Page 30 of Grave Revelations

Simon

Every inch of him ached.

Beeping noises jarred Simon from the lull of sweet oblivion, his mind swimming in and out of consciousness. Voices came and went.

Something tugged hard at his senses: eucalyptus and lavender. “Rebecca,” he breathed before his thoughts were swallowed by darkness again.

He rested on his elbows under a sweeping old oak tree on a worn, multi-colored blanket. A girl with raven curls danced in front of him, her hands raised to the sky as fireflies buzzed overhead. She laughed, and his soul lifted.

She stopped beside him, setting one of her creations on his palm. “Keep her safe,” she said in her soft child’s voice.

“I promise.” His chest tightened. He hadn’t kept that promise. He hadn’t kept her safe from the witches, her sister, or even himself.

The dream shifted. They were on a cliff. The girl was all grown up, hair whipping across her face as the wind bowed to her will. Rain drenched the earth, but it was no match for her flames; they devoured everything.

All around them, night beings fell, consumed by white-hot fire. They screamed, bodies twisting in agony as their unnatural lives forced them to suffer what a human might have long died from.

But Simon’s focus was stolen by the woman in front of him. Her eyes glowed an otherworldly hue, and as she raised her arms overhead, her feet left the ground.

“Rebecca!” he yelled. “You’ll die! Stop!”

But she didn’t stop. The power coursing through her overtook her, became her, and as she lifted, he knew it would kill her. He ran, dodging flailing, burning creatures, and jumped, leaping off the cliff.

He caught her, wrapping his arms tightly around her, and as they continued upward, he pressed with everything he had, seeking the broken thread inside her, weaving fibers together, mending them. He wasn’t sure how he was doing it, but he could feel it knitting, healing.

She looked down at him, and the pure elation that had overtaken her features faltered. Her power flickered, stuttering, before it winked out. He continued funneling healing power into her. His body was weak, and it was growing more and more difficult to hold on.

They hung suspended for another moment. Then they fell, plummeting toward the earth.

He looked into her eyes and hoped she knew how much he loved her.

Rebecca pulled him up into her arms and pressed her lips to his as they tumbled, wrapped in each other’s embrace. She released him, sending him up on a puff of air.

She crashed into the earth with such force she continued down into the ground.

“Noooooo!” he screamed.

He drifted gently on a phantom breeze, then, just a few dozen feet off the ground, the breeze flickered out, and he free-fell.

Simon blinked once, then twice. His whole body hurt.

“Rebecca.”

“Shh. Don’t try to speak.”

He cracked both lids. One came only partially open, and he stared at a white ceiling, red at the edges. A dark shape moved over him, blocking his view. As he continued to blink, sheswam into focus.

Warm brown eyes, heavily lined, stared down at him, and her full, pouting lips broke into a genuine smile.

“Valentina?”

“Yes, baby. I’m here.”

Chapter 19

Rebecca

Travel took on a whole new meaning when it was in the arms of a fallen. They’d picked up a fancy leather backpack and stuffed it with snack bars, water, and an all-weather sleeping bag; then they were in the air, traveling from Barcelona to Tropea.

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