Page 48 of A Touch Charmed

“Thanks.” I held the picture between my numb fingers. “We should probably get going. Let you finish closing up. But if it’s okay with you, I’d like to have coffee sometime.”

She gave me a warm smile. “That would be nice.”

Finn tucked me against his side and we headed outside. “I told Wes you’ve got some updates to share. He said he wants us to come over now. You up for that?”

“Yeah, but no speed please.” I leaned against him. “I want to walk with you on the beach and give myself a minute to let this all sink in.”

He kissed my temple. “Whatever you want.”

The dark clouds that had blocked the moon on our way over here had parted. Grains of sand and bits of sea glass sparkled in the silver light. I’d never found my comfort on the beach, preferring the wild, end-of-the-world feeling on the cliffs, but waves lapping against the shore soothed something inside me.

My parents stood out here once, happy and in love. Even if it had been brief, it had existed. That’s what I’d been created from.

As we drew nearer to Wes and Audrey’s place, the moonlight flickered, like we were being thrown in and out of darkness. I gripped Finn’s hand, charging our power. “I think I’ve changed my mind about that no-speed thing.”

Before Finn could lift me up and start moving, he squinted in the distance. “Someone’s out there. I don’t think it’s anyone we know.”

My heart pounded against my chest as dread crept through my veins. The mist rising up from the ocean waters parted, and a man I’d only known in the pictures I’d drawn approached. I blinked a few times, certain this was a mind trick, but Finn tensed beside me. The man’s movements were jerky and stilted, as if he’d just learned how to walk.

He stopped and stood between us and the shale beach leading up to Wes and Audrey’s house. He was handsome, with thick dark hair that fell over his forehead, a strong jaw, and a pronounced nose. I thought he had just existed in my mind.

His black eyes locked on me. He gave me a grin full of madness and malice, the smile of someone who took pleasure in pain. As his crazed grin grew, he licked his lips with his forked tongue. He crooked a finger at me.

And the beach went pitch black around us.

Chapter 14

Thora

“Finn.”Myvoiceshookas the darkness around me thickened into something stronger and more concrete than the smoke of a mental attack. I couldn’t see him or feel him, though he must’ve been right beside me still.

“I’m here.” He drew my back against his chest. His energy flowed into me as a light blue breeze, calming the sharp spikes of my anxiety. “Don’t give it your fear.”

“I don’t think this is a mental attack.” It didn’t feel the same. This didn’t have the smoky texture we’d faced in the woods. Voices from old memories didn’t murmur in the vapor.

This was the blank space that existed between stars. Night in its purest form.

The scent of the ocean, the sound of the waves, all fell away. Silence replaced it. My heart thundered in my chest. Panic dragged sharp nails down my throat as I dug into Finn’s arm hard enough to draw blood. My own arm ripped open and closed as I healed him.

Out of the dark, harsh whispers prickled my ears, but these weren’t the same as the ones in the smoke. They didn’t come from my memory. These voices had a weight to them, older than time. Like thousands of generations blurring together. Lost souls still searching for peace.

The whispers became more urgent as the man with the forked tongue parted the dark veil and entered the void. Their panic fed his power. He moved closer to me.

I knew every contour of his face, exactly where my pencil would shade the hollow of his cheekbones and darken the strong line of his jaw. He lived and breathed in my mind long before he set foot on this beach.

His movements were still jerky and disjointed. As if half his limbs hung from dead joints. His eyes swirled with black smoke, carrying the same poison as the snakes, arrows, and wasps. Was this a creation of the curse? Or the one who created it?

“Healer.” A voice that sounded more like a den of hissing snakes than a man burrowed into my head. I couldn’t shut it out. “Come with me.”

“No.” I lifted my chin with a confidence I didn’t entirely possess.

An overwhelming urge to help rose in me. This wasn’t a manifestation of the curse. My magic recognized the man beneath the black smoke roiling inside him. It wanted to comfort, fix, heal while it also recoiled and shuddered in fear. The conflicting emotions pulled my energy in opposite directions, making me queasy.

But who was he?

“Who are you talking to?” Finn asked.

“Come with me.” The forked-tongue man stood so close, his hot breath blew against my ear. Finn didn’t react or move. “Give me your gift and I’ll let them live.”

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