Shattered Promises 02 - Fractured Souls by Jessica Sorensen (motivational books for students TXT) 📕

“I’m not going to sit around and do nothing,” I tell him. “But I’ll come back and check on my mother, then I’m going out again.”

“Then you can come look with me,” he replies with a silent plea in his voice. “I need you… I need you close to me. I can barely concentrate because all I keep thinking about is that something is going to happen to you.” He’s acting strange and I wonder if something’s wrong with him, like maybe he’s found Laylen and it’s bad.

I’m about to tell him I’ll head back, when I hear Aislin call out my name. It sounds like it came from somewhere down the shore behind me so I turn around and head in that direction. “I gotta go. I just heard Aislin call out my name…” I scan the shore with my hand shielding my eyes to block the glare of the sunrise. “She might need my help.”

“Be careful,” he warns as I run up the shore. “And call me back.”

“I will.” I hang up as I reach an assembly of cliffy rocks that the waves crash into. There’s a slender, sandy path that winds between them, disappearing around a corner a ways in.

“Gemma!” Her voice is as clear as day and is coming from inside the rocks. “Gemma, I need your help. I fell off the rocks and I think I might have broken my leg.”

I sigh. “All right, I’m coming!” I put my phone in my back pocket along with my flashlight and dash down the path. Sand seeps between my toes and the echo of the waves shatter against the jagged rocks. The farther I get, the narrower the path becomes until I have to maneuver over sections of the rock that are nearly touching.

“Aislin!” I yell as I grab onto a lip on the rock and hop over it onto the path.

“Back here!” she hollers. “Please hurry. It hurts so badly.”

“I’m coming!” I split my knee open as I climb over a larger rock and then twist my ankle as I dismount onto the path. I hobble up the rest of the path, clutching onto the rock wall, until I reach a dead end.

I glance around at the empty space. “Aislin, where are you!”

“Right here!” He voice floats over my shoulder and I spin around, with my arms out into front of me.

There’s nothing behind me other than rocks and sand. I start to panic, reaching for my pocket and my phone, but something bumps my elbow. The impact lurches me forward and I trip over my feet then stumble to the ground, landing on my hands and knees.

I push up to my feet and quickly turn in a circle with my hands out to the sides of me. “Who’s there?”

“Me,” Aislin says and her voice sounds like it’s everywhere. “I need your help, Gemma.”

I need to get the hell out of here. I run toward the path and bend my knees to leap over the rock, but an invisible force rams me in the stomach. I fall back down into the sand and land on my back, my head slamming against the side of the rough sandpaper rock.

My scalp splits open and blood oozes out, drenching my hair. As I blink up at the sky, my ears ring and my thoughts jumble together in incoherent images. There’s a glimmer of light from the afterglow of the sun and then Aislin appears above me. Her green eyes shine like two lustrous emeralds, her smile is cheerful, and her golden brown hair blows in the breeze.

“Hey,” she says cheerfully and then her smile plummets to a scowl. There’s another flash of light and then her green eyes shift gold and her golden brown hair morphs to sandy blond as it shortens to the top of his head. “Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Nicholas says, hovering above me with a shovel in his hand. “Glad to see that damn spell that Witch put on you finally wore off. God, I’ve missed fucking with your head.”

I moan, clutching my head as I roll to my side. “No…”

“I bet I know what you’re thinking,” he says. “Why, oh why did I hit Nicholas over the head with a rain stick.” He raises the shovel over his head. “Payback’s a bitch.”

I open my mouth to scream, but it gets cut off as he slams the shovel against my skull. The vibration of the impact reverberates through my brain. I cry out, but the sound of my voice quickly fades along with the world and my body as I disappear into darkness.

Chapter 34

When I open my eyes again, I’m worried I’ll be buried alive in the sand. What I see, though, makes me wish I was. I’ve been to this place before, when Laylen bit me and I passed out. Also in a few of my dreams. I’ve seen myself trapped in this land with Stephan as he turns me into something evil.

Acres of muddy land stretch as far as my eye can see and are buried beneath piles of twisted and warped metal objects. Some look like junk and others like art and the deep shades of grey in the sky blend well with everything.

I slowly sit up, fighting the excruciating ache inside my skull, and glance around, knowing that something bad is about to happen. I can sense it in the metallic air, feel it in my aching bones, and I’ve also seen it, way too clearly before.

Black ravens caw above my head and shower black feathers all over like ash. I push to my feet and check my pockets for my phone, but not surprisingly, they’re empty. I try to summon the energy inside my body to Foresee my way out of here, but I can’t so much as feel a spark. There’s praesidium nearby; I can feel it hindering my power.

I place my hand on