Shadow Kissed (Magic Side: Wolf Bound 4) - Page 78

37

Savannah

I stared into the emptiness where the inside of the family crypt should be. Instead of a burial space, it was a swirling, milky gray void. Another portal.

“Is this always here?” I asked.

Jaxson’s sister stepped to the threshold. “No. The Opener of Ways created it for you two alone. You may enter the Deadlands through it, and you may leave again.”

My mind spun. “Who is the Opener of Ways? A god?”

She gave me a sly smile. “A god who governs the boundaries between life and death. Let’s just say he doesn’t wish to see the Dark God free. You don’t need to know more than that.”

Her tone had a sense of finality. Mysteries we’re not supposed to pry into.

And to think I used to enjoy a good mystery.

With my heart straining in apprehension, I crossed my arms for some sense of security. “You promise that this is a round-trip ticket, right? I don’t want to just walk into some deadly field of magic, get killed, and then—voila, we’re stuck in the Deadlands because we’re dead.”

“You may leave the Deadlands again through this doorway. But once you do, it will close forever.”

Well, that was a relief, frankly. The last thing I needed was a doorway for more ghosts to get into my life.

I turned to Jaxson, who had a determined expression etched on his face. “Are we really doing this?”

Though the set of his jaw and the hardness of his features persisted, his eyes softened. “Not if you don’t wish to. We can find another way.”

I glanced at Stephanie, who waited patiently but expectantly beside the portal. “I don’t know that we have another way. I need my wolf, and I trust your sister.”

He held out his hand. “Then we go together.”

I uncrossed my arms and clasped his hand. A shiver ran along my spine, like stepping out of the snow and wind and into the warmth of a firelit cabin. Heat and a deep sense of belonging washed away my fear. “Let’s do it.”

Wordlessly, Stephanie slipped into the portal and disappeared. Hand in hand, we followed.

A wave of cold rushed over us, and my stomach dropped. Rather than the tumbling sensation of traveling by portal between places in our world, this felt like breaking through the surface of a frozen lake and plunging into the icy water below.

I shivered with relief as we emerged into a clearing enclosed by misty gray woods. Enormous pines stretched above us into the sky, and a low fog hung about the base of the trees.

I turned to look behind us. The mausoleum was there, though in this place, it was rundown and covered with moss. There were no other signs of the garden or of Magic Side.

I squeezed Jaxson’s hand and let go, although I didn’t want to, and inspected the portal. “This is our way back?”

Stephanie nodded. “Once you have the missing shard of your wolf, you may return to the land of the living through here.”

I surveyed the woods around us. Nothing was quite right. The place gave off a disconcertingly eerie feeling, and it almost seemed like the trees themselves were growing from the mist.

Jaxson sucked in a sharp beath, and I turned. Stephanie had her hand on his shoulder.

“I can feel you,” he whispered.

“I exist in this world, not yours,” she said.

With that, he embraced her in his strong arms. A lump formed in my throat, and I looked away to give them a moment of privacy. Yet I felt his emotions pulsing through me, as if our hearts were connected—and his was full to breaking.

“I miss you so much,” he choked.

“I’m sorry, Jaxson.”

Tags: Veronica Douglas Magic Side: Wolf Bound Fantasy
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