Free Chained by REBECCA YORK Page B

aware of his physical body.
    “You came to me here. You recognized me. Matthew, you know
me. And you want to come back to your body. Please do it now. For me. And for
yourself. Don’t throw your life away. Please don’t do that.”
    For long moments, nothing happened. Then she sensed him
stirring.
    “Isabella?”
    “Yes. Matthew, thank God. Matthew.”
    He shuddered. He had been like a man who knew nothing,
sensed nothing. Now she felt the real Matthew Houseman coming back to his body.
    But the words he spoke were not the ones she wanted to hear.
    “After all this time, I’m finally free,” he whispered. “I
should have left long ago.”
    “No! Dios , no.”
    As his voice faded, she felt his soul seeping out of him,
rising toward the heavens.
    “No!” Isabella cried out again. “ Dios , what have I
done?”
    But even as she protested, she felt the essence of Matthew
Houseman rising upward, departing to a place where no living person could
follow.
    With that terrible knowledge, she felt her own spirit start
to die. It was the worst agony she had ever felt in her life.
    Maybe that was what made her able to stay with him.
    Or perhaps it was her resolve. She would not let him
leave her. Not now. Not when she had found him again after all these years. Not
when she knew how he felt about her.
    She was going to bring him back.
    Or die trying.
    Tears streamed down her face as she clung to him with her
arms, her hands, her legs, and her spirit, pressing herself to him.
    And as his soul drifted upward, she traveled with him.
    She closed her eyes, feeling the two of them hovering
somewhere above the earth. Even with her eyes closed, in the distance she could
see a bright light. He was going there. To a warm, sweet place where he would
be at peace.
    She felt the strong, seductive pull. But she had to stop
him. He didn’t understand what had happened. His body and soul were united, but
it wasn’t his time to depart. Not now.
    “Matthew, you have to stay with me.”
    “Go back.”
    “Not without you.”
    “I’m not supposed to be on earth.”
    “Of course you are.” She gulped. “You’re confused.”
    “Am I?”
    “Yes. Your body and your soul came back together so you can
be yourself again. Not leave.”
    “Is that true?”
    “Yes! You have to stay here. For me. For yourself. For us.”
    A long, empty silence followed. It might have lasted for
seconds or minutes or hours.
    She didn’t know precisely where she and Matthew were. She
could no longer feel his body or her own, but she knew that she must be
suspended somewhere between life and death. With Matthew. And if she couldn’t
pull him back to the world, she didn’t want to go back, either.
    Physical sensation was beyond her now, but somehow she still
clung to him with her spirit, calling on the power of the vortex and on the
power of her love for him.
    She couldn’t even form words with her lips now. But she
called to him in her mind
    Matthew. Stay with me Matthew. You have to do that, for
both of us. If you die, I will too.
    No. It’s not your time.
    And not your time, either. Matthew, I love you. And I
think you love me. That’s why you have to let us be together. It’s up to you.
You’re the only one who can make it happen. Let yourself come back to where
you’re supposed to be. But whatever happens, I’m staying with you.

 
    CHAPTER TEN
    I can’t let you die, he whispered in her head. You have
your whole life ahead of you.
    We both do.
    She sensed the balance shifting. For both of them. Gradually
she felt her own body, felt her arms wrapped around Matthew, felt her breasts
pressed to his chest as he lay on the stretcher on which they had wheeled him
into the desert
    Because she had been so sure it was the right thing to do.
    “Matthew! You’re here. I know you’re here.”
    “Isabella?” he asked, as though he couldn’t believe she was
really with him.
    “Yes. Oh, yes.”
    She felt his arms come up and clasp her. Not tightly, but