Page 25 of Dark Embers

I gasped and blinked, surprised to once again see a simple apple in her grasp.

“Julian? Are you okay?”

Something about this didn’t feel right. No,everythingabout this didn’t feel right.

I looked at my surroundings, truly examining them. “Wait. How did I get here?”

“In the orchard?” Shea asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder in that sassy way.

I shook my head. “No, the boarding house. I wasn’t here before.”

Shea folded her arms and swung out a hip. “I’m not sure I understand. Did you hit your head when you stumbled just now?”

It all came flooding back to me with sudden ferocity. Moments before this, I’d been trapped in a tank of water, drowning over and over again.

Or had it been an eternity ago?

“This isn’t real. None of this is real.”

I ran my fingers through my hair and hunched over, pulling hard. I felt the pain—it was as real as my drowning had been.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shea rush to my side.

“Julian, what are you doing?” she cried, laying a gentle hand on my back.

I fell to my knees. “Hadrian! What have you done to me? Hadrian!”

Burying my face in my hands, I found myself sobbing. This trap inside the past was worse than drowning. The orchard had felt real. Shea had felt real.

“Julian?”

The question of reality faded away like steam in winter. I knew that voice, and it wasn’t just in my head.

Looking up, my eyes caught sight of Alice. Her red hair was bouncing as she raced toward me from the boarding house. Shea had completely vanished.

“Alice,” I whispered, new hope driving me to my feet. I no longer cared which reality I was in. Alice was here.

I sprinted for her, my legs filled with adrenaline, my heart beating with eager love that threatened to explode from my chest.

But, again, something was wrong. No matter how hard I ran, the distance between us didn’t shorten.

“Julian!” she called to me, her voice traveling the distance that our legs for some reason couldn’t. She came to a stop and reached a hand out. I did the same.

“Alice! Please, come to me!”

“I can’t!” She shook her head sadly and dropped to her knees, her green dress melding with the grassy lawn.

The morning sky suddenly turned overcast, and cool raindrops began hitting my cheeks.

“She’ll never come to you,” another voice said, whispering in my ear. “But Iamhere.”

I hadn’t heard Marguerite approach, and as I looked up at her, I found her pale, smiling face framed by her platinum blond hair.

The falling rain fizzled out and the orchard disappeared. I was kneeling behind iron bars, staring up into Marguerite’s icy blue eyes.

“I’vealwaysbeen here,” she said softly, reaching a hand through the bars, waiting for me to take it. The way she echoed Shea’s earlier words was too disturbing to contemplate.

Her face changed for a moment to Alice’s, and I blinked a few times to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me once again. Alice stood before me, hand still extended. Without hesitation, I took her hand in mine, placing it against my cheek and closing my eyes.

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