Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

FRANKIE

I'd begged my aunt and uncle to go home to sleep.

Them sleeping in chairs beside me in a bed made me go into a full panic attack. It was too soon. I hadn't realized how much trauma I had from that coma, but it was surely a rude awakening. I needed them to leave me alone in this infirmary so I could remember I wasn't just waking from a coma. Everest had to give me a potion to calm me down.

But I was so calm that I couldn't seem to fall asleep. It was like I didn't need sleep. So I'd just been lying in bed staring at the floating candles up on the ceiling for a long time. I had my phone, so I could've called Elizabeth, especially since it was the middle of the day for her. Or I could've watched YouTube or listened to music . . . and yet, I just lay there. My body was warm and cozy. I was comfortable.

Blue light glowed from my right, making me look over with a frown. It was coming out of my backpack that was sitting in the chair next to the bed. I stared at it for a long moment before my brain put the pieces together. It must have been those rune stones. Curiosity was the only thing that made me lean out of bed to reach for my bag. It took me a few moments to actually get my bag open. It was like my body was too Zen-‘d out to move quickly.

When I finally got to the navy-blue velvet drawstring bag, I knew I'd been right. That blue light was billowing from within it. They hadn't done this before, at least not since when I first touched them. I yanked the drawstring, then tipped the bag and dumped them into my palm. They started to pour over, so I held both hands side-by-side. The two dozen-ish stones filled both palms, tingling against my skin wherever they touched me. The blue glowing light grew brighter and brighter until it was like holding a neon sign. My pulse quickened. Something was happening. I'd yet to learn what these did so this was exciting.

The gold-glittered runes engraved in each stone changed to blue like they weren't even there . . . and then a symbol appeared. It was stretched out across all of the stones. This symbol glowed bright neon-pink, brighter than the stones had just been. It was like a beacon. The symbol seemed to pulse right along with the heavy pounding of my heart. My breath caught in my throat. My chest tightened. I was supposed to do something with this. The symbol meant something. I cursed and looked over at my phone, considering calling Atley to do me a huge favor and call The Coven. But that would've been horribly rude.

I exhaled and closed my eyes. Come on, stones. Just tell me what you mean. Or show me. Just SHOW ME what I have to do. I don't speak your language yet. Give me some kind of clue. Just take me there. Take me where I need to be, and I'll go. With a groan, I opened my eyes—and choked on a scream.

I was not in my bed in the infirmary anymore. I had no idea where I was. I'd never been here before. It looked like some European village. It didn't make any sense. I'd been in the infirmary. I had no idea how I suddenly appeared— ohhh. I'm not awake, am I? I started retracing my thoughts back to when I was lying in bed. I assumed I was awake, but I should've known better. That potion Everest gave me was strong. When Esther had first told him I was having psychic visions, her words not mine, he'd asked if I'd been lucid dreaming. Then he'd explained to me what that even was . . . and I wondered if he unlocked some skill I didn't know I had. My magic was so new to me.

Okay, Frankie. You're lucid dreaming. Everest said it was a thing. You just need to watch what's happening until you wake up. Just stay calm. That's what he said. I opened my eyes and looked around with new intention. The stones still sat in my palms like they were in my bed, so I had a feeling this dream was about them somehow.

I stood before a grand, elaborate fountain that had to be thirty feet tall. It had fairies carved into it like they were climbing to the top. I had to crane my neck back in order to see the top. It looked like something I'd expect to see in Europe. The pool beneath it had to be fifty feet in diameter, at least. It had little spotlights inside the pool of water at the base that pointed up toward the fountain and made it shimmer like solid gold.

Someone was watching me. A blue glow radiated up from my palms. From the stones. I looked down and exhaled roughly. They were glowing again, and that same glowing pink symbol flashed from the surface of them. My stomach tightened into knots.

" What do you want ?" I whispered to them.

The wind swept across my back, carrying an odd floral scent and an unusual chill. It sent my paranoia into hyper-speed. I turned in a slow circle, eyeing the area around me for anything suspicious, but nothing looked out of place. This quaint little village was dark and quiet. Empty of everyone but me. Yet the feeling inside me, the sense of alarm and dread, intensified. It was like my body knew something I didn't. Something isn't right here. A chill ran down my spine and I shivered. It felt like fingertips tracing down my back.

