With my hand flying over my mouth, I jumped to my feet and stepped back with a gasp.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
"Gertrude," Dom choked in shock.
He shot over to me, and we stared at the sister's stones.
With only the sound of our racing breath around us, we stood frozen to our spots.
Finally, after what felt like suspended time, I took a full breath.
"We have to keep looking," I mumbled, half-trying to hold the words back.
With a nod, Dom stepped away from the sister's stones with a look like he'd seen a ghost. Pale and drawn, his expression threatened the possibility of him passing out.
My own composition wasn't far off either, but I was determined to keep going.
We moved to the far end of the plot, looking around overgrown shrubs and crooked tree trunks. At the back, a couple other random stones stuck up from the hallowed ground.
"There's more," Dom murmured.
It was tough to say exactly how many grave markers were in the small cemetery. Centuries of erosion and forest growth had overtaken the plot, leaving much of it destroyed beyond repair. But two elusive stones at the back revealed themselves to us, leaving no question we'd explore them further.
Each one was unique in its structure and location. One was rough chiseled granite with a small area of smooth surface at the front, and the other was faded white marble. They nestled in the ground, set away from each other, as if unrelated.
Drawn to the unceremonious granite marker, I gestured to Dom to investigate the crooked marble one.
A chill shuddered through me as I studied the weathered granite block by my feet. The sight of it froze my bones, causing them to rattle within me. I glanced nervously at Dom, wondering if he was experiencing the same unnerving sensation.
His worried eyes met mine in an instant, assuring me that his discomfort was equal to my unsettled feelings.
With a nod, I encouraged him to explore the stone he hovered over. And then I returned my attention to the granite one waiting for my curious exploration. I felt bad disturbing it from its journey to oblivion as the earth reclaimed it with each passing year. But, nevertheless, I pulled at the moss that hid its sacred truth from me.
With trembling fingers, I brushed at the faded carvings etched into the granite, likely by hand. Some of the letters were larger than others, and some bumped to the next line as if the stone-carver had run out of room.
As I traced the letters, using my minds-eye to read them, Dom's voice erupted with a bone-chilling shudder.
Refusing to hear him, as my mind knew exactly what he had found, I kept focus on my own stone. Studying the granite grave-marker in front of me, without the distraction of Dom's devastating discovery, I kept my mind from shattering.
"Shane," he cried out with a cough.
But I didn't hear him. I refused to.
Instead, I allowed myself to continue to get lost in the details carved centuries ago in the sad granite marker that held my attention unwaveringly.
But as my mind connected the random letters of the granite into comprehendible words, my mind fell over the edge that it had teetered on so helplessly.
Plummeting into a void of darkness, my mind exploded as my own name glared back at me from the stone's surface.
Chapter 4
Stumbling back from the menacing gravestone, I rubbed my eyes, certain they were playing tricks on me. As I focused back on the worn carvings, my name continued to cut into my pupils, causing me to wince in pain.
The image of an urn with flames rising off it burned into my mind. Below the rough carving were the frightful letters etched into the granite.
Here lyeth the body of Brinn Do...
The letters faded beyond legibility, and much of the stone remained covered by the hard earth. Though the name was spelled differently, there was no doubt in my mind what they represented.
My journey had been longer than I'd realized.
My time spent in the past was more than a mere portal visit.
It seemed I had lived there.
And died there too.
By Shane's side for all of time.
My vision blurred as I gasped for air. My breath had stopped for longer than I realized, and I nearly dropped to the ground with lightheadedness.
From the corner of my eye, I watched Dom as he moved toward me in slow motion. His voice morphed into a sound of haunting vibrations as if from a million miles away.
Without hesitation, I turned away from him, away from the stones, and ran.
Running for my life, tears streamed back from my eyes into my hair. Visions of Shane burst through my mind with every step in my stride. The faster I ran, the clearer his face became.
Desperate to get away from the unhinging terror of the cemetery, I continued to fly through the woods, deeper, in a direction I'd never gone before. Twigs snapped under my feet, and skinny branches swatted at my face as I pushed through the confusion of the overgrowth.
"Brynn!" A voice called to me in the back of my brain.
The sound of it pushed me harder. I ran faster, determined to escape any memory of what was happening. Blissful ignorance was my only hope, as long as it meant seeing Shane's face again.
Heaving for breath, I pushed my legs harder, running as far into nowhere as possible.
"Brynn!"
The sound of my name made my eyes squint in resistance. But then, as the mellow sound resonated through my being, I slowed.
My eyes shot open, searching all around, as Shane's voice filled me.
I'd heard it.
I knew I had.
I strained to hear it again, and then, with a smash, my body took the impact of a freight train.
Stumbling, I prepared to hit the ground with a thud but instead felt my feet lift from under me. I struggled in the body-clamping hold as I twisted to see who had hold of me.
"Dom!" I blasted. "Let go!" I wriggled until he dropped me. "What are you doing?"
