Soul of Darkness (12 page)

Oh my God, 
I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, despite having become fully aware of the fact that Aaron could now read my mind, too.

It seemed my ability to hear Aidan’s thoughts more easily and clearly than ever before had nothing to do with us having seen into each other’s souls or my having saved his life.

Because none of these possible explanations could account for what was happening between Aaron and me. The fact that I now had a more direct connection to Aaron’s mind as well indicated that there must be a completely different reason behind it…one that utterly eluded me.

The saying ‘three’s a crowd’ had never rung more true to me than in the instant in which I realized that my most private thoughts were suddenly on display for both of them to read
―
simultaneousl
y―
and that I could hear them and they could hear each other.

We were
all
connected…in ways that made my skin crawl.

I was in a world of trouble…this little ‘ménage à trois’ was going to be the end of me, for sure.

Please, somebody…anybody…put a bullet in my head already!

Persephone!
a chorus of Aidan’s and Aaron’s thoughts reprimanded me, both of them having reacted to my outburst at the same instant.

Urgghh, 
I thought…this was really freaking me out! Why couldn’t I have just caught the measles?

“I have been looking for the three of you,” Malcolm’s voice interrupted our ‘silent’ exchange, “We need to talk. I am afraid it is urgent.”

“What’s going on?” Aidan demanded, getting out of the car to talk to Malcolm, who had strolled to the edge of the road to look over the precipice we had only just avoided going over.

Aaron and I followed suit.

For a moment I worried about leaving the car in the middle of the road where other vehicles could crash into it. But the night was utterly silent, and there didn’t seem to be another soul around for miles.

“What are you doing here? Did you just come through a portal? And how were you even able to find us?” Aaron asked, throwing question after question at his father.

I couldn’t blame him; he was voicing the exact same questions that weighed on
my 
mind. In the dead of night, Malcolm had appeared out of thin air onto a deserted stretch of road in the middle of nowhere seconds before our convertible had reached his point of entry. And he hadn’t even flinched as the car had stopped at the very last moment…within inches of hitting him. It seemed he’d had every tiny detail planned out. The man was definitely
not
of this world!

“I am here because I…,” Malcolm began yet abruptly fell silent, a worried look crossing his face.

When Aidan opened his mouth to speak, Malcolm swiftly shut him up with a single gesture and a cautioning look. Listening into the silence, I tried with all my senses to find the cause for Malcolm’s sudden unrest. However, I couldn’t detect anything out of the ordinary. Our surroundings seemed just as they had before…quiet and deserted.

But I knew better than to trust my instincts over Malcolm’s, a man who had lived with magic his entire life and who wielded knowledge I could only dream of possessin
g
―
if knowledge of the magical world, the world I had only just begun to be a part of, was something I actually wanted…

“I…don’t think…I…hear…anything,” Aaron whispered hesitantly, clearly doubting his own words yet seeming to feel the need to voice what he ‘wished’ to be true. Nevertheless, the lack of real conviction in his tone said it all: that it would be foolish not to trust in Malcolm’s instincts.

Gesturing for us to follow him, Malcolm led the way toward the side of the road, and we ran alongside the precipice as swiftly and silently as possible until we encountered a cluster of rocks that jutted out over the road a bit further up ahead.

Without a moment’s pause, as if he knew exactly where to find it, Malcolm headed straight for a hidden fissure in one of the rocks. Thankfully, the rift was just big enough to fit the four of us and provide us with shelter.

If I hadn’t just stepped through the opening, I would never have believed it existed. It was utterly undetectable from the outside, and I would have run right past it if Malcolm hadn’t been there.

I only hoped that whoever, or whatever, was on our tail didn’t know about the existence of our small hiding place and would think we had long since abandoned the car, as it was quite obviously unfit to be driven due to a flat tire.

And we could only prey that the tires would stop smoking before anyone arrived at the scene. I could still make out a few small wads of smoke here and there
―
the perfect telltale sign that it hadn’t been abandoned too long ago and that whoever had sat in that car could not have gotten very far.

“They’re coming,” Malcolm whispered so quietly that I could only just make out what he said.

So much for having enough time for the tires to cool off, 
I thought, my heart sinking.

“Do
no
t
―
under any circumstance
s―
use magic,” Malcolm cautioned, his voice low and serious, “and do not make a sound until they are far away from us.”

I shivered, goose bumps erupting all over my body. What on earth could make Malcolm, of all people, want to hide out in fear? That was the thought that frightened me most. If Malcolm, with all his power and knowledge, was afraid to face whatever was coming for us, then what the hell should I be?

Crowded together and filling out the entirety of the small, cramped space, we stood at the fissure and gazed out through the opening, the abandoned car in the distance in plain view. The seconds ticked by, every one of them adding to our anxiety.

There we were: a wise, fearless, and powerful wizar
d,
his two formidable sons, who, incidentally, also happened to be wizards…one more so than the other…and the reincarnation of the most powerful witch in existence…

…and we were cowering in a cave.

I could feel all three men beside me tremble.

Before I’d met them, I’d never before known men like these: rough, strong, powerful. And during the time we’d spent together, I’d witnessed just how fierce and brave each and every one of them was. Now they seemed badly shaken.

My world had turned upside down.

