Chapter 29: Aiden

 

 

 

I watched sunlight streaming through the leaves. Splashing on mossy boulders and damp, grassy earth. How long have I been here? I wondered, studying my surroundings with bland interest. What is this place?

The more time I spent awake, the more time I had to remember everything that happened before I passed out.

The boxes. The fire. Eliza.

Gasping, I leapt up off the log I'd been sitting on. I was no longer in front of the spa, the last place I remembered. I wasn't even in Riverrun, from what I could see. I was in a forest, with the sun beating warm and hard on the back of my neck.

I was in the Wood.

The moment the realization hit me, I got the sense that I wasn't alone.

Slowly, I turned.

And I saw her.

She was tall and broad, her body swathed in a robe of diaphanous silk. The too-long hem pooled around her feet, giving her the appearance of a tree, something solid that was deeply rooted to the earth. Her only movement was with her right hand as she gestured to me.

"Come here, Aiden Wheeler," she said, in a voice that was both serene and authoritative.

"Am I in the Wood?" I asked as I drifted towards her.

She inclined her beautiful head. "Yes."

Inches away from her, I finally stopped. "Who are you?"

The woman smiled with a glint in her eye, hinting at amusement. "Around here, they simply call me the Lady."

The Lady. I committed her name to memory, swallowed it down and let it sink into my bones.

"Listen closely, because we don't have much time," the Lady said urgently. A single worried line creased her otherwise perfect forehead.

"Am I dead?" I whispered. But I could still feel my heart beating. That wasn't supposed to happen if I was dead, was it?

I held the Lady's gaze imploringly, hoping.

The Lady drew back and smiled. Her dark curls shivered as she shook her head. "No, Aiden. Your spirit is here because I called you here. Your body's unconscious on earth. It's in the hospital, in fact. Your friends are waiting. So, listen."

I had so many questions, but I continued to look at her and nodded.

"Eliza is dead. Her coven no longer poses a threat. Now, you have only one purpose. That thing inside you is precious. Make sure it thrives at all costs."

"The thing inside me?" I echoed, confused. Was she talking about my wolf? "But my wolf is—"

"Watch over Erick for me. I have decided this will be his last century," she continued.

I was immediately distracted. "What? You mean he won't be immortal anymore?"

The Lady smiled. "He's had a very long life. He deserves to enjoy this final lifetime with his soulmate."

Something heavy thudded in my chest, ringing out like a hollow drum. "Are we soulmates?"

"You know the truth for yourself, Aiden. So what need is there to ask?"

"We're soulmates," I whispered to myself. "We're going to grow old together."

"Yes, and you'll die together, and then your spirits will rest together in harmony with me," the Lady promised. Then, she opened her arms to me. "Come. It's time."

I stepped forward, feeling her warm, soft arms wrapping firmly around me like a blanket. I put my head to her shoulder and was instantly at peace.

 

* * *

 

I opened my eyes, and I spent a bewildering minute staring at a beige, tiled ceiling. I realized my neck was in a brace when I found I couldn't turn my head.

"—missed call from Kaden," Caleb's voice came softly.

With a start, I became aware of the hard mask on my face and the beeping in my right ear. My groan echoed back to me and rattled around in the bones of my head.

"Was that Aiden?" Rowan said.

The sound of screeching chair legs scraping across the floor filled the next few seconds. Then, three heads popped in to block my view of the ceiling.

They belonged to Caleb, Rowan—

And Erick.

I felt a hand clenching my fingers. Even though I couldn't move my head, I knew it was Erick.

"Help me sit up," I said. My voice was dry and cracked from disuse. Somebody pressed a button, and my bed emitted a low whirring noise as it began to incline. A short moment later, I was sitting up and looking at my friends.

"Don't—" Rowan said, but she stopped once I pulled the mask off completely and let it dangle over my shoulder from a plastic tube.

"I know Eliza's dead," I began.

A look of alarm flashed through Caleb's eyes. "Eliza's dead?"

"How do you know?" Rowan asked sharply, almost accusingly.

I felt my face getting warm. At least I knew my blood was still pumping. "Oh, I…I didn't—" My eyes passed over to look at Erick. "I was with the Lady."

He recoiled as if he'd just touched a hot stove.

Caleb frowned in obvious confusion. Then, his phone began to ring suddenly, and he excused himself out of my room to take the call.

"I think I'll go get something to eat from the cafeteria," Rowan said. After throwing a quick, nervous glance in Erick's direction, she also left.

I watched the door falling shut in the wake of Rowan's exit, but I could also feel Erick's stare. It was like the touch of a ghost on my skin. Even in the hospital room, under thick, musty blankets and wrapped in wires, I shivered. Somewhere over our heads, the A.C. kicked to life, wheezing out a blast of cool air.

"Okay," I said, turning my gaze to him. "What's going on?"

The Erick I knew would've been immediately flustered. He would've denied anything was going on at all. But something had changed in the course of this one night. He had learned something that drew his shoulders down and in towards his chest, burdening him with its weight. Whatever it was, it filled his eyes with remorse as he held my gaze and wove his fingers through mine.

Every time he looks at me, I thought, I have to catch my breath. I wondered if I would feel this breathless when he'd look at me two years from now. Three. A decade.

"I have something very important to tell you," Erick said.

Somewhere deep in my abdomen, I got a shifty feeling, like a fist slowly ungripping itself.