Page 85 of Revenant

And I’m more determined than ever to escape, desperate for the chance to show her that I love her with every atom of my being, prove to her that I’m worthy. I just have to figure out a way to kill Hershamn first, then get us out of here before we end up burned alive.

Chapter Thirty-two

RUE

Idon’t exactly have the best track record with spirits. When the ghosts swarm me, I brace myself, expecting them to tear me apart and devour me. Much to my surprise, they don’t attack. If I didn’t think I was going crazy, I would swear they were protecting me from the insidious darkness as it creeps ever closer.

Normally, the chill of the afterlife is comforting, but something menacing, something hungry lingers in the darkness. Though I could blame it on my imagination, I’m too familiar with the sensation of being watched and recognize it now.

Ice-cold air slinks around me, and I shiver with dread when I recognize it, having encountered it only once before.

Death.

And the ghosts are keeping it at bay.

At least for now.

Unfortunately, it’s only a matter of time before it hunts me down and kills me. The only escape is to wake the fuck up.I struggle to find my way back to my body, but something is blocking me, keeping me prisoner.

Time passes slowly, and I grow progressively colder, my connection to my body fading more and more. I suspect I don’t have much time left when a spark of warmth suffuses my chest, then spreads like a forest fire until I’m set ablaze.

Every inch of my body tingles, like my limbs are waking from a long sleep, the pins and needles sensation dropping me to my knees. But instead of landing on the ground, I fall through it and slam into my body so hard that I gasp for breath, then cough when the air is thick like syrup in my lungs.

My spirit feels like it’s too bloated to fit, and my heart skips a beat with my panic. I don’t even want to guess what will happen to me if I can’t fit back into my body. Something tells me that it won’t be good. That’s when I notice the darkness clinging to me, as if searching for a way to drag me back to the afterlife.

I’ve never been to the other side with my physical body, and I suspect our flesh isn’t built to survive the trip. As the darkness breaks through my barriers and invades my body, the space feels tighter than ever until it’s like I’m being crushed from the inside out.

That’s when the hands holding me tighten, the warmth of their touch searing against my cold flesh, my skin heating more and more until it feels like I was dropped onto the surface of the sun. I shudder, unable to squirm away from the burn…and the darkness is blasted away.

As the sensation of death fades, my soul gradually stitches itself back into my body. My wounds slowly seal shut, my bruises fade, but the blood loss is harder to replace.

I still feel like shit, but I’m alive.

As I struggle to remember how to function, I have a new appreciation for Mabel’s experience. My heart is beating too fast,my lungs aching like they are caught in a vise, while my muscles tremble like I just ran a four-minute mile.

That’s when I feel three different sets of hands on me. I’m seconds away from a full freak-out when fingers sweep against my ankle. My body immediately relaxes at the tender touch, and my heartbeat slows, the soothing sensation better than any drug.

Only a handful of people can elicit that reaction from me.

Five guys, to be exact.

Needing the reassurance that they are okay, I force myself to wake the fuck up.

My eyes flutter open, and I rear back when I find Hershamn standing over me with a creepy ass fucking smile. I try to speak, but my voice emerges as nothing more than a whisper. The good doctor leans forward to hear me. Without thinking, I grab the front of his shirt and haul him closer. “You’re curious about what I can do. Why don’t I show you?”

His eyes widen in alarm. Before he can pull away, I yank his soul out of his body. What I really want to do is toss him into the afterlife, but I’m terrified I will be dragged back into it with him, and I won’t be able to escape this time.

I’m too weak.

As if pissed at being denied a meal, the afterlife ripples throughout the room and the edges of reality disappear into black nothingness as the two worlds merge. The temperature drops and I shiver, still sensitive to the deathly chill.

I startle when Hershamn’s physical body drops to his knees beside my bed and he wilts against the mattress. The movement snaps the guard out of his paralysis and his gun swings in my direction, the man careful to keep out of reaching distance.

“What the fuck is wrong with him? What did she do?” Fear and disgust contort his expression, and I know if it was left up to him, he would eradicate us from the face of the earth.

A tiny flicker of light pierces the darkness.

A ghost.

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