Page 45 of Savage Sacrifice
Green.
I’m moving before I realize it. My pace quickens the brighter the greenery gets in my vision.
“Wait there for me,” I grunt, ending the call and stuffing my cell phone in my pocket without pause as I break through the trees, ready to hunt down my queen.
17
POLARIS
I’m not dead.
Despite the frenzied panic running through my veins, I know that much is true.
My hope of saving my blood kin, my best friend, worked. And even though it may have cost me my life as I knew it, it hasn’t taken it altogether.
Holy crap. It actually freaking worked. I was right about Krystal. I don’t know what it means beyond that, and any answers I might hope to get are back at the house, but right now, my mind is crashing, recalling memory after memory as I flail, trying not to sink further under the weight of it all.
Memories.
I have them.
Not just of Trinity Falls, but all of it, and it’s all because of Lincoln. The piece of me that I felt was missing since I woke up is restored. Belladora was the nurse guiding me here, too. I shake my head, trying to let the facts settle, but all it does is open another door that requires a lot more answers to pass.
If that isn’t enough for me to try to catch up with, I finally, after eleven years, am faced with my parents. I never thoughtthe day would come. I spent so many nights pondering over the what-ifs, but none of them led me down this path; my true path.
Everything I’ve experienced since the moment I was taken, Floretine’s, the pain, the chaos, the heartache, Trinity Falls… it was all because of them, and I clung to the loss of them like a lifeline when it was all their fault to begin with.
Floretine’s ingrained it into us that our parents were dead, but mine are very much alive and in my presence and I don’t know how I feel about it. It’s not the fairytale reunion I had anticipated or dreamed of, far from it.
I sigh, remembering the night I was taken vividly, and as I close my eyes, the scene unravels on the back of my eyelids. Despite all of my kicking and screaming, I was hauled into a black vehicle, where a man in a mask waited.
A shiver runs down my spine as I realize who it was.
The Crow.
His hand reached out, dusting over my cheek as he hummed. “Don’t cry, little one. You’ll have it all back soon enough. Once you pay for your parents’ debt, of course.”
The terror I felt that night, from the men storming my room and screaming in panic for my parents, and they knew it was coming. They fucking knew.
My head falls into my hands as that reality has no problem settling in my gut, claiming space I wish it couldn’t. And now I’ve run away, a trait I feel like I’m getting too good at. I needed the space, but I regret leaving Lincoln.
I don’t know how he’s here, but he is, and now I ache for him, for the others, for the consequences of my actions that brought me here. I don’t know where we go from here, but we’ll figure it out, I hope.
Recalling the moment my memories lifted, being in Lincoln’s arms… damn. He’s the safest place I feel right now.
My roommates, however… that’s an entirely other situation to deal with, and there’s already enough on my plate. Whoever said they’ll rest when they’re dead is lying because here I am, working harder than ever to try and dismantle the madness around me.
The strain in my chest eases with every breath I take as I finally manage to pry my eyes open and tilt my head back to take in my surroundings. The sun is already starting to fall, but the trees shield me from it. It’s darker in here, quieter too, but I found the perfect fallen tree to rest on.
It’s not quite the maze back at Trinity Falls Academy, but it’s close enough. I don’t know what it is about nature that settles me so much, but it’s a lifeline I reach for in times of need as it puts everything in perspective.
The soft humming of birds swoops around me, and I take another deep breath, encouraging the weight of the world off my back as I exhale, when the sound of a twig snapping in the distance catches my attention.
I inhale sharply, but there’s no time to panic before I feel his presence.
I don’t know how or why it’s possible, but I know it’s Lincoln. I feel it deep in my soul, but I’m not a witch anymore, so it doesn’t make sense. I don’t question it, though. Not when he steps from between the trees across from me.
Relief washes over his features as his eyes settle on me, and I offer him a small smile as I rush to my feet, cutting the distance between us as I launch myself at him. With my arms wrapped around his neck, I breathe him in, relishing in the tightening around my waist as he clings to me just as tightly.
