Page 33 of Ecliptic

I flinched, scolding myself for accidentally giving away too much information.

“Answer the question,” Rowen growled, unfazed by my slip-up.

Maddock tore his eyes away from Rowen, a hint of sympathy in his expression. “Whatever power or ability you used against me that day in the cave, I believe I have it now, too.”

My mind short-circuited. “Wha—how is that possible?”

The memory of Maddock invading my mind stole the breath from my lungs. There was no helping him. When I’d found him in the crevice, he was astrally torn. A phantom seeking to overtake my flesh and possess my body. He would have succeeded if it weren’t for the Alcreon Light blasting him out of me.

“When you hit me with that light, my hooks were in you pretty deep,” Maddock confessed, and Rowen tensed beside me, fisting his palms so tight I feared he’d pop a vein. “I saw . . . many of your memories, Keira. Some were very confusing, jumping in space and time. But even as you hurled me from your mind, my grip on you tightened, and I didn’t let go. I-I accidentally took some of you with me. Some of your light.”

“You stole it, then used it against me,” I seethed, not sure if I wanted to cry or scream.

“In case you forgot, you were killing your boyfriend over there,” he said, jerking his chin in Rowen’s direction. “Remember?”

“Remember when you violated my mind and nearly stole my body?”

“What I did to you plagues me every day,” he said, toying with the simple linen shirt and trousers he’d been given to wear. “I am truly so sorry.”

“Yeah, you look real sorry. I walked upon you, basking in bliss.Smiling. Why wouldn’t you tell anyone who you were?”

“You would have never come if you knew it was me.”

“You’re right. I’m leaving and not coming back. Enjoy your life sentence.”

“Wait. I know I don’t deserve it, but please, hear me out,” he implored, his eyes darting from me to Rowen, pleading. And I noticed for the first time that his eyes were a rich shade of brown, a detail that somehow added warmth to the face that haunted me.

“As you know, I was deprived of much in that cave: the sun upon my face or the feeling of something as small as a twig between my fingers. Little things I thought I would never feel again.”

“Are you trying to play the victim? It doesn’t excuse what you did to me.”

“I know. I was a desperate man, but look, you defeated me.” He grinned as if this were all a game. “While in the process, you also healed me.”

“I see,” I said as my eyes darted to his head, which no longer dangled with bits of flesh from his motorcycle accident. His once skeletal body now rippled with muscle and strength, and I hated that I recalled how his body felt pressed against mine. “How did you get here?” I asked, gesturing to the hidden village surrounding us.

“You healed me almost instantly. I woke up in a hospital and simply walked out. It was a miracle.Youare a miracle.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

“I should have needed rehabilitation for my deteriorated limbs. Months and months of it. But I awoke in perfect condition with a string of light connecting me to you. I followed it, wanting to apologize to you. Or thank you. Hell, I didn’t know! Didn’t even know if the memories were real. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the beautiful woman with long, brown hair and a shimmering aura of light."

Rowen gripped his hatchet, raising it an inch out of the holster in warning.

Maddock eyed the weapon and winced. “Got it. No compliments either,” he said before continuing. “It plagues me that you tried to help me and that I returned the favor with nothing but horror. It took me a minute to get the hang of drifting, but once I did, it led me right to this village. And from what I assessed, you’ve been missing. Even when I tried to find you again, it was like you were everywhere and nowhere all at once. I’ve been imprisoned all this time, waiting for you.”

“It’s called traveling, not drifting,” I corrected sharply. “And a three-month sentence seems like you got off easy, especially for the crimes you committed against me. And the ones I’m sure you committed on Earth.”

I gloated as he grimaced, but I didn’t relish the sight as much as I thought I would.

I’d felt a moment of regret locking him in the crevice with the Dark Spirit. But now, as I remembered his ghostly fingers clawing into my mind and stealing my body memory by memory, I tensed in fury.

“Why haven’t you traveled back home? These bars aren’t really keeping you, are they?” I asked, remembering Rowen and the Summit had no idea how he’d escaped the night I returned.

“No,” he said. “They aren’t.”

“You’re an astral traveler too. A walker between worlds,” I barely whispered. “That’s how you ended up in the crevice. How you escaped this cell.”

“All my life, I had the weirdest dreams, often finding myself sleepwalking or ending up in strange places. I just attributed mytraveling,”he emphasized the last word with a smile, “to my frequent bouts of intoxication.”

---