Chapter Nineteen
Sleep did not come easily. I tossed and turned, the bond between Alaric and me flaring painfully as if we were thousands of miles apart instead of only a floor away from each other.
I knew instinctively that Alaric was struggling to sleep, just as I was, and the intrinsic part of the Twinflame bond urged me to seek him out, crawl into bed with him and find sleep nestled in his arms. The ache within my chest pounded excruciatingly at the thought.
Eventually, I drifted off to sleep, somewhere around midnight. But sleep did not mean rest. Instead, I fell into another dream. More like a nightmare.
I was once again in Central Park, standing in front of the Obelisk monument.
The sky was dark with clouds, thunder and lightning booming in the distance.
The wind howled and swirled around me, blinding me for a few moments before a dark, tall, hooded figure appeared between myself and the stone artifact I had become eerily familiar with over the last month.
Whoever it was towered over me, their face hidden within the shadows of their black and torn robe.
I knew I should be afraid. It was the only rational emotion for the scene, but instead, I felt a warm sort of familiarity and curiosity.
A deep voice, heavy with familiar sorrow and grief, bellowed from the shadowed figure.
Blood remembers. Blood returns.
I took a step forward, remembering the same words from a death echo I encountered in the New York Bloodwright chambers. “What does that mean?”
The figure tilted its head, seeming to study me as I stood before it. It didn’t seem to speak aloud, but its words echoed within my skull.
I bled to create what was torn from me. In you, that wound breathes again.
“Stop speaking in riddles!” I screamed in frustration. “What do you want with me? Why do you keep coming to me?”
Where one bloodline sought chains, you will bear wings. You are not prophecy’s pawn—you are its author. Yet, there are those who fear you and will call you a curse. There will be those who use you and will call you a weapon. But you must choose what you are.
“I don’t understand.” Tears stung my eyes as the wind continued to twist faster and faster, the violence of it threatening to knock me off my feet. But the hooded figure remained unmoved, only his cloak churning at his feet.
Her song hums beneath her skin, fragile as glass. If shattered, it will call the wrong kind.
“Are you talking about Sara-Kate?” I pushed my hair out of my face, keeping my eyes on the figure before me.
He nodded once and then pointed to something beyond my shoulder.
I turned, horrified to find a Stonebound walking towards us with a body draped in his arms. Her long black braids rippled in the wind as they came closer and closer to where I stood.
The sight knocked the air from my lungs, the bond inside me thrashing like it wanted to tear out of my chest and run to her.
She runs out of time.
“What do you want with her?” I screamed, turning back to the hooded figure, but it was already gone. I turned around and found the Stonebound carrying Sara-Kate was gone as well. The storm was upon me, and I jolted awake just as the lightning struck the Obelisk needle, shooting me backward.
I was screaming her name when Alaric burst through my door, knocking it off its hinges as he skidded to my side, the bond sparking between us so violently it rattled my teeth.
“Mari!” He reached out, pulling me into his arms, my tears wetting his bare chest. “You’re okay. It was just a nightmare.”
“No!” I croaked, pushing him away. “It was a warning. We need to go back. She’s in trouble.”
“Sara-Kate?” his eyes finally shining with fear and worry. “What’s happened? What did you see?”
I sobbed, trying to gather my thoughts. “I think the Stonebound are closing in. We have to help her, Alaric. We have to go back.”
His mouth was set in a grim line as he stood and grabbed my bag at the end of the bed, throwing it next to me. “Get dressed. I’ll go get ready and meet you in the garage. We’ll drive down to the city right now.”
“To Brooklyn.” I corrected. “She’s staying there with her grandmother for the holiday.”
He nodded, leaving me to change. Within 10 minutes we were in the other Range Rover, barreling down the highway. It was barely past two in the morning as I texted and called Sara-Kate to no avail. I could only hope and pray we weren’t too late.
Alaric drove resolutely for the next five hours, his eyes never wavering from the road as the GPS system called out directions.
I sent Sara-Kate at least twenty texts, all unanswered.
I tried calling her, but her phone went straight to voicemail.
Alaric kept one hand on the wheel and one on my knee, squeezing to keep me calm whenever the bond between us flared with my unending panic.
I tried to breathe, tried to keep my head, and tried to remain calm, but the vision of Sara-Kate in the Stonebound’s grasp made it hard for me to concentrate.
By the time we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, I was vibrating from pent-up anxiety and panic.
“Mari,” Alaric warned. “Breathe. Keep calm. Your power is surging. I can feel it.”
He was right. My skin felt hot, like I was moments away from bursting into flames.
But that would have to wait. We were only minutes from Sara-Kate’s grandmother’s apartment.
Yet, the closer we got, the heavier the traffic became until I finally laid eyes on what was holding up the traffic.
There were police cars and fire trucks surrounding the area where smoldering smoke was still wafting into the morning air of an apartment building that was falling into nothing more than ash.
As if he could read my mind, Alaric reached for me, calling my name.
But I was faster. I threw the door open, sprinting the rest of the way through the crowd of people who had gathered.
I ran all the way, determined to run right into the still smoldering wreckage when a firefighter caught me, pulling me back.
“Woah, there! You can’t go in. It’s still active.”
“Please, my friend! She’s in there!” I screeched, clawing at his arms. The hot rage of my power skimmed the surface of my fingers, burning right through his fireman’s jacket and burning his skin.
He yelped, pushing me away, looking at me with awe and fear.
I pushed past him until I got to the physical barrier keeping other onlookers and survivors away.
“Sara-Kate!” I screamed, tears stinging my eyes as the smoke continued to billow in the wind.
“Are you looking for the Johnsons?” A soft, wrinkled hand pulled at my arm.
I turned to the old woman, wrapped in her shawl with a little white and tan Chihuahua dog shaking in her arms.
“Yes,” I sobbed. “Did they make it out?”
Her eyes shone with tears as she shook her head. “I haven’t seen Brenda or her girls yet.”
“Ma’am, we are still searching the building for survivors.” Another firefighter came through, pulling at me to move away from the wreckage. Before I could fight him, another set of strong and familiar arms wrapped around me, picking me up and carrying me away from the scene.
“No!” I slammed my hands against Alaric. “Put me down!”
“We have to get out of here,” he said through gritted teeth. “You are unstable and cannot be trusted not to use your power again.”
“I don’t care,” I snapped. “I was too late. We were too late.”
Just as we reached the other side of the street where Alaric’s Range Rover sat, a deep, familiar voice echoed through my brain, reverberating against my skull painfully.
Seek the Obelisk. She waits.
Alaric almost dropped me, leaning us against his car as his wide, panicked eyes met mine and I realized he heard the voice too, through the bond.
“We have to get to Central Park.” I grabbed at his shirt, pulling his face closer to mine so he understood. “We have to go now. She’s there.”
My tears burned hot against my cheeks, but I forced them down. Even as Alaric shoved me into the passenger seat, the words burned like a brand into my skull. The Obelisk. Waiting. And this time, I knew—we weren’t racing against fire, but against fate itself.