Page 95 of Crossing Between
To my surprise, they threw their head back and laughed, the sound like crystal bells chiming. "You would not be the first, dear Zoey. Nor, I suspect, the last." Their expression sobered, though amusement still danced in their eyes. "Trust yourself as I trust you. The power within you knows its purpose."
I wished I could share their confidence. As Kenji returned to the gym, his presence in my mind a comforting warmth, I couldn't shake the image of the squirrel's eyes, or the nagging fear of what other consequences my growing powers might bring.
Chapter 52: Zoey
"We've got another one," Kenji announced grimly as he stepped into Varon's kitchen, where I was attempting to make pancakes without burning them.
My stomach dropped at his tone. Through our bond, I felt the dark current of his emotions. Anger, frustration, and a deep sadness that made my chest ache. "Another murder?"
"Yeah. Grum just called. It's bad." He ran a hand through his hair, his usual playfulness nowhere to be seen. "Varon wants us there ASAP."
Elias appeared in the doorway behind him, already dressed in his work clothes, his face a careful mask of professionalism that didn't quite hide his unease. "I'll drive. Varon's meeting us there."
I turned off the stove, abandoning my half-cooked breakfast. "Let me change."
Five minutes later, we were in Elias's car, speeding toward the crime scene. The silence was heavy, each of us lost in our thoughts. Through our bond, I could feel Elias's focus, his mind already in healer mode, cataloging what we might find.Kenji's energy was more turbulent, shifting between rage and determination.
"There's something else," Kenji finally broke the silence, his voice tight. "Something you both should know before we get there."
I turned in my seat to look at him. "What is it?"
He met my eyes, his expression unusually grave. "Varon didn't want to tell you over the phone, but the victim, it's Ruth."
The world seemed to tilt beneath me. "Ruth? My Ruth?" My voice sounded distant, like it belonged to someone else.
Elias reached across the console, taking my hand in his. I could feel his concern washing over me through our bond, but it barely registered through the shock.
"I'm sorry, kærasta," Elias's voice was gentle. "Varon confirmed it's her."
"No," I shook my head, denial rising like bile in my throat, sharp and acidic. "That can't be right. I just talked to her two days ago. She was fine. She was..." My voice broke as the reality began to sink in, fracturing like ice beneath my feet.
Ruth. My friend. The woman who'd been more of a grandmother to me than a friend. The one who'd helped me raise Ryan even in his adult years, who'd shown up at our doorstep with casseroles and no-nonsense advice. Who'd sat with me on countless nights when I thought I couldn't go on, her weathered hand steady on mine, her voice repeating "One day at a time, my girl" until I believed it. The woman who taught me how to make plum jam and told me stories about her wild youth while we sealed the jars. The smell of her lavender perfume that always lingered after she left. The way her eyes crinkled when she laughed.
I couldn't reconcile those memories with the word "victim." Couldn't process that someone who'd been so vividly alive couldnow be gone.
"The Essencefeaster," I whispered, horror dawning. "It went after her because of me."
"You don't know that," Kenji's voice was sharp. "Don't blame yourself."
But I could feel it. The truth of it settled into my bones like poison. This was my fault. The Essencefeaster was targeting people I cared about, just as it had promised in my nightmare.
I'm going to take everything you love.
A wave of nausea rolled through me, and I pressed my hand against my mouth. "Pull over."
"Zoey—"
"Pull over now!"
Elias swerved to the shoulder of the road. I barely got the door open before I was vomiting, my body rejecting the horror of what I'd just learned. Tears streamed down my face as I heaved even though I had nothing in it, my body still convulsed.
Strong hands gathered my hair back, cool fingers brushing my neck as another hand rubbed soothing circles between my shoulder blades. Through our bond, I felt Elias's love and concern washing over me like gentle waves, while Kenji's energy surrounded me like a protective wall, both trying to ease my pain. But nothing, not their touch, not their power, not even our supernatural connection, could fill the jagged, gaping void that had opened inside me.
Ruth was dead. Not peacefully in her sleep as she'd always joked she'd prefer.
"Just close my eyes with a good book and a better beer, that's how I want to go."
She went violently. Murdered by the Essencefeaster. Those weathered hands that gave me a beer almost every evening, that smoothed my hair when I'd cried over Ryan's latest disaster, would never hold mine again. And it was all becauseof me.
