Page 78 of Never Quite Gone

“Do you know what it's like?” he asked softly, his voice carrying centuries of grief. “To remember being something more than human, but being trapped in mortality? To watch everyone you love die, over and over, while you remember every single death?”

I tried to reach for him. But the power surrounding him felt wrong somehow, like something that shouldn't exist in our modern world of corporate mergers and quarterly reports.

“We can figure this out,” I offered, though blood still dripped from where his first attack had caught me off guard.

His laugh held no humor. “Like all those lifetimes when you abandoned me to chase after him?” He gestured at Eli's unconscious form. “Do you have any idea how many times I've watched you die for love? How many times I've had to stand by, pretending not to remember, while you threw your life away?”

The magical attack came without warning, sending me crashing into shelves that had witnessed our childhood study sessions. Volumes of family history rained down around me .

“I loved you,” Will said, tears streaming down his face even as power gathered around his hands again. “In every lifetime, you were my brother, my best friend. And in every lifetime, I had to watch you die.”

Another blast of power, this one barely deflected by whatever protection Marcus had woven around me centuries ago. More books fell, pages fluttering like broken wings.

“Do you know why I helped you search for Eli?” Will's voice cracked slightly. “Because at least when you found him, I got to keep you a little longer before fate took you away again.”

I pushed myself up, ignoring the way my body protested. “Will, please. This isn't you. This power – it's doing something to you.”

“This is exactly me!” The windows rattled with force of his shout. “This is what I've always been, what I was before temples rose or civilizations formed. I'm not just your brother, Alex. I'm something older. Something that remembers when magic ran wild and gods walked among mortals.”

“The dreams you told me about,” I said carefully, trying to reach my brother through whatever ancient power had claimed him. “The ones about temples and scrolls...”

“Were memories.” He moved closer, magic crackling around him like dark lightning. “Memories of teaching Vale the spells he used to bind your souls. Memories of power that existed before recorded history.” His smile held edges sharp enough to cut. “Memories of what I really am.”

My back hit another bookshelf, family photos watching our confrontation with frozen smiles. A picture of us at my college graduation caught my eye – Will beaming with pride as he adjusted my tie, both of us innocent of the tragedy already written in our souls.

“You're my brother,” I insisted, though blood still dripped from my wound. “In this life and all the others. Whatever else you were, whatever power you held – that doesn't change what we are to each other.”

“Doesn't it?” Will's voice gentled suddenly, becoming almost kind. “You don't understand, Alex. I'm not just remembering past lives like you do. I'm remembering what came before lives were even counted. Before souls learned to die and be reborn.”

The containment circle around Eli pulsed with ancient power. Will's magic had grown stronger than I'd realized, strong enough to hold a soul that had defied death for centuries.

“Let him go,” I tried, though I knew it was useless. “Whatever you're planning, whatever you think this power will give you – it's not worth destroying everything we've built.”

“It wasn't about power,” Will's voice cracked on the words, magic still crackling around him like dark lightning. “Not really. It was about not losing you. Any of you.”

For a moment, I saw past the ancient power to the brother I'd known in this life – the little boy who used to crawl into my bed during thunderstorms, who followed me everywhere with hero-worship in his eyes. Tears streaked his face, and his hands shook even as they wielded forces that shouldn't exist in our modern world.

“In that first life, before Vale's curse, before everything – I found that immortality ritual because I couldn't bear the thought of death taking everyone I loved.”

Blood dripped steadily from my wound as understanding finally dawned. “The temple,” I breathed. “The original binding. It wasn't about gaining power for yourself.”

“I wanted to save you!” The windows rattled with force of his pain. “All of you. Our whole circle. We were happy, we were family, and then that stupid war...” His magic pulsed with each word. “I couldn't just watch everyone die. Not when I knew there was a way to keep us together.”

“But it went wrong,” I said softly, pieces clicking into terrible place. “The ritual bound our souls together instead of making us immortal.”

Will's laugh held no humor, only centuries of grief. “It worked too well. Bound you all so tightly to each other that you kept finding each other, lifetime after lifetime.” Power gathered around his hands again, but now I recognized the patterns in it – magic he'd learned from watching me across centuries. “But I was left outside the circle, remembering everything, watching you all live and die and love and lose.”

His next attack felt personal, intimate. I barely managed to deflect it, my own blood making the floor treacherous.

“Vale's curse just added another layer to what I'd already done.” Will's voice gentled suddenly, becoming almost academic. “Made it so only one of you would remember at a time. Created this beautiful tragedy where you'd search and search, lifetime after lifetime.” His smile held edges sharp as broken glass. “He thought he was saving everyone, but he was just making my ritualstronger.”

“Will, please.” I tried to reach for him again, ignoring how my body protested the movement. “We can find another way. Whatever you're trying to fix?—”

“Fix?” His laugh echoed with power older than civilization. “I'm not trying to fix anything, brother. I'm trying to finish what I started all those lives ago.” His gaze shifted to Eli's unconscious form. “The ritual was never about immortality, not really. It was about keeping us together. All of us.”

I managed to dodge another blast, but my movements were slowing. Blood marked my path across centuries-old carpet as I tried one last time to reach my brother through whatever ancient power had claimed him.

“We're together now,” I offered desperately. “You and me, this life. We're family. Real family.”

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