Chapter 51
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Ellery
I had no idea where I was in the woods as I raced onward, following a draw that was growing increasingly weaker. That knowledge only caused my panic to grow; I tried to push myself faster, but I was already at my limit.
My lungs burned for air, but I didn’t dare stop to take a break. I’d already lost too much time following the black dog; I couldn’t risk losing any more.
Please, I silently pleaded. Please let me find him.
But with every passing second, I felt the chances of that slipping further and further away… just like my connection to him.
Tears burned my eyes, but I couldn’t shed them. There was no time for crying.
Scarlet and Ianto stayed close by my side. Thankfully, they kept watch for anything treacherous while I remained focused on finding Ryker.
“Can you still feel him, Lery?” Scarlet panted.
“Only a… a… tiny bit,” I whispered.
I couldn’t tell her that I didn’t think he was in the woods anymore. I wasn’t ready to admit it to myself, never mind anyone else.
Something was still drawing me onward, and I had to see what that was.
“Maybe he’s back at the camp,” Scarlet suggested.
“He’s not.” I didn’t know where he’d gone, but I knew that much.
“But maybe.”
“You could go check,” I suggested.
I couldn’t tell if she was trying to convince herself or me of this, if she was trying to instill hope or get me out of the forest. Maybe she just needed a break; we’d been running for miles over rough terrain.
She frowned at me as she wiped away the hair plastered to her face. “I’m not leaving you out here.”
“I’ll be fine. I have my lightning and Ianto.”
Scarlet looked between me and the giant before shaking her head. “I’m not leaving.”
She glanced at the sky; the trees always made it darker in the woods, but the day was swiftly fading toward night. With winter approaching, the days were increasingly shorter, and this one felt like the shortest of them all.
I’d failed to save him.
I could keep trying to deny it, but the truth was sinking in. I’d failed, but I couldn’t return to the encampment without Ryker.
There was no way I’d climb into our tree house and lie down on our empty bed without him there. The idea of it left an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach, and a sob choked my throat.
I had to swallow the sob back or else I couldn’t keep running. Breathing through my nose, I focused on following that small spark onward, but it grew dimmer by the second.
He’s still alive. I’d know if I’d lost a piece of my heart and soul, but whatever happened, it took him from these woods.
I skidded to a halt at the top of a steep hill. Rocks and debris kicked out from under my feet and bounced down the side toward the bottom two hundred feet below.
The hillside was thick with trees and rocks. One wrong step would send us bouncing down it and careening off obstacles that would shatter bones and break spirits.
Moving sideways down the hill, I made my way cautiously down it. Everything in me yearned to keep running, but I wouldn’t be any good to anyone if I broke my back or caved in my skull.
When we finally made it to the bottom, the sun was lower in the sky, and a few ghosts drifted past us. They didn’t acknowledge our existence as they floated a few feet above the ground.
A woman went straight through a tree before emerging out the other side and disappearing into the forest. I turned away from the trio as the possibility of finding Ryker struck like an arrow to my heart.
If he died in these woods, he’d be one of them.
No, he wouldn’t be a ghost. I’d sensed his simmering anger since the fires; he’d come back as a poltergeist.
And he’s not dead!
I still felt him as his lightning shifted within me. Not dead, but also not okay.