Page 79 of A Bond in Flames

There was a tap at my bedroom door before it opened. Jasmine walked in carrying a mug of coffee. “You sleep okay?”

“Yeah,” I lied and took the mug, sitting up. “Any news?”

“She’s still the same.”

Else had deteriorated, but she was hanging on. I shoved back the covers. “Let me quickly get dressed, and we can head back.”

We walked into Aunt Daisy’s house a short time later. Wills was at the kitchen table, Rose beside her. They both looked exhausted.

“How is she?” Jaz asked.

“She’s comfortable, but she’s getting weaker,” Rose said, her eyes filled with pain.

* * *

Home: Week Three

I was surrounded by stars. I was alone and so scared. The stars spun past, faster and faster, darkness flashing to light—

I hit the ground so hard, I cried out.

I blinked up at the sky, then looked down at myself. I was naked, lying on the grass.

A giggle fell from my lips as I wiggled my toes.

“Stella?” a rough voice called.

I woke with a jolt, my gaze slicing to Else. She was still asleep.

“You okay?” Jaz asked from her seat beside me.

Another week had passed of nightly dreams or visions—I still didn’t know what. Every night, I felt Death close and was never able to reach him, and I saw those females, their lives and their deaths, feeling their fear and not understanding any of it… All while sitting with my cousins at Else’s bedside watching her get weaker and frailer by the day.

Right now, though, it was just me and Jazzy in here with Else.

“Nightmare?” Jaz asked.

“I’m… I’m not sure.”

She studied me. “You look exhausted.”

I was. Every time I fell asleep, another vision or dream came to me, and now this, this weird vision of the night sky, of Death, but in the past, of him calling out her name, calling Stella. I felt as if I were losing my damn mind.

“I’ll go get us a coffee,” she said.

“Thanks.”

She walked out, and I looked back at Else. She was watching me. “Hey,” I said and took her hand.

“Spill,” she rasped. “I’ve been watching you the last few weeks. I may be on my death bed, but I’m not blind.”

My mouth went dry. “There’s nothing to tell.”

“Now you’re gonna lie? Right to your dying aunt’s face?”

Her body may be weak, but her mind was still just as sharp. “So much has happened, Else. I’m not sure where to start—”

“Then give me the highlights.” And for a moment there, she sounded like her old bossy self.

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