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“AColdTether?” she repeats after I say it.
“Yes.”
“I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
“Me neither. But it’s real, and apparently when we’re together for too long, it can kill one of us.”
That causes her to frown. “That doesn’t sound right.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean if you’re meant to be someone’s soulmate, it shouldn’tkillyou to be together. This can’t be a Will Smith and Charlize Theron inHancocksituation. Clearly the universe created this Tether for a reason. Why would it create such a bond just for it to result in death?”
“That’s what I’ve been asking myself.” I scratch the crown of my head. “Something just seems off about it, but I don’t know how to do research on something that doesn’t exist here.”
“Then that means you need to go back and find out more about it, right?”
I flinch as I look at her.
“What?” she asks. “What’s wrong?”
“I—I don’t know if I can go back there, Faye. That place is dangerous. Plus, the guy, Caz? He can be a real asshole.” But man, do I want that asshole. I want him so bad it hurts.Literally.
“Well, how else are you supposed to find answers?”
“I don’t know.” I chew on my bottom lip. “What if I’m wrong, and I go back and it ends up killing him this time?”
“Well, you have to find out how this Tether thing works. Maybe there’s a way you can go there andnotbe around him. Then you can figure it out.” She taps her chin. “Wait…if it’s as dangerous as you say, and he’s such an asshole, why do you wantto figure it out so badly? Wouldn’t that make you want to forget about it?”
Her question punches me right in the stomach. I draw in a breath, ignoring the thoughts swimming through me. Sure, Caz is an asshole, but I care about that asshole. I care about him more than I want to admit, and it’s strange because I hardly know him. I know some things, but not enough that I should care for his well-being, yet if something happens to him, I feel like it’ll break me. If he’s unhappy, I’m unhappy, and I can’t shake that feeling, no matter how hard I try. I may not be able to hear him right now, but Ifeelhim. I feel his pain, like a dull ache in my chest that won’t go away, no matter how much I stretch and no matter how many ibuprofens I take. It’s still there, and it lingers, proving that weareone. We’re connected and we need each other, no matter how we feel about it.
I lock eyes on Faye again. “I have to get back to him before he does something to hurt himself.” Then a reality hits me. “But he was so ready to send me back home.”
Faye pushes out of her chair as I look up at her. “Well, we aren’t going to find answers by sitting in here, sis.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
“You say that Beatrix woman gave you a chant. Do you think if you say it again, that it’ll take you back?”
“No. Caz made it clear it was a one-way chant. He doesn’t want me coming back.”
“And you don’t know how you got there in the first place?”
“I was really,reallyhigh,” I admit, huffing a laugh. “And I was in my bed, and I saw that light.” I pause. “Oh—and that time in the basement when I was supposed to bring the wine to you. I was suddenly in a forest, and I could hear his voice. He was calling out to me, but it all went away when you came to find me.”
“That’s what that freakout was about?” she exclaims.
“Yes… that.”
“I knew I wasn’t overreacting! Why didn’t you just say?”
“Because I would’ve sounded crazy! Hell, I feel like I sound crazy now!”
“I mean, you do, but also…I believe you. So I’m not sure what that says about us.” She makes a warped face, then she’s at the door as she says, “I guess we should go to the basement again. Maybe there’s a connection there we can find.”
Sixty
CAZ
