Page 74 of Curse of Thorns
“I know,” I whisper, blinking again. “I was just thinking... Perhaps when this is all over and I’ve ensured Rev is safe and out of this place, his quest fulfilled, that I’d come back here. And I’d dance with him one more time, before—”
“NO!” the wraith growls, grabbing my arms. His grip cannot hold me, the smoke dissolves over me, but his magic sears shooting pain through my whole body. A wraith can’t physically move a living being, but it can certainly hurt one. It can easily kill me if it desires.
“Ow!” I yell, pulling away from him and rubbing the red patches of skin where he touched me. “That burned.”
“Look,” he tells me, pointing toward a tree trunk carved into the shape of arms reaching out. No, not carved. It is a person. His eyes are hollow, lifeless, his mouth open in a silent scream, begging. His fingers are curled, eager to grasp me.
“You turn in to that if you succumb to those desires.”
I swallow.
“This is where most soul’s journey ends. Stuck here where their desires are at their fingertips but never within reach.”
“Sounds like my life.”
“These creatures feed off your desperate desires, not your happiness. You’ll live a half-life. Stuck here with your own pain relived over and over again.”
I swallow. Okay, less pleasant than I’d imagined.
“There is no escape for these souls. No hope of passing on.”
I take in a long breath. “Where is Rev?” I ask again. “The real one.”
The wraith nods behind me to a form standing in the middle of the path. His mud-covered clothes are ripped and bloodied.What happened to him?
Next to him stands a blond female—me.
Rev
Caelynn stands beforeme, her eyes are so soft and gentle. She licks her lips and looks down at mine.
Not real, I tell myself.Not real.
I was warned about this forest; although, I hadn’t realized what I was walking into until the mirages started happening. My brother and I playing tag in the iridescent forest. The High Queen offering me her crown. My father kneeling before me.
And Caelynn. First, she sat laughing and talking with Reahgan as friends. An accepted part of my family.
