Page 65 of Crossing Between

I woke to the insistent buzzing of Varon's phone on the nightstand. Sunlight streamed through the windows, casting warm patterns across the tangled sheets. Elias was curled against my back, his arm draped protectively around my waist, while Kenji sprawled on my other side, one leg thrown over mine.

Varon answered the call with a gruff "What?" as he sat up, his dark hair mussed from sleep. The voice on the other end was so loud that even I could hear it.

"You need to get down here immediately!" Bradley's voice crackled with excitement. "We've found it! We've found where the Essencefeaster is hiding!"

My stomach dropped. Ryan.

Varon's eyes met mine, and I knew he could see the fear and determination warring in my expression.

"Slow down, Bradley," Varon's voice controlled despite the tension I could feel radiating from him. "What exactly have you found?"

"My detectives have been tracking unusual energy signatures.

They've pinpointed a location. An abandoned town about forty miles north.

It was evacuated decades ago because of an underground coal fire.

The fire's still burning, making it uninhabitable, but there's been activity there.

Strange lights, energy spikes that match what we recorded during the station attack. "

Elias stirred behind me, instantly alert. Kenji was already sitting up, his blue eyes focused and intense.

"Text me the coordinates," Varon ordered. "We'll meet you there in two hours."

As Varon hung up, I swallowed hard. "It's Ryan, isn't it? We're going to find my brother."

Kenji squeezed my hand. "We're going to save your brother."

"We don't know for certain it's him," Elias' healing energy brushed against me in a comforting wave. "But if it is, we'll find a way to separate him from the Essencefeaster."

Varon's expression was grim. "I'll contact Quilith."

"They're not here," I reminded him. "They went back to their realm to seek help from other dragons."

Varon cursed under his breath. "Then we proceed without them. I'll call Grum and Haruto to join us."

"I'm coming too," my voice was firmer than I felt.

"Kaerasta," Elias began, concern etching his features.

"Don't," I cut him off. "He's my brother. And I'm the only one who might be able to save him."

The three men exchanged glances, having one of those silent conversations they'd developed since our binding.

"She's right," Kenji stroked a hand down my side. "Her Soulbinder abilities are our best chance."

Varon nodded reluctantly. "You stay with us at all times. No exceptions."

I climbed out of bed, already mentally preparing for what lay ahead. "I need my armor."

Two hours later, we gathered at the edge of a ravaged landscape. The abandoned town sprawled before us, a collection of crumbling buildings and empty streets. Thin wisps of smoke rose from cracks in the ground, evidence of the coal fire still burning beneath our feet.

I stood between Varon and Elias, with Kenji just behind me.

The armor Quilith had helped me choose gleamed in the midday sun.

I wore a fitted leather jacket embedded with protective runes, my corset that would give even more protection, pants reinforced with flexible armor panels, and my most treasured item: the phoenix gloves that granted protection against the Essencefeasters' influence.

Bradley approached with a group of officers, both human and supernatural. I recognized Grum's massive troll form and Haruto's delicate yokai features among them.

"The main energy signature is coming from the center of town," Bradley explained, spreading a map on the hood of a police cruiser.

His eyes kept darting to me, a mixture of awe and wariness in his expression.

Word of what I was had spread through the department, though the details remained classified.

"We'll split into teams," Varon decided. "Grum, take the east quadrant. Haruto, the west. Bradley, your officers cover the perimeter. No one goes in alone."

"And us?" I adjusted my gloves.

"We follow you. You're our compass, little one." Varon kissed the top of my head.

I nodded, taking a deep breath. "I can feel him. Ryan. It's like a pull."

"Trust your instincts," Elias murmured, his hand warm on my shoulder.

"Remember, we can't stay long," Bradley warned. "The toxins from the underground fire are dangerous with prolonged exposure."

"Then let's not waste time," Kenji cracked his neck, his skin already taking on the deeper maroon hue that signaled his oni nature rising to the surface.

We crossed the invisible boundary into the town, and immediately I felt the difference. The air was heavier here, charged with an energy that made my skin prickle. My magic responded, swirling just beneath my skin like an eager animal.

"This way," I followed the tugging sensation in my chest.

