Page 55 of The Redd Key (Bone Coven #1)

Screaming. All I could hear was screaming. The shrill high-pitched kind you hear in a horror movie when someone witnesses their family being slaughtered. The moment my hand touched the carved obsidian, that was exactly what I had seen in a vision–everyone was dead. It wasn’t until Bridget held my face in her hands and her eyes locked with mine that I realized it was me who was screaming.

Sunlight pierced the horizon and my vision as I took in quick gasping breaths. We weren’t in the caves anymore. We weren’t on the island anymore. We were on a beach with soft sand and tall sea grass growing from the dunes. The coastal brush here wasn’t as wild as on Redd Hills Island. Past the dunes was a small parking area and a road that ran toward a lighthouse in the distance. Small waves lapped against the coastline beside where we stood. We were situated on some sort of land pass between a bay and the open ocean.

“No,” Sarah whispered from somewhere behind me. An icy breeze made my skin ache. “No, no, no,” she repeated. “That can’t be real. We couldn’t have just–” Her feet shuffled in the sand as she paced. “Did we just?” She seemed to not be able to finish the sentence. Cole watched the three of us as he casually sat on a bench by the empty parking lot, still holding the obsidian dagger.

“What is this place?” Bridget asked Cole. He didn’t take his eyes off of me. He sat like a god upon his throne as the golden rays of daybreak washed over him. The sight of him pulled at me, from the middle of my chest.

This sunrise was innocent, peaceful. It was calm. I almost forgot what sunlight looked like elsewhere – where it didn’t look like blood in the grey sky. I could breathe here. As I scanned the landscape, familiarity washed over me, stripping that sense of peace from my mind. My throat clenched as the memory flooded my brain. Not my memory, but one I had witnessed through the eyes of the past. I reached for the locket that didn’t hang from my neck.

“I–.” I started to speak but Cole stood, and the movement distracted me.

“You were not safe back there. I had to wariway. I did not think it would work, but with Raina’s blood…” Cole began to sound manic.

“Where aw-what?” I snapped, just completely exhausted from not having a clue about what was going on.

“Wariway,” Sarah chirped and I spun around to look at her. She was shaking. “I never would have thought it was real. Gram only ever mentioned it during stories when I was little. In her fairytales.” I looked at Bridget, hoping for answers, but her jaw was literally dropped.

“Are you serious?” Bridget stared at Sarah. “We did not just wariway.”

“What the fuck does that even mean? Can someone please explain this to me like I’m an infant?” I nearly yelled in frustration.

“A lot needs to be explained.” Cole walked through the dunes to the sand, stopping a few paces from the water’s edge.

“Can we please at least start with whatever Where Away is or whatever?” I demanded. He looked over his shoulder at me.

Turning back to the water, he finally spoke, “It is called Wariway–we traveled between spaces of time, portals if you will.” He slightly shook his head with the most peculiar expression. “I never thought it would work,” he repeated. Closing the space between us, I tried to pull him back to the present and focus. The grey in his eyes darkened when they slid to mine. “I had to get us away from the Brethren, they were coming. I had to use your blood. You share your mother’s and that’s why it worked.”

“Wariway-ing, you mean?” The word sounded funny to me. If I hadn’t just experienced it, I wouldn’t ever have believed something like that was possible. Every logical cell in my brain protested against the fact that I just magically traveled through a portal. Finding out I’m more than a bit witchy and have actual abilities to bend elements to my will? Ok, fine, that’s cool as hell. I can almost accept that. A rival coven gaining power by blood sacrifice? Sure. Gross, terrifying, but sure. But this? I was dumbfounded, and looked between Sarah and Bridget, desperately hoping one of them would be like “gotcha! We knocked you out and that tea had shrooms in it. We’re totally just fucking with you!” but they looked as stunned as I was.

“There’s no way that you just made all four of us wariway,” Bridget called to Cole in disbelief. “It’s just not possible. How did you even know how to do that?” Her voice was accusatory. “We are still in the present, right?” She looked around wildly.

Cole nodded, “I have spent lifetimes learning everything I can about–,” then he paused to slide the dagger into his belt. “There is so much I wish I could tell you.” His voice was deep, reverent, and demanding attention. But when I gazed up to his face, I found his features softened. He reached out for my hand, and this time, for some reason that I ignored, I didn’t fight him when he took it. “I had to bring you back here. To where this all began.” He spoke so only I could hear.

