* * *
“I’m going to stay in the pickup while you get Anwar and the stuff you need to do this,” I told Nathan when he parked in front of his house. “I don’t feel so good.” My stomach was in a knot, and I could taste the Lucky Charms I had earlier rising in my throat.
He kissed me. “I’ll be back.” He paused, his eyes fixed on my face. “You look paler than normal. Are you all right?” His hand went to my forehead, and he wiped the sweat off.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I moaned, holding my stomach.
“Try to think of something else, and I’ll see if Anwar has an herb you can take to help you through this.”
I nodded, staring at his anxious eyes. He kissed me again then vanished. I sat trying to focus on something else, but my mind kept shifting back onto the pain and blood. A wave of radiating heat pulsed through my body. I flung the door open, spewing Lucky Charms on the ground. Ugh, I hated throwing up. But at least it didn’t come out my nose or get in my hair, I told myself. I got a mint from my purse and chewed it, sitting still for a minute to make sure the nausea subsided.
Finally, I was able to get out of the pickup. I rubbed my stomach, breathing in the cool, damp, air. It had an earthy smell, the genesis of all smells. And as I stared at the gray sky, watching it growing darker by the second, a high-pitched ringing sounded in my ears.
“Paige,” I heard Tree’s voice call. My head snapped in the direction of his voice, confusion clouding my mind.
How did he know where Nathan lived, and why were my ears ringing?
I spotted him and Carrie right away, stepping out of the foggy black forest, like two ghostly apparitions. I noticed the smug look on Carrie’s face, and my blood ran cold.
How in the hell did she get inside Carrie?
Tree waved to me. “Carrie wanted to surprise you and Nathan, so we parked down the road,” he said.
They were getting closer now, and Carrie narrowed her eyes, like a cat getting ready to pounce on its prey. A rush of adrenaline coursed through my veins as fear exploded in my heart. I glanced over my shoulder and saw two guys–who looked like they belonged in prison–holding heavy chains and billy clubs dart inside the house.
“Who are they?” Tree asked. His eyes widened when he noticed me shaking. “What’s going on?” His hand went to Carrie’s arm, and she pushed him away as if he were an annoying dog jumping on her. He stumbled backwards, his boots scraping the ground, and fell.
A loud crashing noise came from the house and one of the front windows burst, spraying shards of glass all over the deck.
“Paige!” Nathan’s frantic voice bellowed through the crashing noises erupting from the house.
Hearing his voice ripped through my heart, and the fear of never seeing him again devoured me. I knew I had to do something, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I ran to Tree.
“You need to get back to the car right now,” I told him. “You’re not safe here.”
He scrambled to his feet, rubbing his back, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. Carrie snatched my wrist, spinning me around. A beam of light swiped across her eyes. I jerked my hand to break free, but it was useless; she was too strong. A malicious sneer crossed her face, and she forced me to her.
“What is your decision?” she asked, her voice higher than normal.
“Carrie, let go of Paige. You’re hurting her.” Tree reached out to remove her hand from my wrist. She shoved him with her free hand, knocking him to the ground, much harder this time.
“Leave him alone,” I said, and out the corner of my eye I saw Tree getting up. “Stay away, Tree. This isn’t Carrie.”
He looked at me in bewilderment, then jerked his head toward the house. “There are two more guys going inside the house.” He pointed.
I tried to look, but Carrie jerked my arm so hard it felt like it went out of the socket. I yelped.
“What’s your answer?” She was losing her patience.
“Get the hell out of here!” I yelled at Tree. He looked at the house again, then at me, torn on what to do. I could hear horrifying shrieks coming from the house, and Nathan’s ferocious voice roaring throughout it.
Carrie reached to her back pocket and pulled out a sharp hunting knife. Her eyes turned small, and her mouth became even crueler. “I’m going to ask you one more time,” she said coldly between her teeth, raising the knife blade to my face. “What is your decision?”
I jerked my head back and glanced away and saw Matt running out of the foggy woods, straight for Tree. “Behind you Tree!” I hollered.
Tree turned, and Matt barreled into him. Tree fell backwards, and his head bounced off a log, knocking him out.
“You son-of-a-bitch!” I screamed. “He has nothing to do with this!”
With a twisted smirk, Matt arrogantly wiped himself off. He casually walked over to me and grabbed my other wrist. I looked at Carrie. On her face burned a delight that could only be described as evil. I knew then they were going to kill me. I screamed for them to let me go as they dragged me to a tree. I dropped my weight and tried to kick their feet out from under them, but they took hold of my armpits and swung my body against a tree. I thought about Nathan and me never being together again, but instead of crying and pleading for my life, I became angry.
How dare they do this to us!
“I have plans for you, Paige,” Matt whispered. “I found the ring, and I’ll be needing your assistance in finding the incantations.” He glanced at Carrie who was dancing around with the knife in her hand laughing. He leaned closer to my ear. “Aosoth isn’t aware of this, but soon she will be, however, I’ll be out of the country by then.” He lifted my hands above my head. “I’ll be seeing you again.” He pulled a leather cord out of his pocket and tied my wrists to the tree. The cord was so tight, my hands became numb.
I spat in his face. “Fuck you!” I glared at Carrie. “And fuck you too! You’re nothing but a crazy, stupid, bitch!” Matt chuckled under his breath, and Carrie stared scornfully at me.
“Let me cut her throat,” she hissed blackly, lifting the knife to my neck. I turned my head, feeling the blade press into my skin and heard a strange squeaking sound escape my lips.
“No,” Matt snapped, removing her hand. “Stick to the plan.”
She snatched my face and dug her sharp black nails into my cheeks. Her hot breath blew into my ear. “Vos ero pessum ire,” she said in a dark, hateful voice, reminding me of the horrific dream I had. I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing angry tears out.
