This was what normal looked like for us. If we got through this, if we saved the world like Hel wanted, then we would have to figure out how to ward the house against ghosts. There would be plenty of time to figure that out.
Right?
Maddox got up and went in search of food since the mood had been ruined by a peeping ghost. I reclined and opened my awareness so I could feel the threads of the world. My arcana didn’t rush out like it normally did, but it had refilled a bit since Fenrir’s attack.
Had he done the same to Hel? Could I replenish my arcana because I still had fate threads?
With Potato lounging against my side, I ran my fingers along the weave of the world the way that Persephone had taught me. My own fate thread, so tightly wound with Maddox’s now, leapt out at me. I let it hum beneath my fingertips and wondered what I might have done to the rest of the world when I tampered with my own fate.
Would there be drastic repercussions? Had I changed the course of someone else’s life? I couldn’t stop thinking of others, even when I wanted to be selfish. I sighed and hoped that my tinkering hadn’t hurt anyone else. This extra time that I’d bought for us would be necessary in the coming days because we still needed to find and chain Fenrir.
I wasn’t going to let him go that easily. When I reached far along the weave of fate, I could see that there was still much more time left in the world. I wanted to believe that meant we would win this battle. However, I knew that Fenrir existed outside of fate right now. Everything he did severed ties and corrupted fate.
There was a distant hum in the weave of fate. Eyes closed, I cocked my head and wondered what could cause ripples like that. Stupidly, I failed to consider what Fenrir might be up to.
The ripple turned into a wave. It rolled into me, the impact like a punch to the chest. The breath rushed out of my lungs. I gasped for air, but I couldn’t breathe. Threads snapped like rubber bands. They lashed at my consciousness and left searing pain along my skull.
I couldn’t even scream. Maddox was in the other room, and I couldn’t make a noise. Alone, I succumbed to the recoil of what Fenrir had done. The snapped threads flapped in the flow of time. Tears dripped down my cheeks.
Something horrible had happened.
I sank deeper. Everything turned dark. I’d been in too deep when the recoil of the severed threads hit. My mind turned fuzzy. It was going to kill me, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even grab onto my own fate thread, still glimmering far above me in the weave of the world like it didn’t even belong to the person suffocating.
Hands grabbed ahold of me. They dragged me back to the surface even though the waters were tumultuous. I could feel them struggling. These spirits, the same ones I’d asked for help in Hel’s domain, were trying to drag me to safety.
“Adeline! Addie!” Maddox’s voice broke through the solid haze around me.
I reached up for him. His hand wrapped around mine. I knew it was his soul and not his body, but he still pulled me up all the same.
I came to gasping for air. Maddox wrapped me in his arms and held me tight to his chest like he was afraid I might vanish again. Honestly, it was a valid fear. I’d been snatched from him too many times at this point. I held onto him, too.
My skull ached from the recoil. Moving was difficult with my heavy limbs. Somehow, my arcana had been refilled. It was like I’d been dipped into an even bigger well of power.
Death. The end of all things.
That’s what I’d nearly fallen into. Again.
It’d almost happened in Limbo when Vince’s fractured soul had been ripping the worlds apart. Maddox’s soul had saved me that time, too. I never thought of that void as the source of my power, but it made sense. So, when the waves dragged me down, I’d sunk into another sea of power just like my own.
“I am so freaking weird,” I mumbled.
Maddox growled. “Stop dying every time I turn my back. I can’t take it. I don’t know what I’ll do without you. I mean it.”
“I’m not going to die. I promise.”
I’d already extended my fate thread. I was determined to live, no matter what.
Maddox tilted my head back and kissed me on the mouth. His lips were soft yet demanding. I could feel the fear in them, like he wanted more but was afraid to push too hard and break me. I pulled him closer and deepened the kiss because I needed his warmth in that moment.
I needed to be one with him. Without him, I would have no anchor in this world.
Who would have thought the grumpy detective determined to convict me of murder would turn out to be the love of my life? Certainly not me. Though, I was happy to revel in how far we’d come since then. I held onto him and made a vow to see this through to the end.
First, we had to deal with Fenrir.