My voice slapped him in the face, causing it to turn red, and he stared at me with a baffled expression.
Without thinking, I shoved him with all my strength.
"Get away from me!" I shouted, livid that he had interrupted my search for Shane.
I turned and scanned the woods for any sign of him. I strained to hear even a whisper of Shane's voice.
Then I dropped my head into my hands.
He was gone.
"What the fuck, Brynn?" Dom seethed. "What's wrong with you? You can't just run off like that," he panted. "It's not like we didn't know we'd find it." He stared at me, waiting for a rational explanation of my outburst.
But there was no explaining it.
No one would ever understand.
But I did.
I now understood that I had the ability to conjure Shane in my mind. It seemed to take significant effort, heightened emotions, and maybe even risk, but either way, I'd found a link to him.
I turned from Dom and prepared to sprint again--anything to get my mind to find Shane's again. We'd been more deeply connected than I even knew—our gravestones proved it. We had a past together, in some way.
And all I wanted to do was get back to it.
As I spun on my heels to run, Dom's arms clamped around me, halting me in my tracks.
"Stop," he snarled. "Stop running."
I struggled in his hold, kicking at his shins and wriggling in every direction to break free.
He bared his teeth in pain each time I connected with a kick, but his grip only grew tighter around me.
"Let go," I hissed, pressing against his chest to push out of his hold.
But his arms didn't weaken. He didn't give in. He just kept holding me until I tired out.
As my body slumped, unable to resist any further, his grip around me loosened.
Breathing heavily from the effort of restraining me, Dom continued to keep a safe hold on my arms.
He lowered his eyes to mine and held them with a steady gaze.
"I know you are hurting," he whispered. "But you need to keep your head right now."
A whimper escaped my throat as I wished for any sensation of Shane.
"Brynn, what are you running from? We already knew we'd find Shane here." He stared at me with a lost look in the depths of his eyes.
The deep blue pools of his gaze warmed me as his pupils widened, pulling me in.
Desperation flowed from his eyes, one that strained to connect with me. Heat poured through his hold on my soul, and I pushed him away with a snarl.
"Don't look at me like that." I stepped back from him.
His shoulders fell as if I'd wounded him.
"I just want to help you," he murmured.
But there was no way he could help me. I was too far gone.
All I could do now was think of ways I could find Shane—and the lost pages of the spellbook called to me.
Waiting for Ms. Kelly and the Higher Order to determine when to use the pages was taking too long, and time was a luxury I no longer had.
"Let's get back to the Jeep." Dom reached for my arm with cautious trepidation.
I pulled away before he could get a hold of me and stepped around him in the direction of the cemetery.
Glancing through the trees, I searched for the right route but saw only a blur of similar branches and trunks around me. I'd lost all sense of direction after bolting through the woods, and suddenly realized I had to rely on Dom to get us back there.
"I need to go back to the cemetery," I murmured, brushing past him.
He followed me close, nearly brushing against my side. "Why? To torture yourself?"
I slowed for a second, resisting the urge to punch him again.
My teeth ground together as I tried to calm my nerves. I had no idea why I was so aggressive toward Dom. He was only trying to help. But I couldn't stop it. Every word he said brushed me the wrong way, and it was like he was treating me like a lost child.
My pace quickened as I moved through the woods with no clue of which direction to go in.
I guess he wasn't so far off.
I was lost.
"You're going the wrong way," he whispered.
I was sure I could hear a smirk threatening his lips, and it only made my rage toward him worsen.
"Which way then?" I barked.
He turned to his right and quickly found a natural trail between the trees.
"It's this way," he said without looking back to me.
He knew I'd follow. I had no other choice.
We walked in silence, and I watched him as he cleared random branches and twigs out of the way. His sheer size left an easy path for me to move through, and I couldn't deny his presence made me feel safe. It allowed me the luxury to focus only on Shane and not on the danger of becoming lost or worse.
I slowed for a moment as I followed Dom's form with my eyes. Before long, he stopped and looked back at me.
"What? Are you coming?" His tone held annoyance as if he was done being abused.
The broken look in his eyes was the last straw.
"I'm sorry." I kept my eyes on the ground. "I'm just kind of losing it a bit." I kicked at some leaves. "I don't mean to take it out on you."
His shoulders dropped as he exhaled.
"I know." He mumbled with a shrug. Then he turned and kept moving forward. "It's just up ahead."
I scurried to catch up to him, grateful for his help.
Up ahead, through the trees, light broke through, proving the clearing of the Dawson farm was close. That meant the cemetery was closer, somewhere hidden within the overgrowth nearby.
Dom slowed and turned back in my direction. He stepped aside, making room for me to pass.
I swallowed hard, and within a few steps, I crossed over the low stone perimeter of the family graveyard.
Dom followed close behind me as I moved toward the crooked marble stone.
The white grave marker was lined with dark gray streaks and covered with creeping lichens. But through its aging and erosion, the stone still held its purpose with unwavering pride.