I took a deep breath, and it left my mouth in a cloud of smoke. In Florida. In March. Then I felt it . . . eyes on my back. I knew it with every fiber of my being. With my heart pounding in my throat, I spun on my toes—and gasped. In front of me, standing silently and unmoving, were dozens of people. Except they weren't real people . . . They were ghosts, transparent and glowing a bright yellowish color. They had pointed ears and narrow faces full of stone-cold rage. The ghosts stood in perfectly formed lines, like an army straight out of Hell itself.

My pulse quickened and my fingers trembled. I swallowed and it echoed in my ears.It was my dream. These figures were the same ones I'd seen in that other dream except those were blue instead of yellow. But they had the same pointed ears and swords.

" They are coming, " that voice had warned me.

They were here.

I didn't move. I couldn't. This couldn't be a coincidence, yet I had no idea what to do. I glanced left and right without moving my head. There was no one else around. There was no sign of life at all, not even a mosquito or cockroach. There wasn't even a clue for me to use to know what to do. I just stood there in a standoff with this fairy ghost army. We were in some kind of staring contest. Running wasn't my style, especially not this fast, but I wasn't going to stand here all night.

In the movie The Sixth Sense, the kid learned he just had to talk to the ghosts. That was the only idea I had.

"What do you want?" I cried in frustration. "Just tell me!"

They lunged for me all at once. I gasped and stepped back, but my legs hit the wall of the fountain's pool, stopping me in place. Not that it mattered, the fairy ghosts ambushed me in the blink of an eye. They surrounded me entirely with their arms stretched out toward me. I didn't have time to react. One second they were in those rows staring, the next there were a dozen glowing yellow hands resting on top of my rune stones.

"Well, this is interesting."

I jumped at the sound of an unfamiliar male voice, but the spirits lunged away from me and landed on their knees like they were bowing to the person. I looked up and my eyes widened. There were two people standing about twenty feet away from me. The male had long, wild red hair with metallic beads wrapped around some of the strands. He had glowing orange eyes with an energy that felt like pure wildness. He had the sharpest facial features in his jaw and cheekbones, but it was the pointed ears poking out through all that hair that sent a chill down my spine. He wore a crown made of tree branches with dark-pink flowers on it and strings of turquoise leaves and glowing twinkle lights. His outfit was strange: an olive-green tunic lined with gold grommets and a trench coat seemingly made entirely out of bright-green vines.

The female was painfully beautiful. Everything about her was mesmerizing. All I could do was stare. She had wild hair that varied in shades of blue, purple, and turquoise. Her skin was lusciously tan. Her eyes met mine, and I heard myself gasp. They were unlike anything I'd ever seen. Her eyes held a galaxy of colors that glittered just like the Milky Way. Her outfit was basically giant green leaves that covered her lady bits and were connected by flowered vines, which were strapped all around her torso, chest, and limbs.

The male crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the side like I was the most fascinating toy. "I thought you did that?"

HUH?

"No," the female scowled without taking her eyes off me. "I thought you did?"

"Huh." He pursed his lips and glanced down at the ghosts still bowed before him. "Really, Sage? This is normally your thing?—"

"She's your daughter, Thorne." This Sage threw her hands up and rolled those pretty eyes of hers. "Your daughter. Your responsibility. Your words, not mine."

"She has a point, Father."

Thorne jumped with a curse. "God, you're tiny."

A petite little redhead with vibrant lavender eyes and pointed ears hopped out from behind the man she'd called her father. "That's more your fault, not mine." She grinned and walked forward to stand right in front of the ghosts.

"That's two for two for you, Brother." Sage giggled. "You're on a roll. Please, don't stop."

Thorne rolled his orange eyes at his sister. "My Saraphina, your arrival?—"

"The same as yours, I'm sure." His daughter smiled.

"Alone?"

"Me, alone in Hidden Kingdom? How unheard of." Saraphina's smile turned crooked. "I do believe that was also your fault."

Sage threw her head back and cackled like a movie villain. She held three fingers up.

Thorne sighed and it sounded pained. "These are not the same times as those?—"

"I am three and a half centuries old, Father. I am well aware of the danger we're in." She held her hand up and counted down with her fingers from five. As she held up her last finger, her smile warmed. "And I am not alone."

A massive wolf lunged from within the shadows behind these people. It was the biggest wolf I'd ever seen. It was blacker than night itself and seemed to be made of smoke and shadow, and its paws and tail weren't solid in form. But the eyes were the creepiest part. One was glowing gold, the other sparkling red. The wolf pounced on the front row of ghosts, yet none of them even flinched, which seemed to please the animal as it began trotting up and down their lines.

