Page 64 of Winterfall Destiny

He doesn't reply.

Andrei doesn't need to because speaking those words flings me backwards from the vision and I jerk back to consciousness, eyes snapping open. Tobias, Jamie, and Andrei stand around the bed and I struggle to focus properly as I catch up to my surroundings.

"Pen and paper," I say weakly, rolling onto my side. "Now."

Jamie snatches a pad and pen from the nightstand and thrusts it at me. Attempting to hold on to the fading images, I scrawl a rough sketch of the place I envisioned. I'm frustrated that the memory of the rune fades faster than images of the walls and pipes, and draw the shape over and over until I'm hopeful enough that I've got at least something to work with, and for Jamie to research.

My head spins as if I've woken up drunk, and I grip onto the bed sheets, determined not to vomit.

"A vision?" asks Tobias gently as he crouches beside me. His palm rests on my forehead, his brow furrowing as he takes hold of the fear.

"What did you see?" asks Jamie and takes the paper from the edge of the bed. "Anything helpful? Gabriella's location?"

"I don't know what I saw," I tell them, half-truthfully. "But we need to discover where this place is and never, ever go there unless we're all together."

* * *

I persuade the guys to wait until Ash returns from his run before I explain the vision, then curl up in an armchair. I'm barely aware of the room or people, still half-inside the events, as I hang onto images that will fade soon. Tobias and Andrei sit nearby, but we don't speak.

Jamie already knows.

Is that why he took the paper from me and shut himself away to research the rune shape? Runes. I caught sight of Jamie at his laptop yesterday and he shut the lid, claiming he was looking into Declan's files. Jamie hasn't spent this much time on his laptop since the days we searched for my fathers. Now I know why. My bonded witch is researching the shadows.

Ash arrives within the hour, a glow to his face but no perspiration. Do the humans he passes notice this? He's barely out of breath either and heads straight to the kitchen, then returns with an open bottle of water.

Tobias calls for Jamie and, as he thuds downstairs, Ash pauses and looks warily at us. "What's up? I never saw or sensed any supes outside. Has one approached the house?"

I curl tighter into a ball and even my breathing.

"No. Maeve had a vision," says Andrei.

"Oh?" Again, Ash remains wary, reading the room as he places his bottle down and takes a seat on the sofa beside Jamie.

"We've waited for you to return," Tobias explains to Ash, who nods. "Maeve?"

"Any luck on identifying the rune, Jamie?" I ask.

"Where do I die this time?" he replies, voice flat.

My stomach bottoms out as I meet his eyes. I should've told him straightaway, but I didn't need to. He knew. "I never saw you die, Jamie," I say.

"This place." He taps the scrawled sketch I made. "I die there. You tried to calm your mind when you looked at me, but I'm not stupid. You didn't have the same spike of panic when you looked at Tobias and Andrei after the vision. Were they in the future you saw?"

I moisten my dry lips. "I only saw Andrei."

"Doing what?" he puts in sharply.

"Speaking to me." I look to Andrei. "You never mentioned the others. And I couldn't see. My early visions happened inside a fog, and I only caught glimpses. This time, I was in that fog again. An industrial area? Tunnels?"

"Not fog, shadows," says Jamie. "The shadows were with you the whole time. Every vision you've had, Maeve."

At their mention, the room drops into quiet, the only sound the humming of the fridge through the open kitchen door.

"I guess..." I say.

"Today's vision proves you'll connect with the shadows," he says. "That almost makes up for the déjà vu."

"Déjà vu?" asks Ash.

---