Page 118 of Shifting Spirits

I walk for a while before I realize I’m looping again. I’m still stuck in this fucking room. The forest illusion is playing over and over regardless of whether I participate in it.

I’ve been walking in a straight line. The illusion is circling around me somehow.

This is fucking torture. What the fuck is this place? How the hell do I get out?

I’m not shifting again, so I put the clothes back on that I discarded the first time I changed form.

I sink down to my hands and knees, closing my eyes and trying to picture what little I saw of the entranceway of the house. I move my hands over the ground, feeling leaves and dirt that I know aren’t there. This isn’t helping. I thought If I could feel around, I could find a wall and then find a door.

Staying on my hands and knees, I crawl across the floor, feeling around for something that wouldn’t be in a forest. I expect to feel the edge of a rug, or a crack in the flooring. The only thing I do come across is a bump under my knee.

I reach down and pull a twig out from under me. Discarding it, I still feel the bump.

Putting my fingers on it, I smile as I feel the grooves in the surface.

It feels like a trim, separating rooms. If it is, this is a doorway I’m halfway through.

The forest still looks like it stretches out for miles all around me, but I know that can’t be true.

I stand up and feel around until I confirm by touch that I’m in a doorway.

Feeling my way along the wall, I walk forward.

“Adrian!” Rachel calls out, making me look around.

“Rachel!” I call back, trying to work out where her voice came from.

A sudden burst of movement comes from in front when I move my head to check behind me. I turn back quickly and find my mate rushing into my arms.

“Oh, Goddess, I thought I’d lost you!” she exclaims.

“I’m so glad …” I start, trailing off when I breathe in, and I can’t pick up her scent.

Her hair is shorter than it should be. She’s not wearing the same clothes she left the house in.

This isn’t really Rachel. It’s another illusion.

I break the embrace quickly, glancing down to find myself covered in blood.

“You didn’t save me, Adrian. Why didn’t you save me?”

“Because you’re not Rachel.”

She rolls her eyes and gives me a sly look. “Oh, but I could be.”

I move past her. I don’t know what she is, but I need to get the hell away from her.

“Don’t leave me, Adrian. I need you!”

I quicken my pace, rushing away from her as she starts to laugh.

“You can’t escape me! I’ve tasted you. I’m not about to let you get away.”

Tasted me? Christ. I don’t think I want to know what that means.

Shuddering, I rush down the hallway, opening the first door I feel out and stepping inside.

I close the door on the forest and let my eyes adjust to the darkness.

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