To see them like this made my hands shake, my knees tremble, and my heart pound in my chest.

I was sure neither Aaron nor Aidan knew who or what we were up against, but seeing Malcolm’s current posture while being accustomed to the boldness and inner strength he usually portrayed appeared to have put the Fear of God in them, so to speak.

Though whatever was on its way…I seriously doubted it was God.

I tore my thoughts away from all-powerful beings to concentrate on what was actually in front of m
e―
now was
definitely 
not the time to space out.

Dark and silent, the road stretched out before us. I was almost beginning to doubt Malcolm’s instincts…for there was absolutely nothing to see and no sound to be heard…when the sky suddenly appeared to be split down the middle by multiple bursts of lightning. Several crashes of thunder followed, cracking loudly and reverberating ominously in the space around us.

I could feel the earth below my feet tremble in the lightning’s and thunder’s wake. And for a moment, the figure of speech ‘To incur the Wrath of God’ lingered in my thoughts, painting a gruesome picture of the ground beneath our feet splitting open to swallow us whole.

As my gaze was glued to the spot where the lightning bolts had struck, I could see the change in the air in the instant it occurred
―
the atmosphere seemed to be shifting.

All of a sudden, the sky was ripped open to reveal what appeared to be a window into another place and time
―
for the sky on the other side was not dark but closer to dusk, the purple-hued clouds drifting through the tear into an environment in which they clearly did not belong.

Of course, a reasonable explanation for the discrepancy in time of day could simply have been the existence of a different time zone on the other side of the tear. Somehow, that did not ring true to me, though. I got the distinct impression of not only witnessing a rip in space but one in time, as well.

It was as if I could actually sense it on the air around me. Orrather Morriga
n―
the part of me instinctively connected to magi
c―
could. Seeing as I usually had no counter argument to offer whenever I had a gut feeling about something out of the ordinary, I decided to trust in these instincts, even if they made little sense to me.

As the four of us watched with wide eyes and bated breaths, a small army of murderous-looking men walked through to our side in unison and headed for the convertible.

After the men had come through, the tear in space and time had started to mend itself, its edges melting back together into one large seam, which grew thinner even as we watched. A moment later, the last traces of the seam finally vanished, leaving the atmosphere just as it had been before without the slightest indication that anything unusual had taken place.

Except for the sudden presence of about thirty men clad in dark-red leather uniforms and flowing, hooded robes of deep crimson who hadn’t been there a moment before.

Now they were gathered in the middle of the road, their faces hidden beneath their hoods as they quietly stood side by side as one with tilted heads and folded hands…as though in prayer…or possibly awaiting their next orders.

A deafening silence enveloped the landscape, and I held my breath, fearing the slightest of sounds could escape me and give away our location.

I kept waiting for one of them to move, to do something…anything…other than just stand there. The fact that they weren’t moving at all unnerved me more than any action they could have taken. It was downright creepy. And the way they all stood there in unison, not one amongst them breaking ranks…

And yet there was no commander in sight.

Who, then, directed these men? Whom did they answer to?

I tried to stay calm as the minutes crawled by with no change in the men’s stances.

But the longer I stood ‘sandwiched’ between three tall and muscular men in an incredibly tight space with nothing to take my mind off of the danger we were in, the more our current situation preyed on me. I was losing the smidgen of calm I’d been holding on to.

A smoldering heat surrounded me, and the air in my lungs felt as if it were on fire, though of course I knew I was only imagining it. Be that as it may, it had the effect of making me feel as though I was choking.

I could make out Aidan’s warm, reassuring touch as he gripped my hand in an attempt to calm me, but I couldn’t focus on it. I was too caught up in the feeling of panic that had come over me. In a corner of my mind, I registered Aaron taking my other hand and Malcolm’s soothing touch as he gently squeezed my shoulder, reminding me of his presence…reminding me that I was not alone in this.

But I knew better.

If I was right in believing that we were dealing with the same group of men who had attacked us at the castle, at least that was the only group I could think of that had a reason for coming after me, then these men weren’t intent on killing the others…they wanted
me
.

As though it had happened yesterday, I clearly remembered the eyes of the man who’d been an inch away of severing my neck with his axe…they had burned with hatred. He hadn’t merely acted on orders…it had been personal.

These men hated me…and they wanted me to die a gruesome and agonizing death…
me
…and me alone.

Because
I
  was the one to blame for centuries of misery and fear.
I
had created the curse, and it didn’t matter to them that I remembered nothing of my old life.

Perhaps killing both Aaron and Aidan to stop the curse would have been an option if it weren’t for the fact that what they ultimately lusted for was revenge…and my blood…the blood of the evil witch.

Though I felt thankful from the bottom of my heart that they only wanted me, I did indeed feel alone in this…because I was.

And while I would have loved nothing more than to stand at death’s door with my head held high, with courage in my heart, and serenity in my soul…I couldn’t help but be frightened of this small legion of forbidding men who hungered for my brutal end.

As calm and fear warred inside me, my body started to shake uncontrollably…until the battle had been wo
n―
fear finally taking me over completely.

Though logic and my sense of self-preservation dictated that using magic then and there would be the fastest way of getting mysel
f―
and possibly everyone around m
e―
killed, I could do nothing to stop myself.