Page 75 of Premonition of Peace

My laugh was cut off when a sudden, overwhelming wave of fear crashed through me. I clutched my chest as it threatened to take the air from my lungs. The intensity bowed my body back first, then I doubled over. In the next instant, there was nothing—no fear, no emotions at all. Just a terrifying void.

August flew off the couch, his glass falling to the floor and spilling the amber liquid. “What’s wrong with her?”

I met his eyes, wild with anxiety and dread, likely mirroring my own. I didn’t waste time explaining. Lunging forward, I grabbed August by the arm and pulled him with me through the veil. The transition was seamless, a blur of light and energy, and we appeared in Nathalie’s living room. August stumbled forward, before righting himself.

“Jesus-fuck, I feel like I just died,” he coughed out.

“Nathalie!” I shouted. August reoriented swiftly, calling for her just after I did.

Panic fueled my movements as I ran towards her bedroom door, my mind racing with possibilities. August ran down the hall to search the other rooms. Bursting into the bedroom, the door smacked against the wall and bounced back violently. Marcel was pulling on pants while he looked around, confused.

“Where is she?” I demanded, my voice tinged with fear. “Where’s Nathalie?”

“I don’t know! She was right here—” he cut off as he looked at the empty space next to him, then seeing the bathroom light off with the door open. “Fuck! We went to sleep, and she was in bed with me. I never felt her leave.”

“I felt her emotions,” I explained quickly, turning around to exit the room and find something that could tell me where she went. “She was terrified, and then there was nothing. Fucking nothing! We need to find hernow.”

“Her car keys are still here,” August growled, taking them off the hook and throwing them against the wall.

“So is her phone,” Marcel said, holding it as he came out the bedroom. His eyes darkened. “I can scry for her with my magic. I just need her hair.”

He immediately headed for the bathroom, but I paid him and August no attention as my eyes focused on the deadbolt on the front door. Unlocked. The bomb Piper had placed was deactivated. She was here. In the building.

Scanning the room, I saw a furled piece of paper that looked out of place. Parchment. I picked it up, taking in the message.

Rooftop.

~K

Without a word to the other two, I tossed the note back on the counter and pulled myself through the veil.

The scene that greeted me stole my breath away.

Sasha’s lifeless body lay on the ground, a massive pool of blood spreading around her. A clean line across her throat.

Katherine was cradling an unconscious Nathalie, her face a mask of worry and guilt. Rage flared up inside me, burning and uncontrollable. I disappeared and reappeared several feet ahead, grabbing the twin by the throat and lifting her off the ground. Her panic flared as she gurgled, trying to breathe. Ibrought her close to me, knowing an inferno blazed in my eyes as fury coursed through me.

“What did you do?” I snarled, my voice echoing across the rooftop. Kat’s eyes widened in terror as she clawed at my hands, gasping for breath.

“It was The Morrigan!” she choked out. “Not me!”

“I saw the fucking note. You signed it.” She slapped at my hands as her face turned red, her legs kicking wildly as I squeezed harder.

“I swear.” Her words were strained and cut off with a strangled wheeze.

I let her drop to the ground, and she rolled to the side, forcefully inhaling and coughing, trying with desperation to fill her lungs with precious oxygen. I knelt beside her, glancing at Nathalie for a moment—laying prone, pale and fragile. My heart clenched painfully at the sight. I turned my gaze back to her twin, demanding answers.

“You have ten seconds to tell me what happened before I kill you?—”

A metal door slammed against the wall and two sets of heavy footsteps sounded. Marcel and August finally made it onto the roof, their expressions a mix of the same horror and anger I felt.

“Kat, what the fuck?” Marcel bellowed as he came to kneel next to me, his hand immediately stroking Nathalie’s hair out of her face and feeling for a pulse. “What the fuck did you do?”

“For gods’ sakes, I didn’t do anything,” Katherine said through a cough, her face contorting. “The Morrigan took over my body.”

“Explain. Now,” I growled through clenched teeth.

Katherine struggled to catch her breath, bent over at the waist, her hands on her knees, before she started speaking. “I was in my hideout, a small apartment no one was supposed to know about. Someone knocked at the door, and when I openedit, Sasha was there. She grabbed my face, and everything went black. When I came to, I was conscious but trapped inside myself, like I was in the backseat of my own body.”

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