Page 65 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty

I opened the clasp and took my necklace off, handing it to Maisie.

“You have to allow me to show you the memory,” Gwyneth informed me as she watched me, waiting patiently for her to begin.

“Fine. I allow you, Gwyneth, to get into my head and show me the memory of the night my great-aunt made the Fox the keeper.” I tried to be as specific as possible in the hope of keeping her from being allowed to do or show me anything else.

The candles began to burn higher, and a breeze made them dance wildly.

In the blink of an eye, Gwyneth was in front of me, and her hands caressed my cheeks softly.

Her endless dark eyes were the last thing I saw before the darkness overtook me, and my mind was pulled into a memory made fifty years ago.

The majestic doors of the chapel flew open, and I tilted my head, wondering who might seek the Lord’s company in the middle of the night.

Back when I was at Aquila, the students hadn’t been allowed to leave the school grounds during the night. Getting lost alone in the woods seemed dangerous, especially when the moon was hiding, and every stone could mean death.Oh, such a terrible death—to fall and crack your skull open, not knowing if anyone would ever find you.

My mood lightened when I saw my dearest friend standing in the doorway with a book clutched to her chest.

“Dottie!” I chirped happily, walking towards her.

She visited me daily, and with her, I wasn’t a lost soul. She made me feel like I was almost eighteen, too. Just my appearance made me seem younger. But it didn’t bother me when my friend continued to treat me like an equal, even in death.

The doors fell closed behind her, and my heart twisted when I saw her pained expression. “Gwyneth—” her voice broke, and she collapsed to her knees. I dropped down beside her, placing my hand on her shoulder, knowing she was comfortable with me near her. She trusted me.

“What happened?”

The only thought that crossed my mind was that perhaps James, her lover, had broken her heart, but it seemed unlikely. He was such a nice boy, full of joy, and he made her so happy. Ever since the two of them had gotten together, she loved to tell me stories of how it felt to be in love and be loved by a boy. Something I could never have, but it was fine since her stories were always so full of detail that I felt like I was a part of their love.

“I’m going to die, Gwyn,” Dottie sobbed, clutching the book tighter to her chest.

I felt helpless. Never before had I seen my friend this broken, this scared for her life, since the day I died. She was always a dreamer, the most optimistic person I’d ever met.

I shook my head in disbelief. “You won’t die.”

A broken heart couldn’t kill her.

My friend lifted her head, her red eyes meeting mine, and I saw the truth in them. She wasn’t joking, and she wasn’t talking about heartache. She was talking about the ultimate end.

Death itself.

“This will be the last time we’ll see each other, Fox.”

I continued to shake my head, denying what she was trying to tell me. She didn’t get to leave me alone. And she didn’t get to use the name we had written stories about when we first met at the age of twelve and became the best of friends.

“I don’t understand. Are you thinking about taking your own life?” My Dottie loved life too much to leave everything behind.

She narrowed her gaze, focusing on the dirty wooden floor. “Something like that, but I don’t have a choice. This is how it has to be.” Her eyes lifted to meet mine again. “My great-niece will find you one day. She will be scarred by the life the stars designed for her, and you have to help her. Lead her on the right path, push her to her limits so she will find the truth.” Tears streamed down my cheeks, while Dottie’s began to dry, as if she were starting to accept this fate, but I couldn’t.

Maybe she could join me in death, but I didn’t want her to. There was no way for me to get back the life I had lost, and the only thing that kept me from succumbing to the darkness of insanity and sorrow was watching my friend live the life I could never reclaim.

It had been hard enough for me to watch my parents leave Aquila for the last time after my memorial. My soul was bound to these grounds, and I could never see them again.

“Dottie—”

“You will know who she is before she says a word to you, but don’t be fooled by how much she resembles me. She’s not me, and you’re not allowed to treat her as such, or she will end in ruin. Do you understand?”

“Dottie—”

“Do you understand?” She wasn’t talking to me as a friend. She was talking to me the way a teacher would talk to a student, and the stern seriousness in her icy blue eyes scared me.

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