“This will only hurt for a few minutes,” Matt whispered into my ear.
I opened my eyes to a tenderness glowing in his, then a sharp pain seared down both my forearms. I screamed in agony, and a loud clap of thunder broke across the dark sky. The tree I was tied to shook violently, and Carrie twirled around with blood dripping off the knife, her head thrown back with her mouth opened wide in sadistic laughter.
I cried from the excruciating pain of my skin being laid open like a slaughtered animal, but then felt my body going into shock and quickly becoming weak, just like Nathan had said.
And then I heard a vicious, snarling animal running at us. I realized it was Nathan when I saw his face contorted into a mask beyond rage. Anwar was close behind him. His hand clamped onto Matt’s throat before Matt had the chance to react.
I could feel myself disconnecting from my body, no longer aware of the pain. My eyes fell on Nathan lifting Carrie above his head, his wrathful voice saying and chanting things I couldn’t understand. With what I thought was my last breath, I told him not to hurt her, and hoped he had heard my weak voice.
I catapulted out of my body and found myself standing a couple yards away from them. I felt the same as when I had the out-of-body experience at The Lion’s Den. I was free from my fleshly prison and felt wonderful. But then I saw Carrie on the ground gasping, unable to move, and Nathan rushing to my limp body.
“Paige! … No! … Please baby, hang on,” he cri
ed, ripping the cord off my wrists. My body fell forward into his arms. He was crying and shaking while he lowered me gingerly to the ground, my blood covering the front of him.
Anwar was chanting a Latin incantation, holding Matt by the neck, high above the ground. Matt stared defiantly at him without saying a word, and then a black ghostly thing with glowing eyes left the body. The spirit flew passed me, disappearing into the trees, swaying the branches in flight.
“Nathaniel, you must do it now!” Anwar yelled, tossing Matt aside and picking Carrie off the ground.
“I can’t,” Nathan’s anguished voice told him.
Tree was awake now, rubbing the back of his head. His attention immediately snapped on Anwar holding Carrie by the throat. He jumped to his feet and ran to her.
Anwar stuck his hand out. “I’m trying to help her.” Tree stopped when he caught the stern look on Anwar’s face. Carrie writhed in his grasp, spouting what sounded like curses in Latin. “Nathaniel! Do it now! You’re going to lose her forever if you don’t!”
It was weird how I could see everything happening at once, and when I’d focused on one person, I’d end up beside them.
Now I stood beside Nathan, helplessly watching. His hands were planted on the ground beside my shoulders. Tears were dripping off his face onto my cheeks.
“I love you, Paige. Baby, please don’t leave me.” He grabbed the knife Carrie dropped, then everything stopped, like the universe had pushed the pause button.
A bright white light encompassed me. I didn’t know if it came from above or below me, but I was inside it, enfolded in the arms of peace and love.
“Paige.” I heard my mother’s voice behind me and felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Mom?” I turned to her and my father holding hands, smiling.
I threw my arms around them, laughing and crying at the same time. It felt so right, the three of us together, and the two huge gaps inside me finally became full again.
“Paige, honey, you need to go back,” she said. “They need you, and you need them.”
“Your mother is right,” Dad said. “There’s so much good you can do, and it would be a shame if you were to walk away from it.”
My lip trembled. “But I’ll never see you again, and I miss you two so much.” I totally didn’t want to leave them, especially since the three of us were now together. It was ironic though, that my father had chosen to leave us because it was the right thing for him to do, and now I was faced with the same dilemma.
Mom took my hand. “We’ll always be with you, and I believe we’ll see each other again. This isn’t goodbye.” She hugged me and somehow I knew she was right.
I could feel their love for me pouring from them, a warmth so overwhelming I covered my mouth to stifle a sob, realizing they had loved me all along. I still didn’t want to leave, but knew in my heart I had to because being with them wasn’t my destiny. Protecting humanity was. I had to go back.
“We love you very much,” Dad said, hugging me as well.
“I’ll forever love you two,” I cried. “And I’ll do the best I can to make things right.”
“We have no doubts.” Dad smiled, his green eyes twinkling.
Mom glanced over her shoulder. “Gordon, we have to go.”
I looked past her and saw the background was shimmering in a kaleidoscope of brilliant colors. They quickly embraced me, then disappeared, taking the white light with them.
“What are you doing?” Tree asked in horror when he saw Nathan gash a deep cut on his forearms. He ran to Nathan, but stopped when he heard Carrie’s agonizing shrieks. He looked at us in turn, his face drenched in tears.
Nathan lay on top of me–careful not to press his full body weight down–and placed his forearms on mine, allowing his blood to seep into my open wounds. Carrie’s body went limp in Anwar’s arms. He put her down, then rushed to Nathan. Tree checked on Carrie before running to us, dropping to his knees beside Nathan.
“How long did you wait until her heart completely stopped?” Anwar asked Nathan.
“I don’t know,” Nathan half bawled. “But it has to work. It must work!”
“I don’t understand,” Tree cried, wrapping his arms around his head. “Paige is dead!” he wailed. He rested his forehead on the ground, his shoulders shaking.
“Wait,” Anwar said, causing Tree to lift his head. “It’s working.”
“Wh-what’s working?” Tree choked in frustration.
That silvery cord I had seen when I was out of my body at The Lion’s Den appeared and was pulling me toward my body.
Nathan raised his face. “My God, I can hear her heartbeat, and it’s strong.”
“Nathaniel, you can break contact now. Her spirit is returning,” Anwar told him.
“What the hell!” Tree half-shouted when he saw our wounds healing.
And at that very second, I slammed back into my body.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Telling Secrets
Beyond the Eyes: YA Paranormal Romance Page 56
