Page 33 of After Midnight (Skye Druids #7)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The earth suddenly moved beneath Sabryn .

Something grabbed her hands, tugging her into the rocky soil.

She scarcely had time to breathe before her face was in the dirt.

She closed her eyes and braced herself, ready to be suffocated, only to feel a spray of water and hear the roar of crashing waves.

Her lids lifted, and she found herself on all fours on a beach.

She cautiously sat back on her haunches and nervously looked around as waves rolled against her legs, soaking her.

The wet sand crumbled beneath her as she stumbled to her feet and rubbed her hands on her pants to get the sand off.

She watched as the grains rose toward the sky instead of falling to the ground.

Sabryn looked around for whoever had brought her here, only to find herself staring at the co-op across the street.

There were cars along the curb, but no one was in them.

Nor was anyone walking down the sidewalks.

She became hyperaware of every sound and movement around her, and while it appeared like she was the only one there, she didn’t feel as if she were alone.

“ What do you want?” she demanded, turning in a circle.

Edie and Parker were likely nearby, and Edie had promised her a painful death after everyone else died. Pain snatched Sabryn’s breath when she thought about Elias , Finn , and Carlyle . And Kurt . A tear rolled down her face.

“ You won! Are you happy?” Sabryn screamed.

She walked backward, her eyes scanning the buildings for movement. “ You promised a painful death. What are you waiting for? Let’s get to it!”

There was no answer.

Sabryn narrowed her eyes as she seethed. “ Come on, bitch. Or are you all talk and no action?”

She had been sure that would get a response, but Edie didn’t say anything.

Sabryn blew out a frustrated breath and spun to look at the ocean.

She tilted her head to the side and frowned when she realized the waves were rolling backward as if someone had reversed a recording.

Upon closer inspection, she discovered everything —including the wind—was moving opposite of the way it should.

“ I know someone’s here,” she stated as ire pushed aside her fear. “ I can feel you. Who are you, and what do you want?”

A pinprick of light appeared over the water and brightened as it grew.

She had to raise her hands to shield her eyes before it blinded her.

Sabryn turned her head away, but not even that was enough.

She squeezed her eyes shut and wondered if this was how she would die.

Then , just as suddenly as it had begun, it ceased.

She opened her eyes but was hesitant to lower her arms. She had stormed into battle so many times—but always with the other Knights .

She hadn’t been alone in so very long. It had been important that the boys believed she was strong and independent.

She had never wanted them to know just how reliant on them she had become.

None of that mattered now, though. She was well and truly alone.

She had ignored Edie’s threat, and all her friends paid the ultimate price.

There was no way she could save Skye on her own.

It would fall to The Grey or whoever was vying for control.

Once the isle fell, it would be up to the Dragon Kings , Warriors , and MacLeod Druids to right things.

Sabryn dropped her arms and turned to face her foe. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw dozens of people standing over the water, their feet never touching it. They stared silently at her, watching her as if she were a specimen in a zoo.

“ You’re no animal, Sabryn ,” said a deep, Scottish voice.

It wasn’t a voice she recognized. She scanned the faces, trying to determine who’d spoken, when she saw movement to her right. A man with a long, gray beard stepped away from the others and moved toward her. Her mouth went slack as she recognized him from pictures Rhona had shown her.

“ Corann ?” she asked skeptically.

He dipped his chin in acknowledgment and watched her with his dark brown eyes.

This couldn’t be happening. Could it?

“ How ?” she whispered in shock.

“ With great effort. We doona have long, lass.”

She shook her head and took a step back. “ There’s no way you’re going to convince me that you’re really Corann .”

“ You’re right to be wary. The evil around the isle is developing at an alarming rate. Faster than it ever has before.”

“ And what are you doing about it? Absolutely nothing.”

He glanced at the ground. “ We’ve been hindered.”

“ We .” She looked behind him to the others. “ And who are you, exactly?”

“ Who do you think?”

She rolled her eyes. “ I thought we didn’t have time to talk. Obviously , that isn’t true, or you wouldn’t be so damn cryptic.”

His face tightened before he said, “ We’re the Ancients .”

“ Of course you are,” she replied sarcastically. “ As soon as I give you my trust, you’ll turn into whatever’s controlling Edie . I get it. You wanted me to feel pain by killing my friends. Now , it’s my turn. I’m not stupid enough to take the bait.”

Corann’s gaze was steady and patient as he held hers. “ Every Druid who dies joins the Ancients , lass. We managed to speak through Ferne recently so you would all know we were being silenced.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and quirked a brow, waiting for him to continue.

“ What we’re doing now, we do at great peril to ourselves. We’ve been waiting for an opportunity to reach one of you.”

“ And you chose me? How lucky am I ?” she retorted caustically.

Corann pressed his lips together. “ Lass , everything you just experienced was only a dream.”

“ Liar .” How dare he say such a thing and give her hope?

He sighed and shook his head. “ I had hoped we wouldna need to show you every conceivable outcome, but it looks as if you’re giving us no choice.”

“ Wait . What ?” she asked worriedly, right as he snapped his fingers.

The beach was gone. Sabryn was once again in the glen.

Her stomach clenched as she watched her friends being engulfed by the mist. The ground sucked her into it, only to toss her back to the beginning once more.

This time, she raced toward Carlyle and Finn , shouting at them to stop.

She saved them from the mist until the last moment.

On the third repeat, she convinced Kurt not to go into the glen, but the outcome remained the same.

The fourth time, she began shouting before she even saw her friends, urging them to fall back.

She and Kurt made it to the SUV , only for him to be taken by the mist inside the vehicle.

She clung to his hand, but the vapor eventually took him.

Over and over again, she suffered through witnessing the same event. She lost track of how many times she endured it all, but no matter what she tried to change, it always ended the same: with everyone’s deaths.

“ Stop !” she begged, too drained and spent to go through the hope and loss even one more time.

Finally , the loop stopped, and she was back at the beach. She crumpled to the sand and stared blankly out at the ocean.

Corann lowered himself beside her. “ I’m sorry you had to endure that again.”

“ You make it sound as if it was only once. You gave me hope each time that I might save at least one of them, only to snatch it away. It was unbelievably cruel. But then I was forewarned that my death would be painful.”

“ I’m no’ here to kill you, lass.”

She snorted, her gaze still on the water. “ Riiiiiight .”

“ You had to be shown the outcomes. All of them. It was the only way you could learn.” Corann was silent for a moment. “ This is when you ask… why? ”

Sabryn briefly closed her eyes. “ Fine . I’ll play along. Why ?”

“ Because you can win. You’re just going about it wrong.”

“ Gotcha .”

He sighed loudly. “ Your friends are alive. Everything you experienced was simply a dream.”

“ Sure , it was.” She wouldn’t let hope back into her heart. The pain was tenfold when it was snatched away. And it had been repeatedly taken from her.

“ Sabryn ,” he began.

She turned her head to him. “ Where’s my father? If all Druids become Ancients , where is he? Why isn’t he talking to me?”

“ He didna think you’d believe him.”

“ But I’d believe a man I’ve never met? You’re delusional.”

Corann’s voice hardened slightly when he said, “ Evil will triumph if you doona move forward. There’s only one way to win. You’ve known it from the beginning, but you willna allow yourself to do it.”

“ Okay .” She was done talking, done listening.

Just done .

“ We’re out of time.” Corann got to his feet.

She looked up at him to find his lips pinched and his brow grooved with deep lines of worry.

“ If you want to keep the Knights alive, then you must do it as a unit. All of you .”

The message was clear. She needed to forgive Kurt . “ That’s not possible.”

“ Then you’ve doomed us all,” he replied softly.