Page 52 of Ecliptic

I couldn’t tell if my mother was sincere, but there was a flutter in my heart that wanted to give her one last chance. “I would leave my room every night because I was astral projecting to another world—a place that called to me through the stars. Some nights, my body remained in bed while my mind traveled beyond the known universe, beyond my physical constraints. Other nights, more of me would venture out, my entire being on another plane, returning with unexplainable bruises and scratches. I found a new home, Mom, and I don’t think I’ll be coming back.”

Suddenly, a glint of metal flashed in the sunlight. “You need help, my darling,” she said, facing me with a syringe in her hand. “This sedative will calm you.” Before I could register what she said, I felt a stab of pain. I looked down in horror as a needle protruded from my skin. My eyes widened, a tingling sensation already working its way up my arm. “Let me help you.”

I never imagined she could go this far, but as she depressed the solution into my veins, reality hit me like a sledgehammer. I had made a grave mistake in coming here. It was impulsive and stupid.

My body jerked away, but her other hand flew to keep me still. And the second her fingers came in contact with my skin, she jolted off me with a pained shriek.

I shook my head, fighting the effects of whatever sedative she’d given me. I yanked the needle out of my arm and dropped it to the ground, but the damage had been done. At least half the syringe now coursed through my veins.

My limbs grew heavy, and I tried shaking off the drowsiness that crept up my spine.

If I succumbed to the sedative, she would most likely keep me so drugged that I would never be able to return to Luneth. To Rowen.

She would prick me over and over again to get me to comply.Injecting me until my veins were bruised black and blue. Because I would never give up; I would fight her every step of the way. Even as my strength wavered, my resolve grew stronger—she would never break me again.

I stumbled to the computer as Calliope darted to the half-empty syringe on the carpet. Her gaze wild and her hair a mess.

I could barely keep my eyes open as a thick fog clouded my mind. I wouldn’t make it. The pull was too strong, the sedative too powerful. But if I fell asleep now, I would most likely wake up in a padded cell. Who knew what other drugs would be shoved down my throat and forced into my veins.

My vision doubled as my legs gave way beneath me, sending me crashing to my knees. I knocked over the framed awards on her desk, struggling to pull myself up.

With my last ounce of strength, I hit send on the email, hoping it would expose my mother’s malpractice.As my body crumbled to the ground, I prayed that the message went through and that Calliope would finally be held accountable for her abuse.

“No!” she screeched, her immaculate hair hanging in front of her face. She retrieved the syringe and rushed towards me.

My eyes closed in exhaustion, but through my drowsiness, all threads home had vanished.Rowen. Rowen. Rowen,I pleaded over and over again, fighting against the sleep that was rushing to meet me. I hadn’t told anyone where I was going, and the prospect of disappearing without a trace added another layer of guilt to my already weighted body.

My mother raised the needle above me when my golden soul flame bond suddenly appeared like a beacon. Rowen was just on the other side, anchoring me to where I belonged. Yet, the connecting thread was slightly frayed, a strand veering off in a parallel line. Despite the tear that worried me, the weight of our bond felt like a lifeline. And I pulled with all my might.

I felt another stab in my arm, but before my mother could inject the rest of the syringe, my senses tilted, and I fell through space, time, and light.

Traveling between worlds was always a disorienting experience, but this time it was shifted and blurred—a heavy spiral that tugged me towards Rowen. Our soul flame bond was the only constant in the whirl of chaos. But if I didn’t concentrate with everything I had, I could end up in any world—in any spacebetweenworlds.

The two golden threads wrapped around my arms and helped pull me home.

I landed with a hard, ungraceful thud, crying out as I fell on my punctured arm. I moaned, rolling over to release the pressure on my sore limb when my eyes landed on two pairs of worn leather boots.

21

“Keira!” Rowen yelled as he dropped to my line of sight, his eyes frantically scanning my body. “What happened?” he asked, his beautiful face contorting in panic as his hands flew around me but not on me, and my heart pinched from the loss of his touch.

“You're even pretty when you make that face,” I grumbled as I rose to my feet, but my legs buckled, and I fell to the ground. “It’s not fair.”

“Where are you hurt?”

“My arm,” I slurred, trying to shake off the sedation.

Rowen’s eyes narrowed further. “Were you hurt in training?” he asked as the veins in his neck strained. “You just fell out of nowhere.”

“I traveled to see my m-mother,” I said, my eyes two heavy windows.

“Don’t just stand there. Help her up,” Rowen commanded over his shoulder.

Confused and wondering who he was talking to, I tried lifting my head, but I collapsed in exhaustion. Here was as good a place as any to take a little nap. When suddenly, I was swept off the ground.

“Put me down,” I grumbled, squirming in the strong arms that carried me. “I don’t need to be carried.”

“Keira, you can’t even stand.” Maddock’s chest-rumbling voice vibrated against my cheek.

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