A dark puddle grows beneath his feet, but he doesn’t seem fussed at all about being soaking wet with clothes on.
“Doubtful,” Liam says, stepping in front of me.
“Well, that really is a pity, Liam. Truly. Because now I’m going to have to do what I do best. Well, second best,” Jake says, chuckling softly.
“And what’s that,” I say, stepping around Liam and taking the lead.
“Well, see, I have to protect myself, and I’m going to do whatever’s best in order to make that happen. I mean, I don’t want to end up like all those walking dead things outside. I’m too hot for all that,” he says.
“What did you do?” I demand, clenching my fists at my sides.
Jake’s shoulders shimmy to his ears, “Mmm, mmmm, mm. Anyone ever tell you you’re sexy when you’re angry?”
“That’s enough—” Liam says, his jaw muscles flexing in the low light.
Jake tips his head. “Ehhhh… is it, though?”
“Enough games. What do you want?” I spit.
“What I’ve always wanted. To live, be happy, and partake in orgies. Is that too much to ask?” he says. “And in order to continue all of that, my powers-that-be want me to offer up recompense. Yes folks, that’s you.”
“You offered to turn us in? To what? To who?” Liam says, taking a step forward.
“You were right the first time. They want me to turn you into wraiths. Or… the wraiths,” Jake stops, tapping the bottom of his chin as he appears to think. “To the wraiths to be wraiths?”
“You led them here?” I say, my nostrils flaring.
“Hell no. They led me here. Weren’t you listening? But now I’m gonna lead them in here. So, yeah, sorta right. Hope you got enough booty time because it’s probably all you’re gonna get,” he says, his white teeth glowing brightly in the purple light.
Before I can spit out a comeback, he bends down and yanks hard at something at his feet. A single wraith splashes through the side of the waterfall, entering the space in a sloshy wet production as it flails and whines.
“See, they’re not huge fans of getting wet—but they’re not gonna melt or anything. They’re just big babies. Learned that when one of ’em was chasing me,” Jake says, stepping aside as the wraith drops to the floor, rolling around and screaming like he’s on fire. “Now, you have about two and a half minutes of this to figure a way out of this mess before he comes to his senses. In the meantime, though…” Twisting around, Jake walks into the water and vanishes.
Liam places his hands to his ears, trying to drown out the sound of the wraith as he turns to me. I shake my head, trying to figure out what he’s up to now.
“We should get out—” I begin, grabbing hold of Liam’s forearm. I no sooner get those words out than Jake plunges a makeshift doorway on the side of the waterfall where the water isn’t falling as hard.
Like a curtain being pulled on the cascade, there’s suddenly an open space wide enough for a being to walk through, mostly unencumbered, between our alcove and the wet, rocky cliffside.
“With one of their own down here, mixed with your yummy, smelly life force, you’ll be dealing with the herd in no time. Good luck,” he says, tipping his head and diving into the water. Within seconds, he’s beyond the falls and has vanished before our eyes.
“Come on, Liam. We need to do the same,” I command, trying to drag Liam to the water. The herd of wraiths are all above us, and it won’t take long for them to make their way to this opening.
“But there’s just one. Take out the wooden umbrella—or whatever he propped in there, and I’ll deal with this guy,” Liam says, breaking from my hand and stepping toward the wraith.
“He’s not a guy, Liam. He’s a wraith, remember?” I say, reaching for him. “You can’t touch him.”
He spins around, a look of confusion clear across his face. “What are you talking about?”
Instantly, I realize he’s been losing memories—important ones, too. Ones that will get him obliterated if he’s not careful.
The wraith suddenly stops screaming, as if a timer was shut off, and rolls onto its side. Standing up slowly, it holds there for a moment, like it’s waiting for a command.
“We need to go—” I repeat, an octave higher.
Liam takes a step forward. “No, I got this. Look how frail he is. Sir, sir—you need to get out of here. It’s not safe.”