“B – do you have cell reception?” Sarah yelled over the ocean breeze. Bridget scrambled back up past the dunes to where Sarah stood.

“Where are we?” I asked as Cole and I began walking along the water’s edge in the direction of the lighthouse.

“You know where we are. You have been here before. She has already shown you.” I reached for the place the locket once nested, to find the skin at the nape of my neck bare. “You know the truth, Raina, you just have to let yourself believe it.” I shook my head, denying it as hard and as much as I could. Because if I spoke the words aloud, that would make them even more real, and that went against all the forms of science and rationality I had ever been taught through my life. It went against the laws of nature and everything holy. It just couldn’t be possible.

“I must have hit my head in the caves.” I increased my pace and stepped a few strides ahead of Cole.

“Every day I have waited for death. Every day I have drowned as if it were that morning in the bay. In this bay.” Stopping, I turned to face him, and behind him, the ocean’s surface glittered like gold in the morning light. “The wet flames of salt water licking my throat and lungs…everyday I still feel that pain. I live through that death over and over again as the tides come and go.” Cole’s words were similar to what he had spoken to me about in the cove. This time, I understood their meaning a bit more, though the reality of what he said terrified me. He reached out to grasp my hand, tugging me back to him.

We stood in the shallow waters, soaking us to the shins, and ice against our feet. Somehow the chill didn’t quite reach my bones as it should this time of year. It was as if Cole’s touch warmed me to my core, shielding me from the pain that I should have been feeling.

“I drowned that fateful day, and I have drowned every day since.” Cole's voice became rougher, his eyes darting from mine to the rising sun. His mouth was a tight line and his brow furrowed before he spoke again. “I have begged Death to grant me the privilege and end my pain. On numerous occasions I have attempted to take my own life, only to awake moments later.” Cole coughed. And then again. “I cannot escape the torture that has been my constant companion these three hundred years. But then you came to me, my sweet Storm.” Cole held my face between his hands.

Something about the way he spoke those insane words fell deep in my soul, building upon themselves, like fresh snow in a drift. Beautiful, but not quite comfortable.

“Cole,” I whispered, and he clenched his eyes shut, flinching just slightly. He shook his head, biting his bottom lip.

“You must understand. You know the truth.” Cole smoothed my hair away from my face and pressed his forehead against mine as if begging. His entire body was tense, consumed by anguish.

“I can’t say it, I can’t believe it. I–I can’t.” I reached up and gripped his hair in my fingers, anchoring myself to this reality. “If I say the words, speak the truth, that means all of this is real. You, the Blood Coven, the Brethren, and– ,” my voice cracked, “and me, what I am. It means that it’s all true,”

“It is true that you are my salvation. You are the only one that can end this suffering for me. I have been tormented over lifetimes, as eternal as the stars burning in the night sky. Even now, I can feel the burning rage that fills my throat, invading my life, striving to end it all, only to continue on with its torture. I have been cursed, Raina, and you are my Storm, the key to end my agony.”

The entire world stood still. The ocean’s waves stopped lapping against the sand. Gulls ceased their squawking. The rustling of the sea grass went silent. Bridget and Sarah stood frozen, watching us from a distance, now that Cole and I had walked quite a ways up the shoreline.

“I don’t know how you expect me to end anything for you. I am not consciously trying to torment you or cause you agony of any sort. This was never something I needed, or wanted. Had I known what awaited me on Redd Hills, I never would have come, never initiated any of this. If I knew that I had the ability to inflict such pain, I would have stayed away from you.” I stepped back to look at Cole better.

“Raina,” he tried to laugh, coughing once more to clear his throat. “You can not possibly be this off point, my love.” My love. My breath hitched, as something inside of me swelled. The morning light had completely broken free from the horizon now as the full sun sat upon the line in the sky. It shined, blindingly, on the ocean as it reflected. Cole coughed again. Then again. More violently with each panicked breath. His hands dropped from my face to cover his mouth as he doubled over.

“Cole?” I grabbed his shoulders and he fell to his knees. “Cole, are you ok?” I looked up at Bridget and Sarah, who were too far away now, wandering the lot holding their cell phones in the air searching for reception. Too far to hear my pleas for help. Cole began coughing non stop, a crackling sound in his chest became audible. Even while he gasped for breath he gave me a grim smile and shook his head, his eyes turning red from the effort. “What’s happening?” I asked him and then I screamed in horror from the sight before me.

