Page 28 of Bound By the Moon

“Yeah, yeah… you’ll wear their skulls as a Halloweenmask, and play with their entrails. I get it. Seriously, is theresome sort of ‘how to be an effective monster’ school that all ofyou guys attend? It’s really a bit ridiculous.”

“JESSICA!” Another wicked echo crashed through thecavern, bringing dust and debris down with it.

“Okay, geez. I’m just trying to give you fairwarning, which by the way, is a lot more than you’d ever givesomeone like me. There are some angry souls here, and they aregoing to be out for blood when they cross over, but hey, who am Ito stop them since you’re the one who put me in this predicament tobegin with.”

“If they are enemies of mine, I put them there once,and I will be able to do it again.”

Laughter from the wolves behind me made me turn andlook. “What?” I asked them.

“If these beings were to cross through the portalthey wouldn’t be living things. They would be wraiths, and he hasnever seen the fury of a wraith hell bent on vengeance.” One of thewolves told me. “That is why the portals were closed to begin with.The only ones who could put the wraiths back were the witches, andeven then, only one had the guts to do it. It leached some of thelife from her with each one she put back here.”

“Layla?” I questioned.

“Yes, Layla. She did not inherit her moonbeamappearance. She earned it from her many battles with the dead. Thatthing out there would be eaten alive. Unfortunately, so wouldanyone else who crossed their path. Wraith-spirits, unlessharnessed as a guardian spirit, will target anyone and everyone toget their vengeance. The problem is, their pain is insatiable.Those with gifts such as Layla’s are rare. As luck would have it,they are also the only ones who have been known to stop thewraiths.”

“Well, if nothing else, I am getting an educationover here.” The tingling sensation was growing worse in my limbs.Jack was beginning to wail again, and I knew that meant he wasfeeling it too. I couldn’t stay on this dais much longer. It wasbeginning to hurt too much. “Have you gotten through to her?” Iasked Aislynn.

“Yes. They know, and they have a plan.”

“Okay.” I turned back to Louis then. “I can’t holdthis portal much longer. It hurts.”

“I don’t care if hurts for eternity, you know what Iwill do if I don’t get my way.”

“Your way will see all of you dead anyway, but I cantell you this. I will not unleash a bunch of hell-bent crazy soulson the world because you think you can control them in some privatearmy venture, or whatever the hell it is you have planned. Therewas one more thing about the sacrifice that you probably shouldhave known.”

“And what is that, little wolf girl?”

“It is all about will.”

“Who is Will?”

“Not who. It all comes down to my will. If I willthe portal open, it is. If I will it shut, it shuts. If I will itsealed forever, that’s what happens.”

If a person could blow steam out of their ears,cartoon style, Louis would have been blowing his top at that point.“YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!” More dust and debris fell around thecavern as I watched. I wondered for a moment if he would actuallycause a collapse.

I didn’t answer. I heard a voice behind me whisper,“If you step off, there will be no going back, Jessica.”

“If I don’t step off, I will just end up hereanyway.”

“JESSICA!” Louis yelled out.

My ears popped as the pressure changed, and the icytingles coalesced over my entire body with one violent shiver as Istepped off the dais and down to the floor on the side of the dead.I could now sense the anger in some of the souls. They had beenwaiting for a release that wasn’t going to come now.

“You sealed the portal.” It wasn’t a question, itwas a statement.

“I did. How could I knowingly unleash any morehorrors into that world?” I looked down at the baby who wassquirming around in the sling attaching him to my body. “I’m justsorry I couldn’t get you home to your mommy first,” I whispered tohim. I turned to look out past the dais into the rest of thecavern. I could no longer see the other side. I didn’t know ifLouis was still there, throwing a hissy fit, or if he went to gomake good on his promise to destroy my family.

“Do you think they’ll be all right?” I asked theother wolves who were hovering around me, trying to givecomfort.

“They were warned, and it sounded as though they hada solid plan. All we can do is hope, pray, and wait.”

“Okay.” So, I sat there, running my fingers over theeternally smooth skin of the baby in my arms. I wished I could givehim back to Sierra. I wished that I could hold my Willow one moretime. Looking back over the past few days, I hadn’t been able todevote enough time to just sitting in peace with her. My baby wouldgrow up not knowing her mommy and that broke my heart into amillion tiny little pieces. I wanted to at least see her one moretime.

“Wait, when Jack died, he came to see us at hissending off. He was there, what if, could I?”

“That was different. His soul had to travel from theother world to this one. It gave him time. You are already here,and once here, there is no return.” One of the wolves answered. Ididn’t even look up to see which one this time.

I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye. Thatwasn’t entirely true. I knew my chances of coming back weren’tgood. I wrote letters to Mikael, Willow, and my parents. Ientrusted them with Serena before I left. There was one for her aswell, and for Ashley. The most heartbreaking of them was the one toSierra, because in it, I had to apologize for not bringing her babyback to her. She would be a mother who lost her child on that side,while I was the mother lost to her child on my side. If I everthought life wasn’t fair, I was now beginning to understand thatdeath was no different.

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