Free Awaken by Kristen Day

Prime.  It’s been that way for thousands of years.”  
                  “That’s what you’ve been practicing for…” the image of Finn on the ground in my vision flashed before my eyes, “but, what if he kills you first?”
                  “He’ll remain the Prime and my soul will be sent to serve under Charon in his place.” My heart froze in fear.  That couldn’t happen.  I couldn’t lose him.
                  “Your soul…” I exalted quietly.
                  “Since I’m a direct descendent of Charon, my soul already belongs to the Underworld.  That’s the ‘darkness’ that you feel.”  He held up air quotes and grinned at me with amusement.  I couldn’t help but wonder once again what that meant about Nadia considering I could actually see her darkness, but I tried to push that thought out of my head. 
                  “What other sacrifices will you have to make?” I asked; a sense of dread filling every fiber of my being.  I couldn’t imagine how lonely it must be for him. 
                  “My own sacrifices, I can handle.  I’ve come to terms with my destiny,” he claimed with creed. “It’s the price the people I love would have to pay that I can’t bear.” The muscle in his jaw flexed with anger.
                  “What price do they have to pay?” I asked hesitantly.
                  “Stasia-“
                  “Here they are!  I found them!” Phoebe was jogging up the beach towards us, followed by several other shadowy shapes resembling Ian, Willow, and Liam. 
                  “Hey you guys!” she waved at us.  Automatically thinking something was wrong, I jumped up and met her near the water’s edge.
                  “Is everything okay, Phoebs?” I asked her.
                  “Of course!  We were getting worried about you guys.  You’ve been gone for a long time.”  She gave me a hug and smiled at Finn, “Plus we got tired of listening to Ricker and Carmen fight.  So we left Cage to deal with them and went for a little midnight walk!”
                  Deciding I’d been through enough for one night, we decided to give it another try tomorrow afternoon.  If that went well, we’d try to contact Thetis later that night.  I had to admit I was relieved, but I was quickly losing any faith that I would be able to pull this off.
     
    ~~~~~
                 
                  Click….creeek….click….creeek…   The cloak of night was still heavy on the world when I woke up with a start.  Click….creeek….click…   Trying not to wake Willow, I slid out of the covers and tiptoed over to the large bay window in our room.  The sound was coming from the backyard; the gardens.  From my vantage point, they were shaded in a light veil of dew, glistening in the moonlight.  Creeek…click…creeek…click…    The sunshine-filled rooms of yesterday had morphed into something more dark and menacing as I made my way out into the hall, down the stairs, and towards the back deck.  The hair on my arms lifted and I could feel my heart thumping faster against my chest.  The image of the ghost’s blood-matted blonde hair and shredded skin flashed in my mind, and I almost ran back upstairs.  I was probably just seeing things.  Ghosts aren’t real and they definitely couldn’t hurt me if they were.
                  I peered out the window into the gardens beyond, when the sound of a door shutting upstairs had me clamping a hand over the scream that was trying to escape my mouth.  I closed my eyes and took deep breaths.  Some Goddess I was - scared of a door shutting.  I rolled my eyes at myself and stood up straight.  I had nothing to be afraid of.  As I reached for the door handle, I realized it was already ajar.  I steeled myself and stepped out into the