We moved through empty streets, past abandoned storefronts with shattered windows and homes frozen in time. The silence was oppressive, broken only by our footsteps and the occasional creak of settling buildings.

"Z...Z...Zo..." The whisper of my name floated on the air, so faint I almost thought I imagined it.

"Did you hear that?" I stopped abruptly.

Varon's hand went to his weapon. "Hear what?"

"Someone calling my name."

Elias scanned our surroundings, his eyes narrowed. "The Veil is thin here. Too thin."

He was right. The boundary between our world and the spirit realm, normally invisible to all but the most sensitive, was visible as a shimmering curtain that rippled and folded around us. Through it, I could see shadowy figures moving, watching.

"We shouldn't be able to see this much past the curtain of the Veil," Elias muttered, concern evident in his voice.

The tugging in my chest grew stronger, leading us toward a large structure ahead, an old church, its steeple partially collapsed.

"There," I pointed. "That's where he is."

"Ironic for a demon." Kenji grunted.

Something was wrong with the building. It seemed to shift and waver, like a television with poor reception. One moment solid and real, the next transparent and ghostly.

"It's glitching between memory and reality," Elias's voice was tight. "This is powerful magic."

As we approached, the air grew thick with power. My magic responded, rising to the surface until my skin glowed with a soft gold light.

"Z...Zo...Zoe..." The whisper grew louder, more insistent.

We paused at the church doors, massive wooden structures carved with religious symbols now warped by time and supernatural energy.

"Ready?" Varon's hand was placed on my back.

I nodded, though my heart hammered in my chest. "Together."

Kenji and Elias flanked us as Varon pushed open the doors. They swung inward with an ominous creak, revealing the interior of the church, but it was not as it should have been.

The space was wrong. The dimensions shifted subtly as we entered, the ceiling seeming miles high one moment and claustrophobically low the next. The pews bent at impossible angles. Windows appeared and disappeared along the walls.

"What the hell?" Kenji whispered.

Each of us seemed to see something different.

Varon's gaze fixed on a point near the altar, his expression suddenly vulnerable in a way I'd never seen.

Elias stared at a corner where nothing existed, yet his face reflected recognition and pain.

Kenji's eyes tracked movement only he could see, his body tensing as if preparing for an attack.

I knew they were seeing pieces of their pasts, my magic somehow giving me that knowledge. They were seeing manifestations drawn from their memories by whatever power saturated this place. I didn't ask what they saw; the raw emotion on their faces told me these were private ghosts.

Then I saw him. A young boy was sitting on what appeared to be a bed in the middle of the church, flipping through a deck of cards with practiced ease. His dark hair fell across his forehead just as it had when we were children, his skinny legs swinging as he concentrated on the cards.

"Ryan," my voice broke.

The boy looked up, and I saw my brother's face, not as the adult he now was, but as the child I had practically raised after our parents died. His smile was the same gap-toothed grin he'd had at ten.

"Hey, Zoey," his voice echoed strangely. "Wanna play?"

I moved toward him, drawn by a mixture of memory and hope.

"You can see him too?" I asked the others, not taking my eyes off Ryan.

"Yes," Varon confirmed, his voice tight. "We all can."

That meant this wasn't just my vision, this manifestation was real, or at least as real as anything in this distorted place.

"Be careful," Elias warned as I approached the bed.

The young Ryan continued flipping cards, arranging them in patterns I remembered from our childhood. He'd spend hours with that deck, practicing tricks to impress his friends.

"Ryan," I stopped before him. "Is that really you?"

He looked up, his eyes, so like mine, crinkled at the corners. "Who else would it be, silly?"

I reached out, my phoenix-gloved hand trembling as it neared his. "I've been looking for you."

"I know," his voice suddenly older than his appearance. "I've been waiting."

My fingers brushed against his and the world exploded.

The child-Ryan collapsed like smoke, dissipating into nothing. The church warped around us, reality bending and folding. A high, cold laugh echoed through the space, and I knew we'd sprung the trap.

"Welcome home, sister," Ryan's adult voice called from everywhere and nowhere. "I've been so looking forward to this family reunion."