Water rushed from between Cole’s lips. He sputtered, grabbing his throat, as the sea flowed from his mouth and eventually his skin turned a bluish grey. Cole fell forward to all fours as the spewing continued. The sand below his face turned wet from the water he expelled from his lungs, a constant stream. Time froze as it took lifetimes before the violent jerking of his body stilled. A final rattling exhale was the last thing he did before water leaked from his lifeless face. His turned a smokey white and were empty as the sun glimmered in them. I was frozen with panic.

Cole was dead. Here, on land, he drowned. And I didn’t even know CPR to save him. Minute after minute ticked by and I looked up to see Bridget and Sarah were gone. Did they run to get help? Did they see what happened? My phone didn't have any service.

Silence blared in my ears, and my vision was blurred from silent tears. I dropped to my knees and held Cole’s head in my lap, not understanding why I felt the need. My entire body shook against him, and chaos churned inside of me. I’m not sure how long I sat there like that before I felt Aecor wrap itself around us, cradling us. Moments of nothingness passed, and then I felt Cole stirring beneath me. I all but jumped out of my skin, stopping myself from shuffling backward.

Coughing up water, Cole sat upright to face me. He coughed, clearing his lungs and throat as I stared, shocked. He ran his fingers through his hair, and tried to chuckle. Instead the sound of it made my heart break. This was what he meant. This was what he had been enduring every dawn, the pain, the drowning–three hundred years of torment.

“This is real whether you are ready to believe it or not.” His voice was like gravel in his raw throat.

“You just – you just drowned.” I shook my head, clearing away the terror I just experienced. “You just drowned, while we stood here, on the sand.” I gestured to the empty space between us. “I just watched you die.”

“You are only half right. You are correct, I did just drown, as I have told you. Every day, for centuries.” I shivered at his declaration. “But you did not watch me die. For, I cannot die.” He tilted his head down, smirked, and lifted his eyes to mine. Strands of his dark hair caught in his lashes. “Not unless it happens at your hand.”

“I’m sorry, what?” My voice was barely audible. I heard his words, but my brain refused to accept them, this time, just as it had every time before.

“I cannot die. Not unless you end it for me. You are the Storm that will pull me under and consume me. You, Raina, must kill me to end my suffering, to end this curse.”

In complete and obvious denial, I deflected the confirmation. “What do you mean, this curse?”

“My curse. You are the key to ending my curse.” He stood, holding a hand out to help me up to my feet. “I did not know it at the time, because I was also in denial,” he smiled at me before continuing, “but our night in the cove, with the fire, together we unleashed something. Something extraordinarily powerful. Some sort of rite. Every drowning is like a window into her mind, her cracked soul, and I can see.” Cole inhaled deeply. “Raina, I will never regret the gift you gave me that night.” His voice was raw, and I felt my face heat. Images of Cole’s body against mine, and me holding my power over him as I brought us both to the edge flooded my blood. By the look on Cole’s face, he was also remembering those details. His hand found my waist and he pulled me into him. “You are the key to everything. That’s why the Blood Coven wants you–to unlock complete control over Aecor. That’s why the Brethren of Cunning are after you – to bend your Aecor to their will. It is also why I want you, why I need you. You can stop all of this for me, end this, and kill me when nothing else can.” The desperation in his voice broke my heart, but his words were laced with sharp bitterness.

If what Cole had been saying was true, then the man drowned more than nine thousand times. Over and over again, every single day. The pain of it all washed over me and I gasped for air. And if every word of it was true, this was just the beginning. The curse of the Blood Coven was initiated. Terror engulfed me as I had foreseen the ravaging storm they would call upon for their mass sacrifice in a vision from the locket. If what Cole was saying was true, that meant –

“Say it.” His quiet voice dared me, and a severe shadow veiled his eyes. My bones felt like ice, and I wanted to run.

“I–.” I couldn’t make the words come out. Cole held my chin in his hand, swiping his thumb across my bottom lip. A muscle in his jaw twitched as he waited for me.

