Page 72 of Cold Foot Curse

“…with me…”

“…fight!...”

“Come on, Kade!”

Kade.

Hyper awareness hit her in a moment, and she jerked her attention to the sound. Cash was here, in the middle of the road, by the front of Kade’s truck that had jack-knifed, and separated from the trailer, and was sitting destroyed on its side.

Cash was doing CPR.

No.

Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum…

The locket was in the truck. She could sense it as she bolted past it. It was bragging. This was its victory lap. It had done its job again. It had destroyed again.

A sob escaped her as she reached them. Kade was staring up at the sky with empty eyes.

She fell to her knees beside him.

“He’s going to be fine,” Cash said as he did another round of chest compressions.

“Kade, Kade, Kade,” she squeaked out, tears streaming down her face as she hugged his head and pressed her cheek against his. “Kade, I’m sorry. I love you and I’m sorry.”

He wouldn’t ever understand.

“He’s going to be fine, Jess. Give me room to work.”

“You don’t understand,” she screamed. “I did this to him! I cursed him!”

“He’s going to be okay,” Cash said, and then leaned down to breathe into him.

She wished he was right. She wished she could believe him, just to hold onto hope for a few more seconds, but she could feel it—Kade had faded.

Cash did chest compressions again and glanced up to the sky. “Come on! Kade, he’s almost here. Stay with me. We have a plan. We have a fucking plan! Stick to the plan.”

Plans. Kade had a plan with her before too. She slipped her hand around his and held onto it, beside herself with crying. She would never be okay again because he would never be okay again.

“He’s dead,” she whispered, absolutely shattered, never to be put back together again.

She’d killed the man she loved.

Cash looked up at her, and there was a strange excitement in his glowing gold eyes. “I know.” He grinned. “We gotta go.”

“I…” She frowned down at Kade’s still form. His eyes were glossing over. “I don’t want to leave him.”

“Trust me, you do!” Cash yelled over a sudden roaring sound.

A great wave of power whooshed over them, blasting her backward, but Cash was there trying his best to hold her upright. Terrifying green flames were rushing straight down the road toward them. Toward Kade.

“Dragon,” she uttered in warning. Fucking Tawk! What was he doing?

“Not a dragon,” Cash said, yanking her off the ground. His grip was steel as he pulled her behind the trailer and covered her eyes as the green flames hit Kade’s body. “Phoenix,” he whispered.

Phoenix?

Jess pried Cash’s hand away from her face and stared in horrified awe as Wreck emerged from the green flames beside Kade. Wreck looked up at her and his eyes glowed with power. He knelt beside Kade and lifted his hand into the air. Kade elevated, burning with those green flames. The air smelled like a power she didn’t recognize, and threatened to choke her, but she couldn’t look away. Kade’s body hovered twenty feet above them, and Wreck swung his gaze toward the truck. He lifted his other hand, shot green flames at the front windshield, and pulled the locket out of there. It was small, and embraced by the flames, but something strange was happening…

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