Page 69 of Written In Flesh

His arms fall to his sides, and I walk past him, my legs moving fast, my eyes straight ahead. My chest moves with my rapid breathing, and my fingers have a death grip on my bag, but I don’t stop. I don’t look around. I do not talk to anyone. Tears sting my eyes. I never saw Baylee this morning; I don’t even know if she’s okay. My phone vibrates in my hand, and Madden’s name flashes on the screen. My eyes flick down right as my body collides with someone.

“There you are! Skully, we have to go.” Lily reaches for me and I lean back.

“What? I’m waiting for Aero,” I tell her, my eyes running over her face.

Her blue eyes are wide, almost frantic. “No, Aero is meeting with the council too. It’s all hands on deck. Come on, we have to go.”

She reaches for me again, and I yank my arm out of reach. “Madden didn’t say—-”

“He just messaged you, didn’t he?” she asks, huffing, and her foot stomps in place. “We’re running out of time.”

Madden did message me, I just didn’t have time to read it before I bumped into her. Unease moves through my veins, but I don’t really have a reason not to go with her. Still, Killian’s warning from just minutes ago blares in my mind. “Killian sai—”

“Killian. You talked to Killian?” Her blue eyes flash, and her lips curl. It’s on my lips to defend myself, to explain the situation, but I don’t get a chance. Lily’s hand reaches out, her fingers press against my neck, and everything goes black.

SKULLY!

My eyes snap open. My ears strain, listening. I swear I heard my name being called. The wind rustles my jacket and whips my loose hair around in the air. I blink, feeling the dull pain behind my eyes, throbbing. The sky is gray, and the grass beneath me is almost covered in white from the snow earlier this morning. I blink again and the memories flood back. The Gate. Danger. Killian. Lily. I push myself up as far as I can, breathing through my nose when my stomach lurches and my vision swims.

“It’s about time you woke up.” Her sickeningly sweet voice breaks through my haze of thoughts.

“What did you do?”

Her slim shoulders shrug, and she smiles down at me. “Just a little magic.” Her fingers waggle, and she giggles. “I don’t think that’s the question you really want to be asking me, though, is it?”

My eyes narrow on her, and I glance around. We’re on a cliff and judging by the rush of water below, we’re close to the ocean. My stomach sinks while dread seeps in. “Where are we?”

Lily rolls her eyes. “That’s so boring, Skully. Really?” She scoffs. “We’re back at the cliff that started it all.” She spreads her arms wide, moving closer to the edge. My heart stops.

“The cliff?”

She nods, and her lips turn up in an excited smile. “The cliff. The one you supposedly tried to kill yourself on two years ago.”

My stomach tightens in knots, and my chest hurts. Panic threatens to take over, but I push it down. It’s taking everything in me to hold my magic back. I need her talking. I need her distracted while I find a way out of this. “How did we get here?”

Lily’s smile turns viscous, and she clicks her tongue behind her teeth, like she’s scolding me. “Oh, come on. How? Where are we? What happened? How about why, Skully? Ask me WHY!”

Her chest rises and falls rapidly, her hands balling into fists. Slowly, I get to my feet, my hands spread out in front of me. “Okay. Okay. Why, Lily?”

Her back straightens, and her arms fold over her chest. She changes from one emotion to the other so fast that it’s almost frightening. “Because he’s mine, Skully. Madden Danvers was always meant to be mine. And you don’t deserve to be happy.”

“So, what? You’re going to throw me off the cliff?” I ask, a nervous laugh bubbling out of my chest.

Lily’s face lights up, her eyes zeroing in on me. “I won’t have to push you. You’ll jump yourself.”

I shake my head, my hair brushing across my shoulders. “Why would I do that?”

“You want your memories, don’t you?” Lily taunts, glancing over the edge behind me. “They’re down there. Don’t you know what happens when a bond breaks, Skully?”

The pain behind my eyes intensifies, reaching my temples. My eyes are fighting to stay open from the pain. I lick my lips, wracking my brain for anything that sticks out over the past couple of years. “I don’t know.”

“Hmm.” Lily watches me, moving closer toward me. “When a bond breaks, pieces of that bond, magic, power, your essence even, it scatters. Broken bonds can be severely dangerous to paranormals. Especially when there’s an opening for them to exit from.”

The scar on my arm burns, the markings that cover it move over my skin, trying to soothe the wound that has already started healing. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, your memories are down there, Skully. And I think it’s about time you remember how you lost them in the first place.”

Gray magic surrounds me, pushing my body to the edge, the very tips of my shoes, toeing the line. Glancing over my shoulder I notice a flash of light glowing beneath the waves. My body tips too far back, trying harder to see what it is. My arms flail, and my heart seizes in my throat.