Page 90 of Enchanted Kisses
I glanced around for Dad, hesitant to call his name. What would I say? “Hey, Raysa and I just popped here—literally—so I could say good-bye forever.”
Maybe I should have given this more thought.
“I’ll wait here,” Raysa whispered, still looking apprehensive.
I opened the door and entered a small sitting area. Something cloudy on the floor caught my eye. I stepped to the couch and stiffened. Silver mist, smelling of evergreen and cloves, swirled around my dad’s phone. My name showed on the screen as his last outgoing call.
“Raysa,” I cried, barely audible.
She appeared at my side and drew in a sharp breath. “No.”
“What does it mean?” I asked, fearing I already knew.
She scanned the room, seeming frantic. “This shouldn’t have been able to happen. I have to get you out of here.”
She touched my shoulders, but I jerked away. “What does it mean?”
Her features fell, and I knew the answer.
“They took him,” I cried, quivering. My mind went to the worst place. I pictured him in a dungeon, beaten and chained to a wall. I grabbed her hands, desperate. “We have to get him. We have to save him.”
There had to be a way.
“I can’t cross there, and it wouldn’t matter.”
“What? Why would you say that?”
She twisted her hands so they held mine.
Warmth crept up my arms. “No.” I pulled away. “Why did you say that?”
Her eyes closed with a breath, and she took a moment. When she opened her eyes, she looked calmer. “We need to leave. They could come back. They’re looking for you and…” she glanced at the silver mist, “they’re not playing games.”
I stared, waiting for her words to makes sense.
“Your father doesn’t have a bond with anyone at the Realm of Death,” she went on, speaking slowly. “They couldn’t have crossed him there.”
I gulped, finally understanding but refusing to accept it. “Then where’s his body?”
She hesitated. “Once a soul is removed, they have ways of covering their tracks.”
I reached into the glinting twister and grabbed Dad’s phone. My palm burned, and I dropped it. Not from heat, but cold—freezing cold.
She took my hands.
I yanked them free and ran to the other room, where my dad’s scent still lingered. I stopped in front of his suitcase, open on a luggage rack. The shirt and tie I’d picked for the trip rested on top. Tears stung my eyes. He couldn’t be gone. He’d just called me. Why hadn’t I answered the phone?
No! I shook my head. He wasn’t dead. Raysa was wrong.
They took him, and I could get him back.
Numb, I crumbled into the chair beside his suitcase and laid my head on his folded clothes. His scent was so potent and real, it was like I was hugging him. Tears slid down my temple and into my smooshed hair.
Raysa moved about in the other room, speaking in a strained voice.
I closed my eyes and tried to ignore her. Dagan did this. He had to have. He’d threatened me at the castle but said he would never hurt my father. Lies! Everything he’d said had been a lie. He was a master at manipulating words into the truth. And I was a loser to believe him—to vow to him.
I’d rather die than spend a lifetime with him.