Shane Samuell McDaniel
Loyal Friend
Born 1676
My heart jumped into my throat, threatening to choke me. I dropped to my knees, digging through the moss and dirt covering the next lines of engraving.
Lost to us October 31, 1693
Aged 17 Years
A scream welled up within me. I couldn't tell if it was sorrow or ecstasy. Staring at Shane's gravestone, all I could process was the fact that it didn't say 'died'.
My breath turned to panting as sweat broke out on my brow.
Then Dom's voice tore through me like shrapnel from a grenade.
"Jesus, Brynn!"
I stared at him, crouched on his knees at the granite stone. Chunks of moss and long grass hung from his hands as he stared at me with an ashen expression.
His jaw hung open, and judging from the shocked fear that poured from his eyes, I was sure he had seen a ghost.
And he was looking directly at me.
"What the fuck, Brynn," he gasped. "Why didn't you say anything." He looked back at the stone, knowing I had seen it earlier, just before I ran.
Crawling on my knees across the grass, I moved closer to Dom.
He'd exposed more of the granite gravestone, and I couldn't stop myself from the need to read it.
Dom's gaze remained fixed on me as he watched my every move. Making room for me, he pushed back from the stone, and I shimmied my knees right up in front of it.
The carvings were still difficult to read—erosion had dulled the edges, leaving only light indentations in the rock.
Brinn Do...
Hunter...
Traveler...
Passed 1693
It could be a coincidence.
Another person with a similar name.
So much of the stone was illegible, faded into oblivion.
I glanced up at Dom, praying for an explanation I could live with. But the harrowed expression that drew his face down in despair made me pull my gaze away from him.
"No," I snapped. "This isn't possible."
I reached to the base of the gravestone and dug my nails into the dirt. Scraping more of the earth away from it, I exposed another carving. The shape was etched deeper in the stone, holding its form more clearly than the rest.
Clawing at the dirt, I cleared it away, ignoring the sting of my raw fingertips. And then my eyes widened in terror as my arm began to burn.
Dom's breath sucked in, and he stepped back from the grave.
Everything around me whirled into a blur as I stared at the mark of the Witch Hunter—the exact mark that was branded onto my forearm.
The mark of the Witch Hunter burned into my eyes from the surface of the gravestone. The same image throbbed on my arm as the brand sizzled on my skin.
None of it made sense, but at the same time, it all made sense.
Shane and I had traveled to the deep past together. We had interacted with some of these people in their time, and maybe even affected the events that unfolded.
It was too much to process, and I gripped the sides of my head to keep it from exploding.
I stood and stumbled back, looking from Shane's stone to mine and back again.
I turned my gaze to Dom and caught a wild stare in his eyes.
His attention was fixed on me, and then he took a step away. His nervous eyes darted around the woods and then back to me.
"What?" I asked.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, keeping his eyes off mine.
"What?' I pressed, stepping closer to him.
I studied his fearful expression, watching the calculations in his mind as they rolled across his face.
I stepped even closer.
"You know something," I said, peering into his shaking pupils.
He blinked and pulled his eyes away.
"We need to get out of here," he said.
He twitched with nervous jit
ters while glancing all around us.
"Why?" I held my gaze on him, unflinching.
"We just need to," he murmured, moving toward the clearing of the old farm.
He was hiding something from me. It was obvious. But I had no idea what it could be. The only thing that could scare him like that would be...
The Dark Witch.
She had screwed with him beyond comprehension. She had cursed him as a wolf-shifter, destroying the life he knew and desired. Now he was a slave to her whims, caught in her grasp, and I had missed that piece entirely.
"What do you know, Dom?" I blasted. "What are you keeping from me?"
He continued to move away, avoiding my interrogation.
"Fine!" I shouted. "I'll just find out for myself then!"
I turned back toward the cemetery and gazed into the depths of the woods.
"Millicent!" I shrieked. "Show yourself! I'm not afraid of you!"
Within the same breath, Dom flew over to me and pulled me into his chest.
I struggled to break away, to scream again for the Dark Witch to reveal herself.
"What the fuck, Brynn. Stop!" Dom growled. "You don't know what you're doing."
"I don't care," I cried. "I need to know what's happening. I need to find Shane!"
He tightened his arms around me.
"Not like this," he hushed me. "There's a better way."
I struggled against his hold, growing angrier with every passing second. There was no way I was going to allow him to use his strength against me to stop me from what I needed to do.
"Millicent!" I screamed from his clutches.
As her name flew from my lips again, a clear vision of Shane filled my mind.
The sparkle in his eye made my stomach flip, and the smile that spread across his lips encouraged me closer.
It was working.
Somehow, tampering with danger, inviting it closer, allowed me to see him better.
"Millicen...." My voice muffled as Dom's arm pressed across my face.
"Brynn, you'll get us killed," he seethed in my ear.
Urban Mystic Academy: Fourth Project (A Supernatural Academy Series Book 4) Page 4
