Page 1

Chapter one

L ife as Keegan Marsh had known it ended in a squeal of tires and a screech of metal.

Maybe it would have been easier to accept if he had someone to blame—a monster to fight or a system to rail against. But it had happened without rhyme or reason, on a dark, rain-washed road, and instead of purpose, he was left with only emptiness where his brother had once been.

Three months later, he still didn’t know what he was supposed to do.

Since the accident, he had tried to keep going, to keep showing up, hoping that maybe things would get better.

That it might hurt a little less.

It didn’t.

Which probably had something to do with how he’d ended up standing on a cliff at midnight, surrounded by candles.

A chilled breeze carried the scent of brine and evergreens, billowing his T-shirt and ruffling his hair.

It didn’t, however, have any effect on the circle of candlelight.

The flames continued to dance merrily, casting an orange glow across the dirt and pebbles.

A full moon kissed the tops of the trees, its pale beams rippling across the Pacific, distorted by the waves that crashed against the rocky bluffs.

But beyond the push and pull of the ocean, a hush blanketed the area, the night eerily devoid of its usual sounds.

“Are you ready, Keegan?” a pleasant voice asked from the shadows.

Not musical or lyrical.

Just…nice. Kind.

He nodded.

“I’m ready.”

To be clear, he hadn’t gone looking for magic, and he still had reservations, along with a healthy amount of skepticism.

He also had no other options.

When Brie Crowder had first approached him, he had been suspicious of her motives.

In fact, he had considered her a con artist, a grifter who profited off the pain of others.

Especially since she wasn’t a witch, a fae, or any kind of Otherling.

She was just a human, an archaeologist with an interest in the occult.

The more they had spoken, however, the more he had really started to listen.

He hadn’t understood most of it, but she had never asked him for anything like money or favors.

She was simply offering him the one thing he needed.

He didn’t care about closure or peace.

He didn’t want answers.

He just needed the chance to say goodbye, and he’d decided that if this woman could give him that, he didn’t really care how she accomplished it.

“Did you bring something that belonged to Noah?”

Gripping the leather cord in his fist, Keegan held the necklace up and nodded.

No matter how much he’d made fun of him for it, Noah had worn the stupid thing everywhere.

Not because he’d found it fashionable, but because he had insisted the obsidian stone encased in copper wire provided powerful magical protection.

But it was just a rock wrapped in cheap craft wire, and it sure as hell hadn’t prevented his fate.

Keegan kind of looked forward to giving the silly bastard the I-told-you-so speech.

“The spell will only last for a few minutes,” Brie reminded him as she crouched in the grass to remove something from her canvas bag.

“That’s all I need.”

A moment later, she stood again, holding a mirror set into a latticed pewter frame.

Oblong in shape and no bigger than a standard piece of copy paper, it looked ancient, the glass hazy and clouded.

“What is that for?” he asked as he watched her place it on a stand between two of the candles.

“To amplify the moonlight and strengthen the spell.”

Keegan frowned.

The mirror didn’t look to be doing a whole lot of amplifying.

Rather than reflect the sky or even the candlelight, it seemed to absorb it.

Then again, what the hell did he know?

Maybe that was the point.

“And no matter what happens,” Brie added as she rummaged through her bag again.

“Don’t step outside of the circle.”

Keegan jerked his head up, his eyebrows drawn together.

“What does that mean? Why would I leave the circle?”

She glanced up and smiled, accentuating the creases around her eyes and deepening the lines that bracketed her mouth.

“It can be a little startling to see a deceased loved one.”

Yeah, okay, that made sense.

“What happens if I do?”

She shrugged.

“The spell will end.”

He clutched the necklace tighter and nodded in understanding.

“Take this.” Returning to the edge of the ring created by the candles, she held out what looked like a small log.

“You hold one end. Noah holds the other.”

Keegan took it with a frown.

“Why? What is this?”

Short, squat, with sigils carved into the surface and colorful thread braided around each end, it sort of reminded him of a rainstick.

Except, this one felt solid instead of hollow, and when he tilted it, he heard only the sound of his own heartbeat thrumming in his ears.

“It’s an anchor,” Brie explained.

“It’s difficult for spirits to access our world. This will help tether him.”

So many damn rules.

“Got it.”

“In that case, are you ready to begin?”

Dropping his head, he took a couple of deep breaths through his nose before looking up to meet her gaze again.

“Ready.”

