Page 69 of Ghoul Me, Maybe
And then, there’s a flash.
Behind us.
A figure in the trees.
Not Mira.
Not Lyle.
Someone tall.
Unmoving.
Watching.
I twist around, heart hammering. “Who’s there?!”
But no one answers.
And when I turn back, Elias is almost gone.
One last breath of mist clings to my fingertips.
And the last word I hear is my name.
The second Elias disappears, something in mecrackswide open.
I don’t cry.
Imove.
Instinct kicks in like a jolt of lightning through my bones. I throw myself to my pack, nearly ripping it apart with numb fingers, digging past soaked notebooks, crushed sea salt jars, broken trinkets—until I find it.
Jonas’ journal.
The leather’s warped from rain and salt, the pages frayed and bleeding ink—but I know what I’m looking for. I’ve read it enough times in the dark, curled under blankets, whispering his secrets like prayers.
The spell’s on a page near the middle. Scrawled in thick, ink-blotched lines.
Tether of Essence. Emergency Rebinding. Use only in finality. Cost: blood, breath, memory.
No instructions. No warnings. Just those words.
It’s meant for one thing only:the moment after the end.
I drop to my knees, fingers digging into the sand, scraping hard enough to bleed. I draw the sigil as Jonas described—spiral spine, mirrored runes, open mouth at the center. It hisses against the beach, glowing faintly the moment blood hits it.
Mira rushes toward me, panic laced into every word. “Sienna—what the hell are you doing?!”
“I’m getting him back.”
“That spell’s not complete! Jonas never tested it—he warned—you could die!”
“I don’t care.”
Lyle’s voice follows like an echo, sharp and scared. “It’s not just your life. You’rebinding your soulto his. This isn’t magic. It’salchemy.Itchanges you.”
I meet their eyes.
