel that, Ember?” Her eyes lit up with anticipation as she took my hand and placed it over her heart.
Her heart beat rapidly beneath my palm. I sat up, confused. “Feel what, Grandma? Your heart?”
She excitedly shook her head. “No, Emmy, my life. Do you feel it leaving?”
“No,” I answered and glanced at the door. “Are you okay, Grandma? Maybe I should go wake up Mama.”
“No, no,” she whispered. “You need to listen closer, Emmy. You’ll hear it—my life slipping away. You need to take it, okay?”
There was a desperate, almost momentous look in her eyes, so I shut my eyes and listened to the flutter of her heart, the whisper of her breath, the lull of her blood as it danced through her veins. There was warmth, then coldness as a light flickered inside me and for a moment, I felt powerful. When I opened my eyes, she was lying on the bed and her eyes were shut. She looked peaceful so I let her lay there for a while before waking my mother up and telling her Grandma was gone.
My mom asked what happened, so I told her, and she looked at me like it was my fault. And maybe it was. I had felt her life leave her body and my own life grow. After the funeral, my mom sent me to live with my dad, the mechanic/car thief. He did his best raising me until he vanished, then it was back to live with my mom and my brother.
“Open your eyes,” a deep voice demands. “Come on, not yet. Open your eyes, God dammit.” The whisper alters to a desperate plea. “Please, Ember… Please, wake up… You have to be one of them—I know you are.”
Soft lips touch mine and a jolt of life slams my heart, like a defibrillator charged it to life.
“Take it, please…” the voice begs. “You have to take it.”
A soulful and poetic voice whispers in my mind to bring my body back to life, then the life of another links to every part of me and revitalizes my body. My heart expands and sends the blood pumping through my body again, then a hand presses against my heart and my lungs swell. My eyelids open and water rushes up my throat as I hack up dirty water until oxygen flows through my lungs again. I think I spot my body floating up above me in the trees, but everything’s blurry, like an unfocused camera lens. I rub my eyes, sitting up, and the body evaporates into the night sky.
“Are you okay?” my rescuer asks with a cough.
I dry my eyes with my fingertips. “I think so… How did you…” What the hell was that?
The moon reflects from behind the hazy clouds and rain sprinkles from the sky as I finally look at my rescuer. The gorgeous guy from the party kneels on the rocky shoreline next to me, his slate eyes all over me, taking me in. His black hair is damp and beads of water drip down his pale skin. The silver skull on his necklace glints in the moonlight and his long, black eyelashes flutter against the rain. His beauty is breathtaking and I instantly get caught up in him again and almost forget where I am.
“Did you… did you jump in and save me?” I cough with my hand over my mouth.
He watches me in a way no one has ever done before, like I’m something valuable. “Yes… I thought I lost you for a second, though.”