Crescent Calling: The Crescent Witch Chronicles - Book One by R Nicole (essential reading TXT) 📗

us. Boone was going to bleed out, and it was all my fault.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured, tears burning my eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

Behind us, the bloodied remains of the craglorn began to sizzle and spit, but I didn’t care. Placing my hands gently over the jagged wound in Boone’s side, I called on my magic.

“I’m going to heal you,” I whispered. “I don’t care what it takes. I’m going to save you.”

He was too weak to respond, and I could already feel his life slipping away. I’d faltered… It was all my fault. Everything was my fault.

Ignoring my tears, I focused on the ball of golden light in my belly and willed it into Boone.

I imagined his flesh knitting back together, veins repairing themselves and blood flowing along them. I begged his muscles to meld and twine, bridging the gap the craglorn’s talons had rent in his side. I asked his bones to join hands and become one. I asked him to live because I needed him more than anyone.

Come back…

Heal…

Be well…

It’s not your time…

Come back to me…

There was golden light everywhere. It warmed my belly, spreading through my heart and into my limbs before filling my fingertips. Boone whimpered softly, his feet twitching, but I didn’t stop.

Heal, I thought. Heal and be well.

I had no idea if it was working, but my hands were hot, my magic pouring from me into him. Something had to be happening because I felt like fainting. My vision blurred, but I forged on, desperate to bring him back.

Finally, I faltered, my hands slipping and my body slackening. The world spun, and the golden light dimmed, then…

Darkness.

* * *

I fell through time and space.

There was no beginning or end, no pain or exhaustion. There just…was.

I was standing in a garden, but the light was weird as if I were looking at the world through a yellow filter. The sky was orange, the grass was purple, and the flowers were pink. The path I stood on was bright yellow, and I began to wonder if I’d fallen through some kind of portal to OZ, and I was off to see the wizard.

The athame was heavy in my hand, and I held onto it like it was a lifeline. Maybe it was. Maybe it had been the key all along. The key to what, I didn’t know.

“Boone?” I called out, my voice muffled. “Are you here?”

“He is not.”

I turned sharply, holding out the athame to protect myself.

I came face-to-face with a woman, and my breath caught. She was as tall as I was, slender with big green eyes and black hair that flowed over her shoulders and down her back. Her dress was a brilliant green, its style medievalesque, but it bore no lace or beads.

A sense of déjà vu washed over me, and I lowered the blade, my mouth dropping open. Was it her? Was it Aileen? I hardly dared to hope.

“Aileen?”

“She is not here,” the woman replied. “She has not arrived.”

“Arrived where?” I frowned, not understanding a single thing about this place.

“It is too soon,” she said with a smile. “You must go back. You don’t belong here.” She wrapped her hands around mine and pressed the athame flush against my chest. “There is still much to be done.”

“I don’t understand,” I murmured, my head spinning. Her hands were cold as ice. “Where am I?”

“You will understand in time,” the woman replied, letting my hands go. “Now go. Your friends await.”

She turned, her black hair fluttering and her dress twirling. I watched her walk away, already forgetting the image of her face. It was fading along with everything else.

“Wait!” I cried.

The woman glanced over her shoulder. “You must go back.”

“I don’t understand…” I moaned as my knees buckled. “Who are you…”

You must go back…

Chapter 20

I gasped, my eyes snapping open.

“Skye?”

Boone was beside me, his fingers combing through my hair.

“You’re…” My throat was dry, and my head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton wool…and ached, to boot.

“I’m here,” he murmured, smoothing my tangled hair back off my face. “I’m fine.”

It was dark out, though the room was filled with a warm orange glow. Lamplight. A soft pillow was under my head, and a warm blanket lay over me. Turning my head, I saw the athame on the bedside table.

“Where am I?”

“You’re at the cottage in your bed,” he said. “You’ve been sick.”

“Sick?” I screwed up my face. “I don’t… I don’t remember.”

“You’ve been asleep for three days. You had a fever,” he whispered. “Everyone’s worried about you, you know. That’s a sign.”

“For what?”

“That you’re one of us. Derrydun has claimed you, I’m afraid. You’re stuck with us.”

“Great.” I was stuck the moment I’d arrived, but now it wasn’t such a burden. Now it was home.

I screwed up my eyes, my mind still clinging onto the strange dreams I’d had. Images appeared and dissolved into nothingness, the details fading the longer I was awake.

“I…” My throat was dry. “I placed my hands on you and… There was… The craglorn… She…”

I shook my head, trying to reach for a memory I knew was there but was forever out of my reach. I was beginning to understand how Boone felt about his unknown past now. He lived with this?

“You healed me,” he murmured. “I was able to change back, but you collapsed. ’Twas foolish, but I’m glad.”

Magic took a toll. He’d told me the day I made the talisman in the shadow of the tower house. I’d only taken a nap then, but I must’ve used a great deal of power to bring him back.

“I don’t care,” I said, trying to sit. All my joints were stiff, and my stomach rolled, making it a difficult endeavor. “Okay, maybe I care a little.”

“Careful… You still need to get your strength back.”

“What happened to the craglorn?” I remembered stabbing it, the death throes, and… After I’d laid my hands on Boone, I couldn’t remember anything.

“It melted away,” he replied. “It’s gone.”

Of course. Saeclum naeniam was