Page 74
Story: Dancing With Death
“Did you have anything exciting happen this week?” I ask her, using my hands as a pillow.
She shakes her head. “Just more classes. I can’t wait until this is over. I feel like there isn’t anything else for me to learn.”
I snort. “You think that now, but wait until it’s time for your final. Everything I learned just seeped away. I reacted on instinct and was lucky that was enough.”
Wren narrows her eyes. “You also had to reap my soul for your final. I don’t think that counts.”
“I’m still pissed about that, and Wraith refuses to look into it. I know there’s nothing we can do about it now, but I’d feel better knowing which asshole has it out for me.”
“You’re ridiculous. Don’t you think having one vendetta at a time is enough?”
I jerk my head back when she flicks my nose. “That was rude.”
I dig my fingers into her ribs in retaliation, and she squeals. Even when she begs me to stop, I don’t let up. She’s always been ticklish as hell, and I’ve always taken advantage of that.
“Okay! Okay! You win! Mercy! Please! I’m going to pee my pants!”
“You’re damn right, I won.” I shoot her a smile as I roll off the bed. “Let’s go outside. I could use some fresh air, and we can work on your magic some more.”
Wren keeps saying she’s ready for her final and over the classes, but I know it’s driving her crazy that she hasn’t been able to do half of what I can with my magic. Of the two of us, she’s always been the one who had better control over her magic, so it surprised both of us when she didn’t advance as I had.
She was able to use her magic long before I could, and it’s strong but nothing like mine. It has me wondering if bonding with my mates didn’t affect my magic. Clearly, not how long it took me to be able to finally use it, but with its improved strength. Brenden and I have talked about it a few times, even bringing it to Wraith, but neither of them could say one way or the other.
They just don’t have the knowledge that Nex does.
If he wasn’t such an asshole, then I’d ask him. I’d have to catch him first. I swear he’s part ninja now that he’s avoiding me, Brenden, and even Wraith. It’s kind of ridiculous the lengths he’ll go to in order to avoid being around me. I’m not sure why he’s avoiding my mates now. Except Donovan—that one makes complete sense.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll never turn down playing with fire.” Wren’s grin is wicked as we head for the door and out of her home.
She’s not sharing with anyone since she still hasn’t made any friends. I don’t understand why she hasn’t, but she clams up every time I bring it up, so I just stopped asking. When she asked me to talk to Wraith about her having a place to herself, I wasn’t going to turn her down. Neither was he, apparently.
I lead her across campus and into the woods. There’s a clearing not too far from her place that we’ve been using for practice.
Whatever her reasons for not making friends are, I think that’s what makes her want to hide away when we work with our magic. I hate that she’s keeping something from me, but it’s her prerogative. She’ll break eventually and spill the beans. At least I hope she will. She always has before.
Neither of us has ever been good at keeping secrets from each other. I think it’s the twin bond we share. It’s nothing like the bond I share with my mates, which feels tangible.
My bond with Wren has been there since we were born, something that tethers us to one another in a way no one else can understand. It’s why she lost herself to grief when I died. I could still feel the bond, even in death, but she couldn’t. She said it was like it just snapped, and that’s how she knew I was dead.
I’m not sure I would’ve dealt with it any better if our roles would’ve been reversed.
“Ree?” Wren’s quiet voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I realize we’ve made it to the clearing. I was already halfway across it and heading back into the dense forest.
Oops.
“Sorry.” I shoot her a smile as I turn around. “Sorry about that. My brain went on a tangent, and I was just along for the ride.”
She shakes her head, and I know she wants to ask me about it, but she doesn’t. Probably because she doesn’t want me asking questions in return.
How did this happen to us? We used to share everything. I always knew what was going on in her life, and she knew what was going on in mine.
But I already know the answer to that, don’t I?
Michael happened.
It started when she met him, and it just got worse as time passed. Then he killed me.
It’s kind of hard to know what’s going on with one another when one of us is dead, and it’s been a struggle to regain all the ground we lost.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74 (Reading here)
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89