He had expected her to produce some moldy spellbook, or maybe an incantation etched into a crumbling stone tablet.

At the very least, he thought there might be an aged piece of papyrus with symbols scrawled in charcoal.

Seeing her face illuminated by the harsh glare of her cell phone screen, however, hadn’t even made the list.

Then she started chanting, her voice barely more than a murmur on the air, and all those errant thoughts and niggling doubts vanished like shadows in the night.

The hush he had sensed earlier intensified into an oppressive silence, drowning out even the roar of the ocean.

The candlelight flickered, dimmed, then flared like torches, the flames bending and swaying to form a continuous ring of fire.

Wind swirled around the perimeter, bowing tree branches and rustling the new spring leaves, but Keegan felt only stillness.

Unsure where to look or what to do, he gripped the carved stick until his fingers ached and focused on Brie.

Despite the chill, a sheen of perspiration coated her skin, dampening the ends of her bangs so that they clung to her brow.

With her head bent, the moonlight gleamed off a thick strand of silver that marred the otherwise dark bob.

A stripe he was certain hadn’t been there when they had first arrived at the cliffside.

“Took you long enough.”

Keegan’s heart stopped, tripped, then pounded out a staccato as it climbed into his throat.

He hadn’t heard that voice in three months, but he would know it anywhere.

Rocks skittered across the ground as he spun around, his limbs heavy but his head floating.

“Noah!”

Identical from the tips of their shaggy blond hair to their slightly curved pinky toes, it should have felt like staring into a mirror.

It didn’t. It never had.

In fact, it had always amused him that people couldn’t tell them apart when, to him, it was so obvious.

And their mother. They had never been able to fool her.

“Here.” He shoved the other end of the talisman at his twin.

“Take this.”

Noah arched an eyebrow at him.

“Why are you handing me a stick?”

“Just do it.” Little brothers could be so annoying, even if they were only four minutes younger.

“It’s supposed to help anchor you.”

“Oh, so now you believe in magic,” Noah mumbled as he reached out to wrap his fingers around the piece of wood.

“Happy?”

“Very.” Both his cheeks and his heart ached with that happiness.

His brother’s gaze flickered toward Brie, his hazel eyes filled with suspicion.

“Who’s the chick?”

Keegan shook his head.

“Not important. We only have a few minutes.” And he didn’t have a fucking clue what to say.

“How are you?”

“Dead.”

“Asshole.” He couldn’t help but chuckle, though.

Clearly, Noah hadn’t lost his sense of humor.

“I miss you.”

That glib smirk settled into something softer, more emotional.

“I miss you, too, Kee. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

No, it wasn’t.

Noah had been his person, his lifeline, even before they had been born.

Without him, he felt lost, like nothing made sense anymore.

“Are you at least happy where you are?”

Noah shrugged.

“It’s kind of boring, but I don’t hate it.” Then he cocked his head, one eye narrowing at the corner.

“Does mom know you’re doing this?”

He snorted.

“Absolutely not. She’d shit bricks if she—ow!”

The etchings on the wood glowed, their light emitting a stinging heat that seared his skin.

But while instinct told him to release the relic, his fingers flexed, squeezing tighter without any conscious decision on his part.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one either.

Noah cursed and tried to jerk his hand back, but he only succeeded in pulling Keegan off balance while both of their hands remained gripped to the wood.

“What the hell is happening?”

Keegan shook his head.

“I don’t know.” He whipped his head around to stare over his shoulder.

“Brie! Stop! Something’s wrong.”

She didn’t acknowledge him, and she didn’t stop.

But her cadence and inflection had changed, taking on a darker, more ominous note.

She had discarded her phone, leaving her standing in only moonlight and shadows, barely more than a silhouette beyond the flames.

“Brie, stop!” he yelled again.

He and Noah both pushed and pulled, trying to dislodge the talisman from their shared grasp.

Nothing they did made any difference.

“What now?” his brother asked.

Though he tried to sound flippant, Keegan could hear the thread of unease in his voice.

He could see the fear that flared in his eyes.

And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

Before the guilt had even settled or taken root, the glowing sigils floated into the air, rising off the piece of wood to twine and swirl, forming a twisted ball of pulsing light.

“Well, that can’t be good.”

The words had barely left Noah’s mouth when the knotted cord began to unravel, stretching, reaching.

It slithered over their fingers and down their hands where it coiled around their wrists in matching cuffs.

