Chapter 17
Thealina
White stream of power pulls my palm closer to Rafe’s. Both our eyes locked onto our hands. The constellations of our signs dance and wrap around each other. Like lovers gliding across a ballroom. It’s hypnotic and mesmerising.
Compelling.
Although we’re not bonded by the Fates and blessed with a mate mark, our constellations deem us worthy. For travel companionship.
And in a completely platonic sense, of course.
It tugs tighter, the faint hum of our ability floating in the air. It grows louder, zipping in and out and all around us, pricking my skin like tiny shocks of lightning.
“Lina, let go!”
Rafe’s urgent voice comes a second too late, my startled jerk has our palms slap together, our constellations becoming one.
“LINA!”
His arms encircle me, holding me tight as all colours fade. The hum becoming so unbearable I nuzzle into Rafe’s now bare chest.
‘What’s happening!’
“DO NOT LET GO OF ME!” He yells over the mind-bending buzz.
Though my body isn’t moving, it feels as though implosion is imminent.
My insides shrink. Nausea consumes my gut and droplets of sweat drip down my neck.
I don’t breathe, but my lungs don’t ache either.
It’s like time has stopped and is being rewinded back right in front of my eyes.
I snap them shut, unable to withstand the accelerated movements of time as his arms tighten, hand locked on my head, fingers tangled in my hair.
And I breathe.
For what felt like an eternity, I finally breathe.
The hum of time ceases as colour seeps in reigniting the world around me as my senses come back to life.
Greens and browns—trees. Wind ruffling the leaves, birds perched and chirping on the branches. The smell of fresh soil and water.
Were outside. In a forest.
Rafe’s skin. Smooth but hard. Chest hair tickling my nose—Rafe’s naked skin.
Rafe’s naked skin touching my naked skin.
Air chokes my throat. I yank away on a gasp, then think against it and slam myself against him. He swallows, a bead of sweat trickles down the side of his face as his arms stiffen around me.
I have felt vulnerable before, plentiful, but nothing compares to the anxiety currently swimming through my veins with him being so close to my body. I press myself further against him, using him as a shield so he doesn’t see my most intimate parts.
‘Do. Not. Move.’
His chest rises and falls in sync with my own rapid pants.
‘Why are we naked?’
“Clothes can’t time travel.”
‘And you didn’t think to tell me that!’
“I would have gotten to it!”
‘Well, you took your damn time!’
“Time travel is one of the most complex abilities. You are young, with so much to learn, I didn’t want to dump too much on you!”
‘I’m sixty-seven! I can handle vast amounts of information in one sitting, Rafe!’
“That’s still young! And do we need to be having this argument, naked, whilst clutching each other in a fucking death grip!”
‘Don’t raise your voice at me when your penis is poking my stomach!’
“Stop thinking about my penis!”
‘It’s hard not too!’
Penis and hard should not be words used in a sentence when speaking to Rafe, so I press my lips flat together, even though my words come from my thoughts right now.
I’m struggling not to laugh at the ridiculousness of our situation.
Judging by the way he rolls his lips as well, his eyes twinkling, he’s struggling too, until all colour drains from his skin, his face snapping to his left, to his right, to me.
‘What is it?’
His mouth gapes, and I can’t help but stare at his tongue with envy.
“You jumped.”
‘I know,’ I say—think—thumping my head against his bare chest. ‘I didn’t mean to, the time travel just took a hold of me.’
“No, Lina. We didn’t just time travel. You jumped.”
‘Rafe, I’m gonna need you to speak in Lina language.’
“You’re a jumper.”
‘Again, Lina language…’
“Travelers don’t just have the ability of time. They can have other abilities too. One of four. You’re a Jumper. Capable of not only travelling within your own timeline but jump into others.”
A Jumper. Ok, maybe I’m not capable of handling vast amounts of information all at one time.
‘And you know this how?’
“Look around, you ever been here before?”
My head swivels, scanning my surroundings. ‘No.’
“Well, I have. Because this is my timeline.”
‘You make it sound like it’s not a good thing…’
My gulp is audible, and my knees shake against each other, just slightly, but enough for Rafe to notice and press his fingertips into the bare skin of my back that little bit more.
“In this instance, no, it’s not. It’s bad. Very, very bad.”
This feels close to being a young child and getting told off by your minders, claiming they’re not angry, they’re disappointed.
‘Do I want to know why this is bad for us?’
Now I’ve said it, I don’t think I want to know. Rafe, for all that is holy, please let me linger in ignorant bliss.
“Because we’ve jumped back to an echo I cut from time, and it’s bloody. And horrific. And we’re about to get caught in the middle of it.”
Guess not.
‘Can’t I, or you take us back?’
His head shakes too many times it scares me, his skin showing no signs of gaining any colour. Fear truly mars his face. “You were only holding one piece of Taka. In the wrong hand.”
‘Lina language, Rafe.’ I almost growl at him… Oh, my, did his penis twitch?
“Ignore it! I’m tense!”
‘Explain the Taka, Rafe.’
I can’t ignore it; it keeps twitching against my bare skin.
“We must always use the Taka in our marked palm, it powers us for multiple journeys. In your other hand, which is where I placed the Taka, it’s only enough for one travel. Fuck, I’m an idiot.”
‘So, you’re saying one piece of Taka, in the unmarked hand, is pretty much a one-way ticket?’
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
‘What’s that?’
The earth beneath our bare feet vibrates. Trees begin to sway and the bird’s scatter. Air becomes dense, and sour, the stench of magic saturates the space around us. Rafe’s chest stops moving, breath held so tightly his next words come out as a haunted whisper.
One word enough to terrify me.
One word that has my heart falling into my stomach.
One word that elicits a garbled scream from my mutilated mouth.
“Run.”