Page 6 of Women Love Wraiths

Her mouth fell open. “Jade! What the actual fuck? Why didn’t you tell me? You should have called the police and gone to the hospital to make sure you didn’t have a concussion!”

I shook my head. “I’m fine, aren’t I?”

“Still! It could’ve been way worse and the guy should’ve been arrested.” She paused, her features turning questioning. “Wait, there was no man when Alex and I got there. Did he run away?”

I pursed my lips and lowered my voice. “That’s the part you won’t believe. I’m pretty sure he died.”

Jenna’s mouth fell open and her voice came in a harsh whisper. “Died? Oh. My. God. No. There’s no way. Did you kill him?”

“For fuck’s sake, Jenna, no. I didn’t. Do you really think I could kill someone?”

Jenna’s eyes were unseeing as the gears turned in her head. She snapped her eyes back to me.

“There was no body near you in the woods. Where did he go? Who killed him?” she asked, her true crime documentary brain working to figure out all the details.

I hesitated before answering. “I don’t know. I don’t know where he or his body went.”

This was the part she wouldn’t believe. Avoiding looking at her face, I continued. “Something killed him. A cloaked figure that seemed to be floating right over the ground looked at him and he just dropped dead.” My voice was mouselike—smaller than it usually was because I knew what was coming.

“Jade, dear god, not this shit again,” she said exasperated. “You know monsters and shit don’t exist right? Supernatural beings don’t just lurk in the woods waiting to kill asshole men. Although, on second thought, that would be kind of great.” She chuckled. “Regardless, that’s silly. I don’t know what happened, but maybe you just hit your head and you don’t remember. You might’ve dreamed all of this.”

I sighed. This was the one thing Jenna didn’t get about me. I’d tried to explain my thoughts over the years, but every time she just shrugged it off.

“See? I told you. I knew you wouldn’t believe me. Just like always. That’s why I wasn’t going to tell you.”

She reached across the table and took my hand. “Jade, I’m sorry. You know I’m practical and don’t believe in those things. Maybe you did see something off, and maybe there was a man. Maybe he ran away. Regardless, I’m just happy you're safe and alright.”

The plastic faux wood pressed into me after I leaned back in the chair, I downed the last dregs of coffee. “It’s fine. I know what I saw and I’m going to see if I can see it again.”

Jenna shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Look, Jen. I know you don’t believe in the same things I do and that’s fine. But I know what I saw. There was something in the woods that night and it saved me.” The metal table was cold beneath my fingers. “I don’t know what it was, but I want to try to find out. It’s going to bug the hell out of me if I don’t. I at least want to say thank you.”

“Just be safe. That’s all I ask,” she said as my lips curved into a smile.

Chapter 5

The dagger was heavy in my grasp when I lifted it from my bag the next night I was free from the hotel. I twirled the weapon in my fingers, and the blade caught the moonlight, flashing like sunlight on water. I didn’t know if my plan would work, but I was going to try everything I thought of.

The night was quiet at the center of the same collection of large rocks where I read a few nights before. Nothing felt out of place.

Just my luck.

I walked into the pointed star I laid out in the leaves. I’d decided I needed to take matters into my own hands and make a commotion after my failed attempts. At the right point sat a bowl of water, the left—a feather to represent air. A candle sat at the bottom right for fire, and at the bottom left was a bowl of soil I’d gathered from the woods themselves. I laid the athame at the top to complete the pentagram to represent spirit.

The ground was hard as I knelt and closed my eyes. I didn’t practice witchcraft, but if it made my creature appear, I would try anything. I didn’t really know what I believed about spells and enchantments, but I did believe that people could talk to spirits. The stuff I’d found online about summoning was mainly for them not creatures. Maybe the thing I saw was some kind of embodied spirit.

“As above, so below, may the veil between the living and the dead be thinned.” I took a deep breath, raising the volume of my voice. “With earth, air, water, fire, and the spirit, I seek the creature who saved me. I want to say thank you. I’m not scared.”

I waited. Nothing happened.

“Please show yourself to me. I need to see you, or even just feel you. Let me feel the hands again.”

With a sigh, I got up and paced within the small star. I wasn’t ever going to see this thing. My heart rate kicked up at my aggravated movements. Why couldn’t it come back? Maybe I really was imagining everything I saw.

No. No, I didn’t. I knew I didn’t imagine anything. There was a man who attacked me and there was a creature who saved me from him. I didn’t know how or why this thing existed, but I knew it did. Whatever it was.

A thought crossed my mind as I remembered my research and went through all the summoning stuff I’d read. Something I’d initially disregarded was a last resort as I stalked to the top of the pentagram. It was a bit foolish, but maybe it would work.