Page 70 of Crave Me

When we reached the back gate, I phased through it. Then I paused to wait for more directions from my magic while the metal clinked behind me.

Cara joined me on the path, her expression curious. “Well?”

“I’m listening,” I murmured, hushing her.

I closed my eyes and shivered when the magical essence touched my senses again.

It took me right, reminding me of my first day here.

Only, I didn’t go to Lissa’s shop this time, but two blocks beyond it.

Where my energy disappeared.

My gaze narrowed. “This game of hide-and-seek is growing tire—”

The enchantment pierced my heart, causing my knees to buckle and drawing a gasp from my throat.

I clutched my chest as glass exploded behind me, the sensations confusing and making the world spin deliriously around me.

Cara screamed my name, but I couldn’t look at her. I was too stunned. Too… toooverwhelmed.

What’s… what’s happening? Why did you…?I blinked several times.Why did you shock me?

The magic hummed urgently in response, drawing my focus to a woman nearby, her vibrant green eyes sparkling with power.

A witch?I guessed, confused by her aura.So dark. Fractured. A soul… divided.

I could feel her pain, almost taste it on my tongue. My enchantment whirled around her in desperation, trying futilely to reach her shattered spirit. To… to fix her.

I stared, not fully discerning the scene before me.

Wind rippled around her in the darkness, the nearby building seeming to disguise her presence.

Or is she shadowing?I marveled.Who are you?Whatare you?

Cara shouted my name again as glass continued to shatter, flames billowing in the air.

I tried to move, to stand, tosee.

My legs shook as I forced myself upright, the shock of my power having rendered me temporarily useless.

But the street was beginning to clear, the chaos swirling around me becoming evident.

Another explosion.

I gaped at the destruction, startled by its sudden presence.

I took a step forward, my instincts firing as I searched for any auras that might need to be saved.

But my attention went right back to the inky presence nearby, that woman with the fragmented spirit.

I locked gazes with her and gasped as a bolt of pure fire pierced my sternum.

No. Not fire.

A bullet.

I belatedly heard the crack of it in the air, the scene shifting around me so brokenly that I hadn’t… I hadn’t sensed it properly.