The direct connection with Liam is all the wraith needed to switch back on, and its sunken, dark eyes zero in on Liam. In a movement far more swift than I would have thought possible, the wraith lunges forward, its bony arms extended and fingers groping at the air to make contact with him.
Lunging forward, I shove Liam to the side, allowing the wraith to grab hold of me instead. With as much force as I can muster, I drag it to the water’s edge and throw both of us into the pool behind the falls. As we hit the water, the wraith loses contact with me, thanks in part to my lack of clothing and slippery, wet skin. I kick myself away, trying to put distance between us, but the wraith flails wildly, entangling its left hand into the strands of my long hair. Yanking me back, it gropes for more, trying to pull me closer.
Swallowing in a huge mouthful of water as the wraith pushes me under, my mind is suddenly fuzzy, and all I can think about is the beautiful singing suddenly invading my ears. The music is so beautiful, and I want nothing more than to escape this torment and go toward the melody.
Beside me, a stronger body slams into me, yanking at the wraith and trying to pull him off, but it’s no use. Its fingers are like talons, refusing to let go of its prey.
The music lulls me again, enticing me to drift away. To give in…
My lungs burn and the sensation pulls me into the present, reminding me I need to get away—I need air. I pull both feet up tight, placing them squarely on the wraith’s torso and kicking hard. It releases my hair as it gropes at its side and tries to regain some buoyancy of its own. I kick my legs hard, pushing the water and propelling myself forward the way I was taught earlier. At least, I think it was earlier…
A moment later, my hands bump against rocks and I pull myself from the water and back away from the ledge. Two separate entities flail about wildly in the pool beyond, but one edges nearer. Scrambling back further, I watch the motion until finally, Liam bursts from the water and pulls himself onto the rocky ledge. Pushing myself forward on hands and knees, I make my way to him, holding out an arm to help him up.
“Oh, thank you,” he says. “I… appreciate it.”
“No problem,” I say, watching his movements as he stands. He’s a bit slow, but doesn’t look too worse for wear.
“Where did you come from?” he asks.
“The water. There was a…” I say, holding a hand to my head and trying to jog my thoughts loose. “I was trying to…”
My brain whirls, searching for answers, but nothing comes. It’s all a big blank. But I remember music. Beautiful music…
“You look really familiar. Do I know you?” Liam says.
I flick my gaze back to him, my eyes wide in shock and horror.
“You don’t… remember me?” I say.
He shakes his head and water flicks everywhere. “Should I?”
I take a deep breath, pushing to a stand and stepping away from the water’s edge. How could he forget about me? I remember him…
A few feet ahead of me, the flailing in the water slows to a stop. Staring at the place where the wraith ceases, I suddenly notice a soft light emerging from the water.
Wait a minute… Where is that beautiful purple light coming from?
Chapter 15
Consciousness Compromised
“Hey look, there’s a doorway over here,” Liam says. “We should go check it out.”
Narrowing my gaze, I try to put my finger on why the purple light is so familiar to me. It’s important but slips away like a dream upon waking. Blinking away my confusion, I turn back to Liam. “Doorway?”
Why is the
re a doorway in a waterfall?
I follow his movements as he makes his way to a makeshift opening in the waterfall. Suddenly, a conversation with the incubus flashes through my brain and I race forward, trying to grab Liam’s wrist. “No, stop. We can’t—”
Just as I reach him, a wraith tumbles down the cliffside, landing just outside the door. Both of us automatically back up, and Liam’s eyes widen in surprise.
“What—what is that thing?” he says, taking another step back. “Wait, is that a man? Sir, are you okay?”
Before I can tell him to leave it alone, the wraith clambers to his feet, finding the open doorway and making his way inside the alcove.
“Oh my god, we won’t be able to stop them all if they realize this is here,” I say, thinking aloud.
“Stop them all? It’s just one guy,” Liam says, pointing.
Deja vu washes over me and I suddenly feel sick. This has happened before, and if we’re not careful, it will continue to happen. The wraiths will keep coming until we lose all sense of self and become one of them. I can’t let that happen. But how can I save us when our thoughts and memories are slipping?
