by JA Wren
Kally scrunched up her face. “Did I say that? Whoops.”
“Whoops? That’s your only answer?” A deep-seated ache spread through her. The hint of betrayal seeping into her veins. “Twenty years of friendship and all you have to say is whoops?”
“Ray-Ray—”
“Don’t. You either spill like a sinner at confession, or I’m leaving before I’m kicked out of here for missing my first class. Not to mention pissing off the professor who’s supposed to be catching me up so I don’t flunk out before they deem me worthy of answers.”
Silence hung in the air between them, thick with tension and distrust. Or maybe that was all Rayna. Either way, she was getting to the bottom of this once and for all. Because apparently everyone knew more about her than her damn self.
“Either talk, or I’m getting hold of this Nyx person even if I have to hunt her down myself.”
A throat cleared behind them. “Uh, Professor?”
“Yes, Junne,” Kally said, glancing over Rayna’s head at the student hovering in a nearby doorway.
“Um, I was just wondering if the lecture’s starting soon?” the girl asked. “I need to leave early today, but I didn’t want to miss your talk on the difference between Greco and Roman Mythos.”
“Of course,” Kally said, her voice more serious than Rayna had ever heard it. “I’ll be there shortly. Could you set up the Sky View in the meantime?”
“Sure, Professor Kalypso.” The girl spun on her heel and disappeared into the lecture hall.
“Professor Kalypso?” Rayna asked, glaring at the woman who’d gone from her best friend to a complete stranger in about ten minutes. “You’re not a student here?”
Rayna had assumed that was why Kally was at the academy. A student. Just like her. Nope. Wrong again. Another recurring theme these past couple days. Her body vibrated, raw emotion spearing through her chest because above everyone else in the world, she’d trusted Kally. Her best friend. Her family.
And now to find out she’d been assigned to her? Like a project. Or worse. A job. A burden she’d probably be glad to be rid of now that Rayna was at the academy.
She clutched her chest with shaky hands, her fingers trembling against her necklace.
“Rayna?” Asher placed a hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away.
“Don’t touch me right now.”
That wounded puppy expression crossed his features, but she couldn’t deal. Couldn’t handle his comfort when it felt like her world was crashing down around her. The secrets from him was one thing. They’d met less than two days ago.
But Kally? Two decades of friendship, of sharing absolutely everything, and she’d just learned it was all a lie.
“Ray-Ray, I can explain. Please just let me.”
“You have a lecture, remember?” she sneered, using a tone she’d never uttered. Least of all with Kally.
“If you give me five minutes, I can set them up and we can go get a coffee. Talk.”
“Talking isn’t gonna solve the fact you lied, Kally. For years.” Her breathing turned choppy, her heart pounding against her sternum faster and faster. “Do you have any idea how that feels?”
Tears shone in Kally’s green eyes, but Rayna struggled to muster sympathy for the woman who’d betrayed her. So much worse than the mother who hated her. Or the mother who’d abandoned her. Worse than the absent father who’d never even wanted to meet her.
“It hurts, Kally. Burns like a fucking hot poker piercing my heart.”
“Ray-Ray,” Kally sobbed. “I swear it was for your own good.”
“My own good?”
Chills broke out over her skin even as she flushed hot. An unnatural, sweltering heat coiling around her neck, a wave cascading over her shoulders and down her back. Sweat coated her skin in a fine sheen while her palms went sticky.
“It’s not her fault,” Asher whispered, standing up for Kally. “Nyx—”
“Nyx this. Nyx that.” She clenched her hands into tight fists, helping to steady her shaking. “I’m so tired of that excuse. Guess what? You both make your own decisions. You can blame her all you like, but at the end of the day, you chose to listen to her. You chose to lie to me.”
“To protect you.” His voice was so low, so hard, it was impossible to judge the emotions dripping from the words.
“To protect me from what?” She kept her voice soft, hoping it would sway them instead of yelling the way she wanted.
But of course it didn’t work. He simply dipped his chin and shook his head, dark gaze avoiding hers.
“So, we’re back to the secrets then.”
Back to everyone making decisions for her. Taking away her sense of control until she was left with nothing. She couldn’t even get away from him with the damn glowing string binding them. More loss of control.
Loss of her freedom.
A knot worked from the pit of her stomach, up her throat where it lodged. Oh, God. She was gonna hurl.
She tore at the indestructible string, shredding her skin with her nails as she clawed to get free.
Asher grabbed her hands, trying to still her. “Rayna, stop. Please.”
“No, I’m done taking orders. Done letting everyone control me.”
When she drew thin streams of blood from her wrist, Asher clamped his arms around her, stopping her from ripping her flesh to ribbons to get the damn string off.
“Shh,” he whispered in her ear.
But she couldn’t. Instead, she shrieked and fought him, her entire body trembling with the need to get away. Far from all of them. She thrashed in his grip, but he was too strong, holding her firmly without hurting her.
No, she was doing that all on her own.
Was she having a panic attack?
Is that what it felt like?
“I can’t breathe,” she gasped out. Something banded around her chest, squeezing tighter and tighter, like a boa constrictor wrapped around her body. Crushing every bone. Suffocating her. “Please. I can’t—can’t breathe.”
