Both Luke and Damien appear at my side.
Once again, Dax draws a portal, and I'm the first to walk through it without hesitation. Soon the other three follow suit and stand behind me. We are at the back of the house, and the ogre's window is unobscured so we can see the couple sitting down eating food.
"See the light shining through her heart." It's brighter than the last time and almost hurts my eyes.
The ogre is frowning at his wife but remains silent. She's jabbing her finger in his direction, and if I'm reading her lips right, she's very upset with him.
"Yes, why is that?" Luke stares and rubs his chin.
"She's splintering from being brought back from death." At least Luke didn't know anything about it.
"Wait... What does that mean for me?" Dax's voice is low, barely above a whisper.
"It means you're splintering as well." Damien jumps in and winks at him. "In fact, you're splintering more slowly than Becca, but faster than her." He nods to the ogres.
No, that can't be. I turn my attention to Dax, and for the first time, the light shines clearly in my eyes. It is twice as big as the ogre woman's. That's why he's changing so much; he's getting worse each day.
"My God." Luke's eyes widen, and his mouth gapes open. "This can't be."
"This is why I can't bring Beth or Charlie back." My already battered heart feels as if someone has just stomped all over the various pieces. "They can't suffer this same fate."
21
I'll be glad when all of this is over, but I wish I knew how to bring Charlie back without risking his soul.
The lady ogre glances out the window and purses her lips. She stands and focuses in the direction we are hiding.
"Come on, guys, we need to go." I don't want to chance her recognizing me and alert Ria of my presence back in this world. "She's going to spot us."
Dax closes his eyes and draws a portal. "We need to head back and meet up with the elders and Brad anyway."
"Yes, they should be back to the mansion at any moment now." Luke is the first one who steps through the portal, eager to get back for reinforcements.
"There is no way I'm going through your portal again." Damien lifts both hands and takes a step back. "I'll meet you all there."
Of course, he has to be high maintenance. I'm not surprised at all. I step through the opaque portal and find myself back in Luke's office. It's only him and Charlie there, so we got back before anyone missed us.
A black smoldering circle appears at the same time Dax arrives back, and the portal closes behind him. It takes just a moment before Damien is back in his full glory.
My heart is numb when I glance over at Charlie. At this point, I'm not sure I can feel anything else and must be settling into shock.
Damien strides over to where Charlie is, holding the shadows close to him in front of everyone else.
Maybe he doesn't want the others to realize how dark he really is? That should have been my first clue not so long ago, but I can't go back in time and fix my mistakes.
"You don't want to try and bring him back?" Damien's tone is laced with amusement, and he stops once he's beside Charlie, inspecting him as if he was a bug.
"No. I just brought the ogre back a few weeks ago, and she's already fracturing." To subject him to that for my own selfish reasons is not acceptable. He should have a peaceful afterlife if I can't bring him back whole.
"Why don't you step away from him?" Dax's shoulder become rigid, and his eyes turn to slits.
"At least he died before you appeared." Luke's hand runs down his face. "You weren't able to capture his soul like all the others."
"Tsk, tsk." Damien wags his finger in front of his face, and his eyes light up with amusement he can't hide. "That's no way to talk to your ally right now. I mean after all, we want the same thing."
I don't want to deal with this conversation right now. I turn the topic back to the ogre woman. "Yes, she's fracturing slower than Becca, but I'm not sure why." Maybe it's because she was around a demon and influenced with negative energy.
"That's interesting." Luke walks back over to Charlie’s study and opens up his notebook, flipping pages. "Could it be tied to the elements?"
"How so?" Dax glances off toward the weapons and bites one of his thumbs.
"That's a good point." Damien saunters over close to Luke, looking over his shoulder. "I bet it has something to do with the artifacts."
Huh. "I didn't have any artifacts yet when I brought Becca back, and had three with the ogre." But I'm not sure if it's that the real cause since Damien is involved.
"If that's the case, then if she had all four, maybe she could bring people back without fracturing them." Luke glances out the window and taps his finger against the paper.
I could bring Charlie back with no worries. Could it be that easy? My heart picks up its pace. Dare I hope? "If that's the case, it's even more important for us to get the Water Artifact."
"Don't worry, we'll get it." Dax grabs a gun off the weapons shelf and examines it. "We aren't going to lose you."
I'm thankful that there is still some of the old Dax left inside him. I dread seeing him act like Becca, but that's a worry for another time. Speaking of Becca... "Not only can I bring Charlie back, but Beth too." Could it be so simple to be able to have both my best friend and my boyfriend alive at the same time?
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Damien raises both hands up, and a cruel smirk crosses his face. "I hate to tell you this, but there is no
