Nightfall (Grim Gate 1)

Shit. I did.

Me: Fine. I wasn’t. I was with Ethan.

Harrison: Why did you lie? You don’t like to lie.

Me: Long story.

Harrison: You’re acting weird.

Me: I am weird.

Harrison and I have had our differences over the years, of course, like any other siblings, but we’ve always been close, as most twins are.

Harrison: Is everything okay?

I hesitate, not sure what to say. Harrison is right to say I don’t like to lie, because I don’t. My life has taken a dramatic turn, and I can’t keep it from those close to me forever.

Me: It will be. Can you come over later? I’ll fill you in on everything then.

Harrison: Sure. What time?

Me: Noon? I have a naked man next to me again and want to go back to sleep.

Harrison sends a barfing emoji and I put my phone back on the nightstand, snuggling up against Ethan. He wraps me in his arms and I fall back asleep, sleeping peacefully for another hour until my dreams shift.

It starts out with me walking through the woods. I know now the red-haired lady is Aunt Estelle, and this time, I know we’re in Thorne Hill. It’s late, and we drove across town only to park in a gravel lot and walk into the woods. Aunt Estelle gave me chocolate to eat in the car to help keep me awake. Blue light starts to glow in front of me, and then the dream shifts and I’m running through the woods again.

I’m going to die if I don’t get inside the barn. I run past the big, twisted oak tree, lungs burning and legs about to give out. But I can’t stop. I can’t—something grabs me, and their touch burns.

“Say it again,” Aunt Estelle’s voice rings out, and I blink as I’m being dragged backward through the forest and see her smiling face. “Feel it inside you.”

I put my hands on the white table. We’re on the front porch of her house, and a pile of twigs and straw is in a metal bowl in front of me.

“Ignis,” I say, and the kindling starts to smoke.

“Concentrate,” Aunt Estelle urges. “Imagine the fire. See the flames in your mind.”

I close my eyes. “Ignis.”

When I open my eyes, I’m back in the forest. I’m bleeding, and I know I’m going to die. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to relive this last memory. I want to go back to the porch, back to Aunt Estelle.

“This is a dream,” I grumble and try to sit up, but I’m stuck inside the dying body. “Wake up.” I push my hands down against the damp earth. “Wake up.”

Something moves next to me, and I try and fail to turn my head. Whatever it is draws near, and the outline of a bird-demon comes into view.

“Anora.” Ethan’s hand lands on my shoulder, gently shaking me. “You’re having a nightmare.”

My eyes flutter open, and I take a moment to convince myself I’m actually awake and am safe in my room. “I was.”

Ethan pulls me to his chest and runs his fingers up and down my back for a minute. “Do you remember what it was about?”

“A few things. My aunt teaching me magic, which wasn’t the bad part, and then dying in the woods again. One of those bird-demon things was coming at me right when you woke me up. I feel so shaken up by it.”

“You’re safe now.”

“I know.” I let out a deep breath and close my eyes, listening to his heart beating. “The ghost—the blonde one I’ve been seeing—I think these are his memories. Not the whole being taught magic and stalked by humanoid, demonic birds, but being murdered in the woods. Ghosts don’t typically come to me like this, not like it is in movies when they want someone to help them with unfinished business, but I think…I think that’s what he wants. What if his body is still out there and he wants me to find it?”

“Okay,” Ethan says, considering my words. “Do you have any idea where in the woods his body could be?”

“Yes,” I say and lift my head off Ethan’s chest. “The woods between the barn and your house. There’s this big oak tree at the end of the horse trail, and I’ve seen it in my dream a few times.”

“Then let’s go out there and look.”

“You’ll help me look for a body?”

Ethan pulls the blankets around us and rests his hand on the curve of my hip. “Of course, and as much as I can sympathize with this spirit, I really think you should cast some sort of spell to banish him—at least for now. If we don’t find a body today, we can come back to whatever it is he’s trying to tell you after the Pricolici are dealt with.”

“I agree,” I say. My case of supernatural narcolepsy was induced by the ghost, I’m sure of it. “I have another lesson today. We can body-hunt then.”