“I need you to say it. Say the words, and we can finally end this for me.” He placed the obsidian dagger in my hand, where the violet ink laced its way around my arm. A reminder of how real all of this actually was. The sharpened black stone vibrated in my palm, warming my skin. The thought of plunging the dagger into his chest overtook my vision. The heat pouring out of his ribcage as blood flooded my senses, and the warmth of the liquid covered my hands, arms, clothes…I swiped the blonde hairs from my vision, sticking it to my face with my bloodied hands. I blinked rapidly, pushing the intrusive thought from my mind.

“She wants me to end you. She wants you to suffer one final time.” My voice was barely a whisper. Cole bent his head low, his mouth was against my ear.

“Then be a good girl and fucking do it.” The brush of Cole’s lips on my skin and the fierceness of his words made my legs quake. He wrapped his fingers around my shaking hand, steadying the dagger. My eyes burned as tears threatened to spill. His chest rose and fell with mine. “You cannot deny this, deny me any longer.”

I closed my eyes. My head was pounding in time with the waves of the incoming tide. The ocean breeze quickly turned into a whipping wind. My heart raced as my fight or flight kicked in. Sunlight burned through my eyelids and all I could feel was him. His hand on mine felt like electricity. His cheek was still pressed against mine, and his other hand was still gripping my waist. Nothing about this made any sense at all. Not the truth I’ve been trying to avoid most of all. I could say what he desperately wanted to hear, but I could never give him what he wanted. I could never take the dagger and plunge it into his heart like the past begged of me. A sob broke free from my throat and I swallowed.

“I could never kill you,” I sobbed, hard, and he let out a breath, his shoulders dropping. “I won’t kill you. No, because the moment you take your last breath, it will be my final breath, too.” A part of me cringed at the dramatics of my declaration, but it didn’t make it any less true. Cole pulled back but still held me. His eyes searched mine for answers. “I can try to deny all of this, like I have been, even if everything has been proven to be true. But I refuse to deny my own suffering, as frightening as all of this is. Against my will, it seems, I simply can’t deny you…Sam.” The name hung in the air, on the cusp of something either great or disastrous. Or a great disaster. Even the beating of my heart stopped.

“Sam,” he repeated, breathlessly as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. “I haven’t heard that name in a very, very long time.” He smiled the first real smile I’d seen from him, and that transformation was unreal. His eyes lit with the sun, gold shining in pools of grey, and his eyes crinkled from bliss. His lips crashed to mine and he held me up as he kissed me hard, without any inhibition. My head spun as I let myself melt into him, feeling him, the reality of him. I let all of the truths wash over me, allowing this kiss to give me the strength to face the truths of the curse.

“Raina!” Sarah screamed, her voice carried by Air, and my heart plummeted from the sound. Behind Cole…Sam, two figures were grabbing Bridget and Sarah, wrestling with them. The sounds of their struggle were washed out by the sound of the rising tide. We ran across the beach toward them and tore through the dunes.

“Sarah!” I yelled. “Let go of them!” I threw my Aecor out toward them just for it to hit some sort of unseen wall.

The two figures forced them into an enormous black SUV. We ran as fast as we could toward the parked vehicle, still a hundred yards away. As the SUV’s door shut, the one person went around to the driver’s side door and started the vehicle. The other person stepped forward and I blasted another rush of Aecor toward them, catching fire to some of the seagrass. But my power still didn’t penetrate that invisible wall.

“How cute,” a voice called out, making me skid to stop in the sand. The familiarity of that voice made my stomach lurch. Griffin. “Didn’t mean to ruin your moment Sam.” Griffin’s voice dripped with disdain. “But we just need to borrow these two.” Rage blazed inside of me and I sprinted for him.

Before we could reach the top of the dunes, Griffin raised his arms, a dark liquid dripped from his sleeves. The sight made my stomach churn. “Oh, and Raina,” Griffin’s voice boomed over the dunes, “some things should really stay buried.” A grin so cold spread across his face. Behind where I was now standing, the ocean’s waves came in faster and higher, threatening to consume us. I turned and threw my magic out to avoid getting pulled in by an undertow. When I turned to look at the SUV, it was pulling away.

My lungs screamed in protest as I ran as hard as I could, but the SUV pulled out of the parking lot and disappeared in the distance before Cole… Sam and I reached the road. I crumbled to my knees, sobbing as I slammed my fists against the pavement, breaking my skin. The blood sang to me and I felt myself give into the flames. Sarah and Bridget had been taken. Fear and rage tore through me as I screamed in helplessness.

Griffin was still alive.