They both cried out as the heat intensified, the light searing into their flesh and burning identical tattoos across their skin.

There was no discernable pattern, no images or symbols.

Just an intricate mosaic of interwoven lines that extended from their fingertips to their elbows.

Though it felt like a lifetime, it couldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds before abruptly coming to an end.

The swirling lights vanished, the heat dissipated, and the pain subsided.

The involuntary contractions in their muscles ceased, and their hands sprang open at the same time so that the talisman fell to the ground with a muffled thud.

“What the hell was that?” Noah demanded as he stretched his arm out to study the lines etched there.

Since Keegan was just as clueless, he turned to Brie for answers.

“I told you,” she answered, stepping forward into the ring of light.

“It’s a tether.”

Noah sidestepped, placing himself between her and Keegan.

“A tether to what?”

Ignoring him, she held up a small, unremarkable pocketknife and dragged the blade across the pad of her thumb, dripping beads of scarlet onto the surface of the mirror.

Then she started chanting again, the words mumbled and unintelligible, but the effects were palpable.

Keegan’s shoulders rounded as a heaviness settled over him, constricting his chest so that every breath felt like it was being inhaled through a straw.

The air within the circle became thick and cloying, and the temperature rose as the candlelight flared again.

The mirror sparked, emitting a series of pops and crackles, then erupted into a shower of purple and gold.

The tainted glass wobbled and swirled, glowing with a blinding light that grew in both size and intensity.

And throughout it all, Brie continued to chant.

Keegan gasped when he was jerked forward, his body moving without his permission, an unseen force dragging him toward the glowing mirror.

Beside him, Noah seemed to be having the same problem, his back bowing unnaturally as he fought against the pull.

“Noah, go! Get out of here!”

“Good idea,” his twin shot back, his tone a mixture of fear and sarcasm.

“Exactly how am I supposed to do that?”

A fair question, and one for which he didn’t have an answer.

The soles of his sneakers scuffed over the dirt, scattering dust and rocks across the ground.

Twisting at the waist, he stretched his arms out, reaching, straining, but no matter how much he resisted, he couldn’t stop his forward trajectory.

Then his feet were swept out from under him, the breath forced from his lungs in a pained grunt when he crashed to the ground.

Beside him, Noah dropped as well, his fingers scrabbling over the ground as they continued to be dragged through the dirt.

Keegan’s heart throbbed in his chest, hammering out a tattoo against his ribs, the sound a constant pulse in his ears.

Adrenaline flooded his veins, his muscles trembling as his body vibrated with fear and panic.

Dread, cold and clawing, settled over him, and his stomach twisted with the realization that he was powerless to stop what was coming.

Worse, everything that had led him—and now, Noah—to this moment was entirely his fault.

His grief and pain hadn’t blinded him.

He had seen the red flags, the inconsistencies, but he’d chosen to ignore them, to willfully allow emotion to override common sense and good judgment.

“The tether!” Noah yelled.

“We have to break the tether!”

“How?”

The enchantment used to bind them was already complete and seemingly absolute, literally seared into their skin.

Into their skin.

Keegan’s breath caught, his mind suddenly still, clear.

With shaking hands, he frantically searched the ground, picking up and discarding stones, all of them either too small or too smooth.

Being dragged across the circle on his stomach didn’t make the task any easier, but only a few feet from the mirror, he finally found what he’d been looking for.

Gripping the broken rock in a tight grip, he dragged the serrated edge over his opposite palm, slicing through both the skin and the lines burned there.

Blood beaded from the gash and pooled inside his hand before spilling over to splash against the ground.

The result was instant.

The magic surged inside him, the pressure building until it exploded outward in a concentration of glaring light.

Fire lanced up his spine, and his muscles contracted painfully as he was flung sideways, the force sending him tumbling through the dirt.

His vision dimmed and flickered, and a high-pitched whine rang in his ears.

Sprawled on his back, unable to move, he tried to call out for his brother, but the words became lodged in his throat.

He heard shouts, growls, and primal screeches, but it sounded hollow, distant—more like a dream than reality.

The sparkling light that glowed from the ancient mirror receded, retreating back into the warped glass where it was swallowed by the darkness.

Through blurry eyes, he watched as two shadowy figures were sucked into the swirling vortex, and when everything stopped with a final pop, he found himself alone in the circle of candles.

Bleeding, broken, he could do nothing but stare up at the sky, at the moon so bright it outshined the stars, and wait for the end.