“Witches try to avoid them with crossed spirits, because it’s hard to do and the messages are usually unclear,” Marcus said. “We use them more often to commune with trapped spirits, in order to help them cross over to the afterlife.”
“Would contacting him even work?” I wondered. “I mean, MarcusisDante, so his spirit is already with us, just with different memories.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Ava said. “When I was in the Ancestral Lands, my ancestors explained it to me. Every life you live is another fragment of your soul. Even though Marcus lived as Dante in a past life, there’s a piece of him that still survives in the afterlife, and that piece is Dante, not Marcus.”
“So how do we talk to him?” I asked.
“I don’t know yet,” Marcus said. “I tried to access Dante and his memories, to see if I could find the key, but it’s all blocked off. I can’t figure out why.”
I frowned. “Check his bones. Amalie left clues behind for her future incarnation, right? If there’s a clue here, she wanted it to last.”
Kallie bent beside me, and the three of us reached out for the bones in unison. The moment I touched the bones, the world spun around me, like I was falling off a cliff.
* * *
My whole body lurched as I came to an abrupt stop, my feet planted firmly on the ground… except the ground wasn’t firm at all. The earth rocked back and forth violently, and wind whipped my hair around. I tried to steady myself, but I stumbled sideways and caught myself on something round, like a barrel.
People shouted, and an ice-cold chill spread up and down my spine. I heard a loud splash, and water sprayed my face. I licked my lips to find it tasted like salt.
Holy shit. I’d been transported onto a ship in the middle of a storm!
The sounds of cannons exploded, and the ship rocked the other way as something smashed into its side. It was under attack!
“I hid the key!” A male voice cut through the roar of the wind, and intuitively, I knew it was Marcus… but yet, not the person I knew. “They won’t find it. It’s time! You must wipe our memories!”
“Marcus!” I screamed, before his hands landed on me.
“It’s a vision,” he said in a much calmer tone. I didn’t understand how he could be across the other side of the ship a moment ago, only to appear at my side a second later.
“Marcus must’ve accidentally pulled us into his vision when we touched the bones,” Kallie theorized from beside me.
It made sense. Marcus and I were still connected through simultension, and Kallie was bonded to him. I turned my attention to the scene playing out around me.
“I can’t!” a man cried. I didn’t recognize his voice.
“We may not survive this,” a woman said. At first, I thought it was Kallie, only my friend was right beside me. “I’m begging you, Erasmus Morelli, by the gods you worship and the entire Arcanean pantheon, wipe my memory.”
“You could forget him, Amalie!” the man argued.
“It’s the only way,” Amalie insisted. “This is the last fail-safe option we have left. If we’re captured and tortured for information, we can’t give up the key’s location if we don’t remember where it is. This key is more important than me or Dante. We must protect it at all costs. Promise me that you will!”
“If you forget, you’ll never recover the key,” Erasmus protested.
“We will live another life,” she insisted. “The demigods will find the clues I’ve left behind in the lullaby. I’ll leave more, as many as I can. You must be there to help us when we return. You’re a vampire, so this storm won’t take you. Swim back to the mainland if you have to, so that we can find you and recover our memories when the time comes. We must protect the key in this lifetime, so that I may find it another. Swear it, Erasmus.”
“What about the ship?” the vampire protested. “They’ll salvage everything if they manage to sink us.”
“They won’t find the key,” Amalie promised. “I’ll give my life to make sure that never comes to pass.”
In the moment Erasmus hesitated, the ship lurched, and a large wave crashed over us. The water swept me off my feet, but in the distance I heard Erasmus say, “I swear it, Amalie. I will do my part to protect the key and help the demigods find it, whomever they are when they surface.”
Thunder cracked overhead, and the ship lurched. Screams filled the air around us, until the whole world shifted and we were tossed into the frigid waters below.
* * *
I gasped for breath, and my heart raced. It took me a moment to realize that I was back on solid ground, lying flat on my back. I clutched my chest, but my shirt was completely dry, and my skin warm.
“Are you all right?” Ava’s voice sounded like it was coming from far away. I pushed myself to a sitting position, and she touched my shoulder, grounding me back to reality. “What happened? You all fell over. Oberi and Rishi freaked.”