"SPOT," a deep male voice shouted. A split second later, a gorgeous man with short dirty blond hair and gold eyes stood between Thorne and Sage. He shook his head. "It's like we have to start your training all over again."

The wolf stopped and turned toward the pretty guy with his tail whipping back and forth.

"We all have to have our fun somehow, Brother," another guy said suddenly from beside the pretty guy, though this one was equally as beautiful. They had nearly the same face, with glowing gold eyes and blond hair, but this one had long locks. "Raziel, perhaps Spot needs to take a sweep through the park before we leave?"

Raziel sighed and put his hands on his hips. "You enable him, Zabkiel. But fine. Spot, make sure the park is clear. Go ahead."

Spot howled at the moon, then vanished into smoke and shadow.

"See, Father? I am not alone. Riah was right behind me."

Riah, who seemed to also be referred to as Zabkiel and that confused me, spoke in a language I'd never heard. But Raziel, Thorne, and Sage all nodded.

"My brother was just going to finish the job he was supposed to?—"

"Yes, yes. We've been busy, Sage." Thorne looked to the ghosts and pressed his hand to his chest. "I am sorry for my delay."

I frowned. He was apologizing to the ghosts.

Saraphina pressed both hands to her chest and her eyes glistened. She spoke to them in that same language I'd never heard that definitely didn't sound like a human language.

Thorne chuckled at whatever she'd said to the ghosts. "Fair. But now that we're here, Daughter, you're so much more qualified to?—"

Saraphina chanted words in a language I'd never heard. I tried to listen and watch, to follow what was happening since there had to be a reason I was lucid dreaming this, when suddenly the two gorgeous blond guys stood in front of me. At first, I assumed I was just getting a front row view of whatever they were doing, but then both pairs of golden eyes locked on me.

I gasped and jumped back, but I was already up against the fountain's pool, so my legs were swept out from under me and I went flying toward the water—a tan hand grabbed my wrist faster than a person should've been able to move. I was yanked back upright onto my feet and found the one with long hair holding onto me. His skin was warm against mine. I felt it. I didn't think lucid dreams worked like that. Panic began to surge inside of me.

"Easy," he said in a soft, calm voice. "Step away from the fountain, lita toah. "

Lita toah? What does that mean?

The other one bent over and scooped something up off the ground. When he stood, his palm was glowing neon-blue. "You need to keep better care of these, lita toah. "

My jaw dropped. My stones. I'd been so startled I'd dropped my stones. I cupped my hands and held them out for him to dump them back in my palms. Words just weren't coming out. I had no idea what was happening or how.

Riah, or Zabkiel, gave me a small smile. "You shouldn't be here, lita toah. "

"You need to keep better care of yourself in times like these." Raziel's smile was warm, but the sharpness in his eyes was not. "Now more than ever."

"Malachi!" Saraphina yelled from fifteen feet back. "Check?"

Malachi? But then the Raziel one bowed his head and hurried back over to Saraphina. Sage started to come to me, but Thorne yanked her back with a shake of his head. She pouted and stomped her foot.

A large tan hand landed on top of mine, making me jump and look up at him. It was the long-haired guy. He pressed his fingertip to the space between my eyebrows. Glittery silver mist coiled around my head. "Worry not. Help is on the way."

I tried to speak but only a whimper left my lips.

He smiled. "Try not to use those until you speak with Tegan."

Tegan?

"Francelina."

I gasped at the sound of Everest's voice in my ear. My body spun to face him without hesitation, like I was tethered to him. He stood there right behind me with those incredible blue and white eyes that watched me carefully. I licked my lips. "I was just talking to them."

Everest arched one eyebrow in question.

I glanced over my shoulder to Riah but there was no one there. My eyes widened. I turned fully but no one was there. No Thorne and Sage. No Raziel and Spot. No Saraphina. No ghosts. It was just me.

What the hell? No. No, they were just there.

"Everest . . ." I shook my head and turned toward him. "Everest, I?—"

I choked on a gasp. Everest still stood in front of me, but we were in the foyer of the infirmary. I was still in my pajamas that my aunt brought for me. When I looked to my hands to check for the stones . . . they weren't there. My hands were empty.

A cry slipped out of my mouth. " Everest ? — "

"It's all right, " he whispered and moved to stand right in front of me.

I knew I barely knew him. I knew it would make me look crazy. I knew I was falling apart. But I fell into Everest's chest and sobbed.

He wrapped his arms tightly around me and just held on. "It's going to be okay."