“I’m sorry,” I repeat, letting the guilt roll through me. “I should have. It’s just—Abigail was here. She was trying to show me more about my powers. About our legacy.”
Wade releases me, taking a step back. “Did she attack you?”
I chuckle softly under my breath. “No, nothing like that. She was showing me how to use a new sense of vision, I think. To see things, sense things without using my eyes. At least, that’s what I thought…” My voice trails off as I try to mesh the reality of what just happened with my previous perceptions. “I thought I was in the catacombs.”
Everything is suddenly thrown into question and I have the burning desire to go back in—to see if I can get back there.
“How? From here?” Wade asks, his gaze floating around the room.
I shake my head. “I’m not sure now. It all felt so real…but maybe I was just dreaming?”
“Whatever you were doing, it was not dreaming. Your body was stiff as a board and you had lost almost all color. It was like you were...” his voice quivers, but he manages to get out the last word, “dead.”
The anguish in his face tugs at my heart, making it constrict. I step forward, placing my hands on either side of his face, staring him hard in the eyes. “You aren’t getting rid of me that easily. I’m here to stay, Mr. Hoffman.”
His shoulders drop and he closes his eyes. “I didn’t know what to do. All I knew was I was willing to do just about anything to bring you back,” he whispers.
“If it’s any consolation, I think whatever you did brought me back.”
Wade’s dark eyebrows knit together. “What do you mean?”
I drop my hands, taking a few steps away. My eyes flit to the intact wall and I shudder away the memories of removing all of those stones. “When I was in there, everything began to shake, like there was an earthquake or something. Nothing was making sense and I was scared I wouldn’t find my way out. Then…”
“Then?” he presses.
“Then there was you. And here I am,” I say, shrugging.
Wade’s face brightens at first, then falters. “We have more problems. I feel stupid even bringing it up to you after all of this, but I have to.” His lips tug downward and he runs his hands through his dark hair.
My forehead creases and my heart suddenly feels like it might beat out of my chest. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
He exhales a jagged breath. “I was at home when I got a knock on the door. I thought it was you at first. I know how hard everything has been and the tension that’s come between us after all of this shit…but obviously, it wasn’t. It was Chelsea.”
“Okay?” I say, watching as he shoves his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. My emotions burn under the surface as I try not to jump to any conclusions.
“You know how she is—she’s like a magnet for supernatural news, thanks to Sheriff Gordon,” he begins.
I release a slow breath and nod. “I do.”
Wade’s tongue skirts across his lower lip and he says, “Well, you know the revenants we killed?”
Instantly, I know where he’s going with this. “They reanimated.” It wasn’t a question.
Wade’s eyebrows scrunch in. “How’d—?”
“Abigail,” I say, raising a hand. “Go on.”
He tips his chin, letting his gaze fall to the floor. Taking a moment, he blinks rapidly. “The ones they’ve found so far were being kept in the forensics lab at the police department. Something about weird energy signatures. But the ones we took down, they attacked the forensic scientist who was working on the case.”
My hands fly to my mouth. “Oh, my god. Is the scientist okay?”
Wade nods. “Yeah, I think so. She’s at the hospital, but alive, thankfully.”
“Good,” I say, my shoulders relaxing.
“The thing that worries me, though, is the fact that they attacked again, and they’re getting stronger and more vicious. The police had to take drastic measures to take them down.” Wade shudders.
“Drastic measures?” I say, quirking an eyebrow.
“They blew them up,” Wade says, making a face.
I flinch.
“Chelsea said the feds are worried that the longer the revenants are up and moving, the more rabid they get. Like, they begin to operate on a whole new level of instinct. So, naturally, I wanted to warn you—and check on Grandpa. The last thing I wanted was for you to inadvertently get in the way of…” His voice drifts off and he shudders.
Realization washes through me and I feel horrible for scaring the hell out of him. “Oh, god, Wade. I should have answered—”
“Autumn, that’s just it, though… My grandpa’s missing.”
Wade’s final word hits the inside of my skull with a resounding thud.
“Are you certain? What about the boat house?”
He shakes his head. “He’s gone. The door’s been ripped clear off its hinges.”
“Shit,” I mutter. My insides feel flipped outside and I can’t breathe. I wonder how long he’s been gone? “If he’s out—”
“He could be anywhere. And who knows what he’s going to do, or who he’ll attack. If the police or the feds find him—”
“They’ll blow him up,” I say, pacing. “If what Abigail just told me is real, I might have a way to help him. All of them.”
Wade’s gaze narrows. “What do you mean?”
“Abigail said I need to bring the bodies to the catacombs and lay them to rest. I think they’ll keep coming, even if they’re blown up. I don’t know how, but I think they’ll find a way to come back together or something. We need to end this,” I say, my mind reeling.
“But how? If you only went into the catacombs inside your mind, how do we get their bodies into a metaphysical space?”
“I don’t know yet, but I’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” I say, determination building inside my being. If there’s one thing I’ve learned the past few months, it’s that sometimes going forward takes