Looking around at the space, there aren’t many options. Either we fight off the wraith or we take our chances with the water—and whatever is beyond in the strange, purple pool.
“Hey, are you okay? You look pretty beat up—” Liam begins.
The wraith lunges forward, swiping at the air as it tries to make contact with Liam. Its bony fingers splay wide, groping at the air in a way that makes my skin crawl.
“Liam, we need to go into the water. The water is safe—” I say, pulling us both to the water’s edge.
“But what about the guy? He looks like he needs our help,” he says, turning to me. His eyes take on a doe-like quality, and he cocks his head to the side. “Hey, wait a minute. Do I know you? You look really familiar.”
My eyes widen, and I swallow hard. He’s worse—far worse. When he was in the water with me, he must have touched the wraith, too.
“Liam, it’s me—Eva,” I say, holding my hand out for him.
He looks at my hand quizzically but doesn’t take it. Inside, my heart constricts. I wish there was some way to reverse this. Some way to… turn back time and fix this. Pulling up short, I stop for a moment, trying to recollect the memory tickling at the edge of my mind. The answer is there right there, if I could only access it.
Again the wraith lunges toward us, picking up speed as it half-walks, half-runs. Shaking away whatever answer I was reaching for, I grab Liam’s wrist and tug him into the water with me. As we hit the cold water, the wraith makes an attempt to follow us. However, when its foot loses contact with the ground and touches the water’s surface, it yanks it back and screams as if it burns.
Suddenly, three more wraiths tumble from the cliffside, entwining with one another as they hit the ground just outside the doorway. I continue to move us backward, putting as much distance as possible between ourselves and the incoming wraiths.
“I’m so confused. What’s going on? Why are we naked?” Liam says, suddenly pulling his hand from mine and covering up his lower half.
Glancing down, I fumble, realizing I have no clothes either. What in the—? I take a deep breath, trying to clear the cobwebs from my mind as the wraiths congregate en masse. When they realize we’ve gone where they won’t go, they scream a high-pitched, unearthly screech. Both Liam and I place our hands over our ears, cowering from the noise.
“What are those things?” Liam yells, trying to be heard over the crash of the waterfall and the screams of the wraiths. “Why are they screaming like that?”
“It doesn’t matter, we need to get out of here,” I say, gearing up to take us through the waterfall.
More wraiths tumble in, and soon there’s a dozen or so all standing on the water’s edge, screaming at us. One of them gets pushed into the pool by the newcomers, and he flails wildly a few feet in front of us. He gropes at the water, trying to reach out for us—or anything, really.
Without another word, I interlock my arm with Liam’s and drag us both through the chilling waterfall. As we emerge on the other side, I continue dragging us as far back from the wraiths as possible. But when we’ve cleared the other side, my gaze flits to the area surrounding it. Hoards of wraiths linger on every conceivable flat surface as if waiting for an opportunity to entrap us. One of them notices us, suddenly screeching as it makes its way from the cliffside, trying to be the first one closest to us.
“Holy shit—why are there so many of them?” Liam says, his eyes wide.
“You’ve got nowhere to run, you know,” Jake calls from across the lake. “They’ll eventually get to you.”
“Don’t bet on it,” I call back, clenching my jaw.
“If not tonight, there’s always tomorrow,” he says flippantly. “Eventually, you won’t remember shit, and they’ll get to feed off what little coherence remains in your thick skulls. I mean, really—was it so hard to just be nice?”
In the distance, the inklings of sunlight crack the sky, mimicking the same purples swirling in the water beneath us. Can we make it through another night of this? Liam has already lost so much of his memory... and I know there are important details I’m missing, too. If only I could clear my head—or find a way to fix this. There has to be…
“Whoa. Do you see that purple light?” Liam says, looking down into the water. “What’s causing this?”
I glance down, staring at the water and trying to remember what’s causing it.