“Asher, she’s losing it.”
“I know,” he bit back at Kally.
“We need to get her outside.”
“On it.”
He swung her up into his arms, then rushed for the exit, Kally trailing behind them moments later. Fresh air touched her lips, a glorious cooling breeze over her slick skin, but still she couldn’t suck it into her lungs. Tears stung her eyes.
What the hell was happening?
“Rayna, love.” Asher’s breath tickled her ear while his arms held her tighter. “Come back to me.”
Like a rubber band, something snapped.
She swore she heard a pop inside her head right before everything went pitch black, an all-consuming darkness.
Twenty-Seven
Rayna took a deep, long breath, relishing the oxygen filling her lungs.
All around her was cold nothingness.
No warm body holding her. No Asher attached to her wrist.
She expected to feel a sense of relief, but dread and sorrow engulfed her. Extreme loss instead of happiness to be free.
No Kally either.
No academy.
She blinked, and there was a tiny glowing light. “Tink?”
She desperately wanted someone—something—familiar in the darkness. The light drifted closer, wobbling in a wavy path like a wasted girl in heels stumbling from the bar on a Friday night.
It wasn’t red, though. It glowed bright white against the blackness, blinding in its intensity as it wafted closer. It circled her head lazily, then perched on the tip of her nose.
Definitely not Tink.
This Wisp’s face was wrinkled, not chubby, it’s big eyes glazed over with a milky film. It cocked its head, then spread gossamer-thin wings, a set of four with silvery veins that shimmered in the light from its flaming head.
She hadn’t really seen wings on Tink—just a faint hint. Definitely not as elaborate as these.
Had she somehow missed them?
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Or was this Wisp different?
Its wings twitched, then fluttered so fast they turned into a sparkling blur. The Wisp slipped from her nose and hovered a few inches in front of her before it circled her head, faster this time.
A glowing stream of light wove around her, growing larger with every lap the Wisp flew around her head.
Same thing Tink did to Hale when they met in the gardens outside the labyrinth.
The light glittered, shining brighter and brighter until images swam inside the glare. Rayna squinted, trying to make out the people and settings. She focused on one when a flash of red caught her eye, and she was swept into it, falling into the scene like a ghost lurking on the side lines.
A redhead stood with her back to Rayna, straightening the white dress falling around her petite figure.
Rayna frowned, convinced the woman was familiar, but the setting wasn’t. She’d never stood inside a room with towering white marble columns and gold flecks. A huge half-sun and half-moon motif decorated the stone floor, right in front of a bed with black fabric and ivy draped around the four posts.
The woman stared out from one of three arches, more ivy coiling around the columns. Night sky extended beyond a small balcony, flickering with millions of stars, some large as soccer balls while others only a pinhead.
Moonlight bathed her in silver-blue light, making her dress almost transparent and her red hair shine with a hint of purple.
“How are you this evening, my love?” a deep voice asked.
Rayna’s heart kicked inside her chest as she glanced around, trying to find the source, sure it was—
Asher stepped into the room, emerging from the shadows in nothing more than a scrap of fabric tied around his hips.
His chest was gloriously on display, little droplets of water glinting over his bronze skin. His hair was much longer, the dark ends curling around his neck and brushing the top of his shoulders. The thick, damp strands dripped, sending fresh drops falling down his pecs and abs.
My love Asher had called the woman.
An unwelcome wave of pure, acidic jealousy washed over her. Before she could even analyze it, the redhead turned, revealing a face that was like looking in the mirror.
Rayna gasped, jerking back until she slammed into a huge marble column. “Not possible,” she breathed.
Oblivious to her, Rayna 2.0 smiled at Asher, a strange look she didn’t recognize even though their faces were identical. She didn’t think she’d ever been that happy. That filled with such joy and love that it practically glowed around the woman. Shone even in her black eyes as she gazed at Asher.
Black eyes. Not brown like Rayna’s.
“Happier than I’ve ever been,” she said as he stepped into her arms, brushing her red curls from her face.
“Not lonely?” he asked, using one finger to tip her chin up.
She shook her head, just a slight hint of movement. “Never. How could I be, when I have you with me?”
What the hell was this? Was Rayna hallucinating? Had she blacked out and fallen into some sort of weird fantasy or dream?
It was the only explanation and yet even as she thought it, a part of her knew it was a lie.
She jerked back deeper into the shadows, away from the couple as Asher leaned in closer, his lips brushing over the redhead’s.
Black swirled in front of her, then a new burst of brilliant white light, and she found herself inside a new scene.
An agonized wail pierced the air.
Tingles pinched at Rayna’s nerves all along her spine. She clenched her fists, fighting the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She blinked to clear them so she could see where she was. Who’d shrieked.
And why the sound had sent a mirror-effect of intense pain through Rayna.
A group of figures slowly came into view, though still shrouded by thick black fog, and for a second, Rayna expected the trio from the labyrinth. Either the hooded old hags or the triplet girls. But nope.
That might have been far better.
