Davy Harwood (The Immortal Prophecy 1)

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Something burst inside of me and I felt my body shoot into the air. Gregory twisted around me like I was in the eye of a tornado. He quickly faded from view. Then I was in the air and everything started to circle around me. Looking down, I saw the Raitscliff Family beneath my feet. I could barely make out the symbol of the lion until they suddenly started to circle so fast it was a constant blur. It was like a colorful wall and I gasped when a lion burst out of the blurred wall. It lifted its head and let loose with a deafening roar. It closed its massive mouth and then hung its head before it vanished.

For the first time in my sanity, I reached out for the Immortal. “Please stop this. I mean it! I can’t—I just want this to stop. Please stop.”

And for the first time, the Immortal didn’t answer.

I closed my eyes and felt my body slam to the ground. My legs were unsteady, but I looked up to see the surrealness around me. Kates and Lucan stood in front of me. I squeaked in panic, but when they didn’t react, I relaxed slightly.

Lucan was in the front, perfectly straight and with confidence in his shoulders. His black eyes were intense as he looked at something in the distance. He thirsted for what he thought was next to come. His jaw was clenched tight. I watched, horrified, as his nostrils slowly flared. It was like he smelled blood in the air. Then I saw patches of his skin break out to form a puzzle. He was the puzzle, but the pieces were off. It was like something had been put together wrong.

Kates stood with her head half bent towards the ground and a hand outstretched to touch the back of his. An air of intimacy swirled around them. But while he stood with no regrets, I saw a shadow in Kates. Her hair had slipped down her cheek and lifted in the air. It moved slowly, so slowly. I realized that time still moved forward, but crawled at a snail’s pace. Not me.

‘There are rules, universal laws of nature stuff and… The Immortals are able to bend those rules.’

I was bending time—no. The Immortal was bending time or… I was. It didn’t matter who was doing it because it was happening. Then I saw Kates bite the corner of her lip. If I’d been any other person, I wouldn’t have caught that gesture. She was having second thoughts—something else flooded inside of me. There was still something in her that knew her path was wrong. Hope flared in me.

Then something else exploded inside of me and I was hurtled through the same tornado of time as before. When I stopped again, I saw Shelly huddled in a far corner. She was pale and tears were frozen in midair on her cheek. Wren grasped her shoulder tightly. The two looked in complete contrast with Shelly’s yellow sweater and Wren’s hooker outfit. Then something prickled the back of my neck and I turned around.

Roane stared directly at me. His eyelid twitched and I almost screamed when he hurled himself at me. When Roane’s hand touched my arm, I was thrown out of my time-tornado thing. It felt like we both tumbled out of invisible glue and fell roughly against the opposite wall.

Wren and Shelly both jumped, but Roane pressed against me. “What the hell are you doing here?”

I couldn’t really tell him that it was a deep and foreboding voice inside of Blue’s head that sent me to him. In fact, I couldn’t even explain how I’d gotten to him, but I had.

“Are we in your restaurant? Weren’t you just outside of your place?” There were three tables set up in a corner. Diamond-encrusted glasses sat on t

op of them. I recognized those glasses. They were from the Alexander Restaurant.

“I’m every girl’s best friend,” I said faintly, echoing the Immortal’s words.

Roane frowned fiercely, but pressed closer. He shifted and blocked me from Shelly and Wren. I wasn’t even sure if Shelly knew I was there. It had all happened so fast, but I figured that Wren could smell me.

“I sent you with Gregory.” He was enraged. A shiver passed through me—it was one of those sorts that I always got around him. What was it about this guy?—vampire. My legs forgot they had bones in them whenever he was in the vicinity.

I needed to be distracted. “I zapped away from him. Don’t worry. You can’t blame him. He couldn’t stop me… and how could you? That’s annoying.”

Roane replied swiftly, “You drank my blood. I’m connected to you.”

I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable with that thought.

“You didn’t answer me. Why are you here?” Roane pressed.

I looked towards one of the walls, the north wall, and I felt what was on the other side. “He’s here. He’s out there. And he knows that you’re in here.”

Roane followed my gaze, but he never questioned what I said. “How far?”

“Across the road. Kates is with him.”

Roane narrowed his eyes and quickly crossed to a window. As he moved away, the cold replaced his warmth.

Shelly gasped in surprise. “Davy? What are you—How? Oh thank god!”

I attempted a smile, but just sighed in the end. She shouldn’t have been grateful to see me. I was the reason she was there and yet—I couldn’t not appreciate the irony. Shelly Witless was happy to see me. Only the supernatural could do something like that.

Shelly frowned, confused. When she moved toward me, Wren held her back. “Wha—Davy… are you… do you know these people?”

There it was again, just like Emily and Adam. All three of them thought they were held captive by people. If only it were true. I didn’t say anything. What could I say?