“It’s a gateway,” I mutter, absently.
“Gateway? To what?”
Wraiths filter in almost single file, crowding around the entire lakeshore, waiting for us to get out of the water. Some of them scream while others stand in an almost dormant, power-saving mode.
“I… don’t remember,” I begin, searching my brain for the answer.
In a flash of insight, I see the Temple of Intermediaries and I suck in a breath.
That’s right… The Intermediaries. They can help us, and this is their gateway.
“I think I can fix this,” I say, turning to Liam and reaching for his hand. “Do you trust me?”
Liam takes my offering but narrows his eyes. “I just met you. I’m not sure yet.”
Running my hand along my forehead, I take a deep breath, trying to recall how to use the portal. I used to have powers—that much I remember—but I don’t have them now. So, how do we… My mind drifts to the last time I went to the Intermediaries. I was hunting something and… I spoke to them about my… What was it?
All of a sudden, as if sucked into a vortex of intense, bright-white light, the ground beneath us falls away. I grope onto Liam’s hand, not wanting to lose contact with him. Then, as quickly as the light flared up, it recedes, dropping us in front of an enormous circular wooden desk.
An old woman stands up, adjusting her purple frames as she does so. Barely tall enough to see over the edge, she smiles as soon when she sees the two of us.
“Ah, Evangeline, Liam. You’re right on time,” she says, walking around from behind the desk.
My eyebrows pull in and I cast a glance at Liam, who looks just as confused as I am. “You were expecting us?” I say, returning my gaze to the woman.
“Of course. I told you I’d let you know when your sword was ready,” she says with a smile.
I shake my head, trying to place her words. “Sword?”
The woman rolls her blue eyes and sighs. “Yes, your sword, dear Guardian. The one you brought to me earlier. It’s ready for you.”
“But I’m not— I think you might be confused,” I say.
She quirks an eyebrow and says, “And yet, I’m not the one who left the house in her birthday suit.”
My face flushes and I glance down. As I do so, she snaps her fingers, and both Liam and I go from naked to fully clothed. A soft, flowery dress covers my skin, and yet I still feel exposed. Liam, on the other hand, is clad in dark denim
and a white button-down shirt, making my heart swell. Clothed or not, he always looks good.
Sighing to myself, I straighten my shoulders. “I, um… Are you an Intermediary?”
“The one and only,” the woman grins. “My name is Alda, by the way. I don’t think we exchanged pleasantries last time. Totally my fault.” Extending her hand, I take her offering and give it a shake.
“Oh… well, Alda. I was hoping you could help me—us, actually.”
“Yes, I figured you might,” she nods.
“You did?”
Again, she nods.
I scrunch my face, trying to find the right words to explain how dire this situation really is.
“Eva, come with me a moment,” Alda says, adjusting her purple glasses and tipping her head toward the hallway behind the desk.
I glance over my shoulder.
“Liam, why don’t you have a seat at the table. I think you’ll find some of the books to be of particular interest to you,” Alda says with a twinkle in her eyes. “Do a bit of research, won’t you?”
“Liam, stay here. I’ll be right back. Okay?” I say.
As if in a haze, Liam nods and does what he’s told.
Confused, I narrow my eyes at Alda.
She shrugs. “When in a land of broken consciousness, it helps to have a mission. It keeps the brain from sitting idle and getting worse. Okay, dear, walk with me a moment.” She turns on her heel and meanders away from the table and Liam.
Doing as I’m asked, I follow the gray-haired woman down a hallway of bookshelves. Ancient-looking tomes cover the shelves but are interspersed with knickknacks and other items.
“I don’t understand why—” I begin.
“Your consciousness has been compromised, Evangeline. Many things won’t make sense right now. So you need to listen and listen good,” she says.
“Okay…”
“I’ve been keeping track of your journey. Yours and Liam’s. It is my job, some might say. I understand you’re here to help him regain his memories.”
I nod. “Yes, exactly. We came into contact with some… er…”
Playing With Fire Page 90
