Page 64 of Hidden Sacrifice
I shrugged, then looked over to Wren, waiting on more instructions.
“Now, Princess, there is a chance his soul didn’t fracture,” Jasper said cautiously to keep me from getting too hopeful. “And if his soul did fracture, there’s no guarantee he will be able to give you any useful information.”
Wren took the torch and touched the fire to the bone. It burst into flames immediately, burning up into nothing more than ash within seconds. No one disturbed the silence as we watched the pile, the fire now extinguished as faint swirls of smoke rose into the sky. Now the air smelled like burning flesh.
The smoke swirled and collected on a phantom breeze, moving like liquid as a familiar face formed from the image. My mind replayed my final living moments as a human. Like a video in my head. I could see the blue of his eyes and his shocked expression when he pulled the knife free from my stomach. My hand came up reflexively to the place where I had been stabbed.
“Hello?” the voice called out, desperate and scared. “Where am I?”
“I’m Morrigan. You tied me up to a chair in a sewer and stabbed me right before you died. Do you remember me?” I couldn’t help the bite to my tone, wishing at this moment I could hurt him in some way for the way he hurt me. Sure, everything worked out wonderfully, and I wouldn’t change a thing, but this man violated me. I was owed a vengeance for that.
“Hello?” the smoky figure asked again, looking around as if he couldn’t see us.
“The soul is extremely compromised, Morrigan. I’m sorry, I don’t think he will be able to give you any of the answers you seek,” Wren said softly, coming over to put her hand on my shoulder.
“Can we get any information out of him at all?” I asked, worried that we had come all this way for nothing and only to find yet another dead end. I had half a mind to say screw it to figuring out why I was killed.
“Fox,” Justice said suddenly. “Try getting into his mind; see if you can find any memories inside.”
“Justice, has anyone ever told you, you’re a genius?” I said with a giant smile as I gave him a quick kiss. “I have enough runes now to be safe?” My hand rubbed over the spot where one of my beautiful crows sat beneath my sleeve.
“You have enough, plus Jax can add another layer of protection. His shields are better than anyone else’s.” Justice pointed to Jax and then pointed to me.
Jax sighed as he started walking toward me. I noticed his hands balled into fists, and I wondered what he had seen during his testing.
“Sit, lean your back on me,” Jax said, sitting on a large, flattened rock.
The ghostly smoke figure moved around slowly, as if looking for something.
I sat down on the stone, cautiously scooting my way backward until my back hit the hard planes of Jax’s chest. His arms immediately wrapped around me as I slowly leaned my head back. His comforting scent washed over me, a simple faint but clean smell. Like he was always fresh out of a shower no matter how many swamps he trudged through.
“You just focus on what you need to do and let me protect you while you're gone,” Jax whispered, his inflection-free rough voice still making my heart race. I needed more of this. The image of his head not completely decapitated from the rest of his body was still too near.
Closing my eyes and mentally pulling back from myself was not as straightforward as I had assumed. The body I was currently in wasn’t my body, so when I pulled out of it, it was like a snake shedding a thin husk of the soul to remain behind.
I could see the bright shimmer of the souls of my boys. Wren’s shimmer appeared dull in comparison, but the shadowy ghost of my killer was barely a flicker of light. I headed towards it, sinking into the shimmer and taking over complete control immediately.
The inside of this soul’s mind was dark and quiet, like a vast abandoned cave. I wandered around the desolate area, searching for even the slightest glimmer of a memory. The deeper I went, the more I noticed what looked like partially burnt pieces of paper littering the floor like a light dusting of snow. I stooped down to pick one up, but it disintegrated when I touched it.
I searched around for another piece, attempting to look without touching it. It appeared to be part of a picture. I could faintly make out that it was a woman in the image. Nothing else about the image seemed to be relevant. Straightening up, I continued to dive deeper into the soul’s mind. The burnt pages became larger and larger as I walked. Instead, I was careful not to touch them, taking mental notes of the tiny breadcrumbs I was given. The same woman popped up frequently, middle-aged with dark brown hair and sad eyes. Sometimes dark rings hung under her eyes in the images, and her face seemed to shrink as her skin pulled tighter against the bone. She looked frail. She looked sick.
Finally, the path ended in a blank white wall with a solitary door. I’ve come this far; no point in turning back now. I grabbed the handle, turning it to hear a satisfying click before I pushed and walked inside.
A lone wooden chair sat in the middle of a dark room. It looked exactly like the chair I had been tied to. I knew what I needed to do, but it didn’t stop the sensation of bile threatening to rush up inside me as I took a hesitant seat in the chair. An old-style film projector flicked on behind me as I sat, casting the last remaining memories within the soul’s core.
The same woman as before, with dark hair and a beautiful smile. The images flicking by quickly, showing the woman progressively becoming thinner and frailer. Dark circles formed under her eyes as she looked less and less like the triumphant young woman and more like a woman on the edge of death.
An image of the spell book flashed on the wall for merely a second before Jasper’s fiery red eyes glared, seemingly burnt into the wall as a frozen last image. The fire in his eyes seemed to flicker as I focused on them, the temperature of the room suddenly warmer as the smell of burning skin and hair filled my nose.
I pulled back out of the mind quicker than I should have, but I needed to get out of there. My killer’s final emotions had bounced around in that small room. His fear. His regret. His sadness.
Safely back in my skin, Jax’s arms still wrapped around me as I could feel his deep breaths' slow and steady rhythm against my back. My entire body vibrated lightly, and I pulled my calming mental shield around me snugly. The sensation of being on an ocean beach under the moon as the waves crashed into the shore helped me to reign my body back in.
“I didn’t get much. A woman showed up a lot and looked like she was sick. Then the book and some of his death. He was terrified and sad. But none of that helps get us closer to finding out what happened.” I explained to the multiple sets of eyes waiting for my report. I could practically feel Jax’s eyes on the back of my head, and I smiled at the fact that he had not let me go yet.
“At least we gave it a shot, Princess,” Jasper shrugged.
“Let him go, Wren. Let’s get back on the right side of the veil,” Justice said before Jax released his hold on me as Jace extended a hand to help me up.
