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“How is that possible? It's reserved for Octavians. That is our prison world.”
“Indeed, that is something I have always wanted to know,” Dominic says, watching me curiously.
“You look exactly like her,” he murmurs.
“Like who,” I stutter, my heart thumping harder at the strange aura emanating from him, black as charcoal and cold as ice. “Your twin…. I knew I recognized you. I just couldn't put my finger on it, but it makes sense to me now how you could come and go. It wasn't you, but Shadow. I always wondered how she could come and go. It's because her other half is in the shadows, your twin, tethered to the place between realms, but what I want to know is how… How did you end up with your twin wolf?”
I struggle to breathe, feeling overwhelmed by the revelations. My eyes dart around the hallway, the fog, the dimly lit chandeliers, and the translucent figures. I feel more trapped than ever.
“I need to go,” I whisper, my voice barely audible even to myself as fear threatens to choke me.
Dominic narrows his eyes. I shake my head, tears brimming in my eyes. “I can't stay here. You are mistaken; I don't know you,” I tell him.
“I am never wrong, and I am afraid I can't let you leave,” Dominic states, and my heart races. He wants to confine me, keep me locked away, just like Satish.
My mind races with questions and fear, but I know I can't stay in this house. The memories of the dark and the voices I heard while trapped in my head haunt me, and I can't shake the feeling that Dominic is connected somehow, yet that is impossible. One cannot be in two places at once.
I glance at the man in silk pajamas, who seems to be studying me intently.
“Her sister is the anchor,” he murmurs.
“Correct, Kyan, but still doesn't answer how she or her sister could be in the shadow realm,” Dominic says, but I’ve heard enough. This situation grows weird, and so do the shadows as they move closer, surrounding me, drawn to me like magnets. My breath makes smoke clouds in the air, and I turn to race down the stairs, only to run directly into Eziah’s arms.
“Shh, you’re fine. They won’t hurt you.”
“Man, why you gotta appear out of thin air for,” comes a sleepy voice, “Gives me the heeby jeebies,” comes the same voice.
“It’s just Jonah,” Eziah whispers as I struggle to get out of his grip.
“Why are you up?” Kyan asks him.
“Thirsty, sorry, Dad, didn’t realize I was interrupting your hallway meeting,” Jonah snickers, walking down the steps and wandering off. Yet my mind is stuck on the eerie faces growing nearer.
“Calm down,” Eziah whispers, but the shadows move closer, haunting faces reaching out for me.
“No…” I gasp.
“Clum spiritibus praeteritis et memoriis repositis, te iterum ad aetherem relego,” Dominic murmurs, waving his hand in the air, and suddenly the shadows disappear, and my eyes go to Dominic.
“As I said, you don’t need to fear us. Only those with a death wish would take on a house full of Octavians. Not even dead do we leave this realm completely. You have the power of a hundred covens living inside these walls, not to mention a demigod and two Geminis. No one would dare hurt you here,” Dominic says before turning and moving toward the stairs. His words confuse me.
“Now bed, it’s too early to be wandering around…”
I watch as he climbs the stairs.
“And Jonah, stay out of my cookies,” he snaps, just as I hear footsteps behind Eziah. I peer over Eziah’s shoulder to see Jonah stuff three biscuits in his mouth at once.
“It was Kyan!” he calls back. Kyan shakes his head and wanders down the hall when Jonah stops beside us.
“Cookie?” he says, holding it out to me. I hesitantly take it, and he winks at me before following Kyan when Eziah’s breath sweeps over my neck.
“Don’t ever wander off like that, I nearly had a heart attack when I woke, and you were gone,” he whispers.
He presses his lips to my shoulder, nudging me to walk up the steps. Reluctantly, I do, yet I notice the shadow people are gone, and so is the cold fog that filled the air.
“I don’t like it here,” I whisper.
Eziah sighs. “One night, come back to bed, and tomorrow we can stay at a hotel if you still want to leave, okay?” he tells me, steering me down the hall back to the room. I nod.
