Page 35 of Ghoul Me, Maybe
The pressure slams me against the vault. My head cracks the stone. Stars explode behind my eyes.
Water rushes in where breath should be.
I choke. I scream.
And then everythingshifts.
The ocean...hums.
A shockwave pulses through the water like thunder underwater, sending coral fragments flying. The seaweed recoils. The magic—Jonas’s magic—screeches in protest.
And then he’sthere.
Elias.
Notghost-Elias. Not mist-in-the-corner Elias.
Solid. Bare-chested. Eyes glowing like stormlight. Arms slicing through the sea like a knife through fate.
He grabs me.
One hand on my waist. One tearing at the vines. His skin iswarm.Real.
I cling to him like he’s oxygen.
We break the surface with a gasp that splits the night wide open.
I cough up half the bay. My throat burns like I drank bleach and salt, and my chest is one long scream. But I’m alive.
Mostly.
Elias hauls me up onto a jagged rock outcrop. He’s shaking. I’m shivering. We’re both panting like we just outran death—and maybe we did.
He brushes the hair from my face, his touch feather-light.
“Next time,” he rasps, “maybedon’tignore the part where it says 'primed key only.'”
I wheeze a laugh. “Didn’t think it’d turn into a horror movie tentacle trap. Sue me.”
He grips my shoulders tighter, gaze burning. “You almost drowned.”
“You say that like it’s a surprise.”
“Sienna—”
“Don’tSienname, Captain Hauntedpants.” My voice cracks, and I hate how close I am to crying. “This is your stupid vault. Your stupid curse. Your stupid dead magic.”
“Yourfather built the damn trap,” he fires back.
I flinch.
He sees it. Immediately regrets it.
“Shit,” he mutters. “I didn’t mean?—”
“No, you’re right.” I shove off the rock, legs trembling. “Of course Jonas left a death trap. Why make anything simple when you can traumatize your daughter from beyond the grave?”
Elias rises beside me. The moon glints off his wet skin, casting shadows across muscles that shouldn’t be allowed to exist outside a romance novel.
