Page 131 of A Dusk Of Stars

Slowly, I get closer, sensing Serra following me. I get close enough to see it has a hole in its top and then a little closer still, to peer inside and find only darkness staring back at me.

The stench makes me grit my teeth and double back.

When I turn to my left to look at her, Serra’s looking at me with hesitation in her eyes. “Now that we’re here,” her voice echoes against the bare walls of the cave, “maybe you could try shifting again and—”

“Already did that,” I cut her off, choosing to ignore her hesitation for fear of it infecting me.

I don’t linger on the surprised look she throws me either. “I just want to get this over with,” I say with cold determination in my voice.

She doesn’t say anything. She just nods and gives me space, retreating out of my line of sight.

I stand straight, clearing my throat and closing my eyes.

Taking a deep breath, I visualize the first movement from my tattoos, for the vampire. Lifting my hands in front of my face, I make a cross sign with my two forefingers and start moving it in a slow circle.

It makes my breath catch, the energy that starts sweeping through my body.

It’s far from pleasant. In fact, it’s downright sickening, but it encourages me.

I jump straight to visualizing the fae movement. I use my forefingers and my thumbs to create a triangle and start tracing circles with that as well.

This makes me so sick, I have to stop. Gods, this is just… I grit my teeth, the world around me feeling a split second away from spinning off its axis. “I don’t feel good, Serra,” I hear myself girt out, a wince in my voice.

“Just push through it.”

I listen, clenching my jaw even harder, until I can force myself to take a deep breath.

I visualize the third movement, for the shifter. I make a circle with my hands and I start breaking it in two halves and putting it back together.

As soon as I do, it’s like I snap off the thread holding me in place and send myself shooting into a nauseating distance with growing darkness around me. It all makes me stop and bend, digging the heels of my palms into my thighs.

Wrong, this feels more wrong than anything I’ve ever done in my life.

Then this incredibly unsettling sensation starts creeping up my body, making my eyes round and my mind go blank when I realize what it is.

And it hits me, all at once, exactly what I’d done, my body surging with a sudden, violent dread.

Chapter 37

This is not good.

Dread and adrenaline wreaking havoc in my mind and body, I try to scream for Serra, but my throat is constricted and no sounds are coming out.

Suddenly, I hear a cackle behind me.

I watch Serra slowly walk around me and peer into my eyes — as if inspecting me — a smug smile plastered on her face.

Serra… Pain and anger wash over me as my mind flashes with memories of all the times I let her help me, all the times I believed her, all the times I actually felt sympathy towards her.

My lower body is paralyzed, and there is strange energy in the air.

“What did you do?” I ask in a hoarse voice.

She looks at me and then stands straight. This is no longer the frail old woman I’ve come to know. She’s someone else entirely. She’s standing upright, her cane nowhere in sight, a strange energy emanating from her body.

It’s in a cool voice that she says, “The paralysis will take a moment longer, and it’s only then that the deep sleep will start setting in.” A smile dances on her lips. “Don’t worry, Anna, you should definitely get to see it.”

What the…

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