Page 19 of Fallen Angel

Or would she simply be reincarnated? Maybe that was her true punishment—to be bound to this earth by magic, never able to see her parents again.

She took a slow step forward, her feet skirting the edge of the cliff. The slightest gust of wind could knock her over. She’d fall onto the sharp, jagged rocks below, the vengeful waves thieving her final breath.

Would they hurt more than the guilt she felt? No matter what fate awaited her, Hannah believed she deserved excruciating punishment. She may not have asked for this, but that didn’t mean she was not responsible. One foot inched forward and hovered over the edge.

There had only been one other time she felt this close to death, and she should have died that night. If she fell now, would magic protect her like it did before?

“Hannah!”

Hannah jerked her foot back from over the edge and stumbled back from the cliff.

Callan stood on the path, jagged stone and switchgrass behind him. He held her bag that she hadn’t even realized she’d left behind.

Had he found the spell book? Would he be angry that she took it from the cave?What did it matter?

The sea raged against the cliffside. Her shoe scraped loose pebbles. She shook her head back and forth. What was she doing? Hannah collapsed to her knees on the mossy ground. She sobbed, and a whole new surge of tears streaked her face.

Callan rushed to her side and wrapped his arms around her. She pressed her face against his chest and heaved.

“It was my fault. I’m the reason they’re dead,” Hannah cried.

Callan held her tight. “You are okay. I need you to breathe.” There was a lull to his voice, like a song. “All is right. You shall be fine. There is no need to be filled with such woe.”

Hannah felt the same way she did when their hands touched in the cave—overcome by an immediate sense of devotion and affection. His words were commandments she had to follow.

“Stop your tears,” he instructed.

Hannah sat up straight and wiped her eyes with her fingertips. She sucked in a deep breath and released.

Callan appeared disappointed and relieved all in the same glance. He gazed at the ground and then back at Hannah. “Now. Tell me what happened.”

“On my sixteenth birthday, a flash of light pierced through my parents’ car and struck deep within me.” Hannah recalled what happened that night, like a robot reciting code. “The car went off the bridge and crashed into Lake Sonoma. My parents died. I survived and now I know that it’s my fault.”

“Fault may only be linked with intention,” Callan said. “The Convergence was not something you had knowledge of or control upon.”

“I killed them.” Hannah felt tears swell at the back of her eyes, but she gritted them back.

Callan put both of his hands on Hannah’s shoulders. “The fault was not yours. I pray you believe there was nothing you could have done. You are not to blame.”

His words filled her, and she felt compelled to believe him. Still, she wasn’t ready to forgive herself. Hannah resisted whatever compulsion he cast over her and she snapped out of the haze.

“Stop it,” she yelled at him. “Whatever it is you’re doing, just stop.” She stood up and backed away from him.

He rose to his feet. “You can resist it,” he said. A pleased grin emerged.

“What isit?”

“There is much I have to tell you. First, there is something we must do.”

Callan walkedalong the edge of the cliff, determined in every step. Hannah paced behind him with her bag slung over her shoulder, trying to keep up. Every step was heavy with the burden of knowing she was responsible for her parents’ death.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“The caster of a spell is linked to the spell itself. I was the one who locked magic away, knowing full well that I would be buried along with it. But when you awakened me, you broke my spell. You awakened all magic my spell sent to slumber.” Callan’s voice had an urgency that sparked a sense of doom within Hannah.

The spell book tugged at Hannah from her bag. She pressed it to her chest, feeling a trickle of warmth. While Callan warned against its darkness, Hannah couldn’t deny that reading from it felt amazing. She was relieved that he hadn’t discovered it in her bag.

“Why would you want to stop magic?” Hannah asked. She still couldn’t quite wrap her head around the fact that she was having a casual conversation about magic in the first place.

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