Page 28 of Shackled to the World
She could do this.
She felt each of the guys in the back of her mind like a warm glow.
If they got lost in the abyss, she would damn well go and get them back.
She thrust her shoulders back and nodded to Edgar. “I’m ready.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw as he swallowed back any other protests. He knew she was right. This needed to be done. The only way she could protect herself from the other phantoms was if she was stronger, faster, and smarter.
“Travel to the guys and back without entering the afterworld.” That was all he said before he retreated to stand next to Xander.
The first dozen times she tried—she failed spectacularly.
She felt herself slip into the afterworld every jump, no matter how hard she tried to resist.
The next two jumps, she did something different, using the darkness inside her instead of the afterworld, and didn’t even manage to ghost at all. She growled in frustration, glaring daggers at Edgar, but he only shook his head.
“Again. I can still feel you pulling on the afterworld.” He leaned against a tree and crossed his leg at the ankles, as if completely bored. “Try again.”
She glared at him, the urge to skip over to him, smack him, and slip away again nipping along her nerves. Dark particles rose, as if to do her bidding, and an idea sparked.
Grabbing the darkness, she flung the particles out in front of her. Then, with her breath held, she stepped right through them.
They sucked her forward, twisting her inside out, before spitting her back out in front of Edgar.
His mouth dropped open in shock. When she staggered, struggling to regain her equilibrium, he caught her close against his surprisingly firm chest.
“You did it!” He blinked down at her, eyes wide in shock. “How did you do that?”
“It worked?” She smiled, then gave a whoop of victory. “It worked!”
Dizziness assailed her, like she had low blood pressure or something, and Mason steadied her when she would’ve stumbled into him. “Whoa, easy there, little-stuff.”
His concerned gaze moved past her to land on Edgar. “So she can do it, but at what cost?”
The guys gathered around her, and Xander tipped her chin back, studying her eyes, unobtrusively measuring her pulse. After a moment, he retreated. “Physically she’s fine.” Then he glanced at Edgar. “But can you look deeper? See if keeping her from touching the other realm is harming her? While her afterworld might harm you, it might also be her lifeline.”
“I’m fine.” She tried to push away from them, but none of the guys stepped back, their bodies a solid wall. She rolled her eyes at their antics, then sighed and gave in to their silent demand, knowing they wouldn’t stop unless they could confirm for themselves that she was unharmed.
She glanced at Edgar, then pointed to the barrier surrounding them. “Before you do anything, are you sure the wards will hold?”
The last thing she wanted was for the phantoms to come and claim him. Something about seeing Edgar with that girl this morning still rubbed her the wrong way.
Edgar was hers, and she wasn’t letting some skank take him away from her.
Not without a fight.
“They’ll hold.” He grimaced, obviously not relishing calling on the darkness, and she hated that they asked it of him.
“You don’t have to do this.” She rested her hand on his chest, wanting to comfort him. “I feel fine. Honest.”
But he was already shaking his head. “I won’t have you risk yourself foolishly. Let me check you out first.”
“Then I can go with you.” But even before she had a chance to finish her objection, he exploded outward in a cloud of dark smoke, his form indistinguishable, the shape of him only a vague outline. Dark particles shimmered and flared brightly as they caught the sunlight.
Residue from the afterworld radiated from him, a cool breeze wrapping around her, urging her to come and visit, like he was a doorway to the world beyond. She reached out toward him, then gasped at the contact, her whole body tingling like she’d touched an electric current.
His form became solid under her touch, as if she’d called him back, and she pulled away, rubbing the tips of her fingers together. “What was that?”