One man stood in golden armor, brighter than anything she’d ever seen. The sun reflected off it, sending sunbursts of pure light in every direction. He gripped his helmet between his hands and pulled it from his head, revealing blonde hair falling past his shoulders.
“When will you learn, my son?” the man said, his voice so deep it rumbled the earth. “How many lessons will it take to quench your rebellious thirst?”
A second man appeared from the shadows obscuring him.
Asher!
He looked much the same as her previous vision, except now he wore similar armor to the blonde man. The only difference was Asher’s didn’t shine like the damn sun itself.
Four men were holding him. Restraining him even as he bucked against their tight grips. They’d shackled his wrists with medieval looking manacles and thick chains bolted into the ground, then kicked the backs of his legs to send him to his knees. The stone floor shook as he tried to wrench himself free.
Asher’s face contorted in more rage than was possible on one man as he bellowed, “It is not rebellion that drives me, but an abhorrence of your actions.”
“Abhorrence?” the blonde asked, a weird mix of amusement and disgust in his tone.
He drifted back, revealing a woman perched on her knees a few feet away, directly in front of Asher. Her head hung forward, deep red hair obscuring her face, while her hands clenched against the jagged stone floor.
The blonde stopped at her side, then grabbed a chunk of her hair and lifted her head. Her locks fell over her face so Rayna couldn’t see. But…a part of her knew, and she swallowed back the knot in her throat.
“You know nothing of abhorrence,” the blonde said. “But now you shall.”
Moving faster than the flick of a light switch, he pulled a blade from a holster at his hip and swung his arm out in an arc. The blade carved through the woman’s throat. It severed her jugular, if the instant river of blood was any indication.
An echoing slice cut across Rayna’s neck. Like it was her throat that had been split open. Her blood oozing through her fingers as she tried to staunch it. Stop it from flowing down her dress and pooling under her knees.
A roar unlike any other burst from Asher, the ground trembling beneath them all as stones rattled. He strained against his bonds, muscles and veins bulging as he tried to get free.
But the chains wouldn’t budge.
He collapsed on the ground, head mirroring hers as his eyes swam with tears.
He kept his gaze locked on the dying woman.
The redhead made a choked, gurgling sound as she tried to talk through the blood drowning her. But no words made it through the mess of her throat. The pool of blood was spreading out, moving along the stone floor in a deep crimson river. Trickling closer to Asher even as he sobbed.
Helpless.
Watching the woman he clearly loved bleed to death.
Unable to save her.
Inhuman sounds left him while tears streamed down both their faces. “Come back to me, my love,” he cried. “Please. Come back to me.”
The blonde waved his hand through the air and said, “Take him.”
The group of men gathered around, roughly pulling Asher from the ground and removing his shackles. He clawed his way free and rushed for the woman. He cradled her limp body in his arms, coating himself in her blood.
It took half a dozen men to finally split the pair, all the while Asher fought like a demon, lashing out with fists. No fire.
As if that power had been taken from him.
In a flash of bright light, they were all gone. Except for the woman sprawled on the ground in a sea of red. Rayna stepped closer, drawn to her doppelganger, but before she’d taken more than two steps, a new figure appeared.
A black, hooded cloak hid any discernible features, while a pale hand reached towards the redhead, touching her shoulder.
“There now, my child,” a rich, feminine voice soothed. “You’re safe.�
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Safe? Rayna wanted to yell at her. How could she possibly be safe after having her throat slit open and her blood still pooling around her?
She didn’t get the chance, however, because darkness swam around her, swallowing the scene until she was sucked back to where she stood with the white Wisp buzzing around her head. He slowed, coming to a halt in front of her, then tapped her nose with his wrinkly little hand.
In that moment, she knew.
The Wisp had shown Rayna her own death.
It didn’t make sense. Not when she considered the life—the very normal life—she’d led up until that point. Until her odd quirks had dragged her to accept Nyx’s invitation. But she knew it was a memory.
One that went far, far back into the reaches of her mind. The truth of it settled in her gut like a heavy rock.
She blinked, and he disappeared, leaving her alone in the blackened pit.
Twenty-Eight
“Rayna?”
A voice called to her through the darkness.
Faint.
Then louder.
“Rayna.”
She wanted to drift closer, follow it like a moth to a flame, but she’d learned her lesson with the Wisps. Light didn’t always mean good. Sometimes it was safer to remain in the dark, where she was safe. Where she felt at peace.
Like she was home surrounded by the inky blackness.
“Rayna, please wake up. Come back to me.”
But that voice. She couldn’t deny it. Couldn’t deny him when he asked something of her.
Rayna blinked her eyes open, disoriented by the glaring sun when she’d been in the dark for so long. Or had it only been a few minutes? It felt like a lifetime. Like multiple lifetimes. Like a thousand years isolated in the night. She was waking after being asleep for too long.
Wait.
That wasn’t her. She’d only blacked out for a few moments, dreamed of the white Wisp and the images that danced around her head. Except they resonated like memories. Like she’d caught flashes of her past life.
How was that possible?
“Rayna, love?” Ash pleaded, so reminiscent of the last time she’d seen him. “You okay?”
