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I should try it on. See how heavy it feels around my neck. Feel the cool metal against my skin. Yeah. I should put it on. There’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s mine, and it would never harm me.
My head feels light and fuzzy as the thoughts scroll through my mind. I feel almost…drunk, but the second I realize that, the thought slips away, replaced by the urgent and overwhelming desire to put on the necklace.
I lift it over my head, and a rush of giddiness floods through me. This is it. The moment I’ve been waiting for. I pull the necklace down, using one hand to pull my hair free of the chain. The pendant settles against the skin of my chest and I smile.
Then, I scream.
Pain streaks through my head, forcing me to my knees as my hands squeeze my skull in an attempt to hold it together. It feels like it’s splintering apart. Like someone drove a metal stake right through the bone to pierce my brain.
I teeter sideways and, unable to find balance, fall to the carpet and curl into the fetal position.
I’m dying. Oh, God. Jesse. I’m sorry.
As soon as I think the words, the pain stops. Abruptly. Almost forcefully. One second, I was writhing in agony, and the next…nothing.
I blink my eyes open slowly. What happened to the carpet?
I brush a fingertip over the smooth stone tiles. Our hotel room has carpet.
Someone groans, and the sound shocks me out of my preoccupation with the tile flooring. Sitting up quickly, I look around. The room I’m in isn’t familiar, yet I recognize the scene.
A woman is stretched out on a bed, panting and moaning in pain while two others assist her. A man in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans stands against the wall next to an entertainment center holding a large screen television, a worried expression on his face. The woman screams, and my gaze darts back to her.
Another vision. That’s what this is. And just like the first, it’s a birthing scene.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” the man says, his voice laced with panic.
“You know we can’t do that,” one of the women replies as she turns on a bedside lamp. A clock next to it reads three-twenty-three in bright red numbers. “It’s too dangerous. The baby––”
The laboring woman’s shout cuts off whatever words were coming next, and the man rushes from the corner to her bedside. Taking her hand, he squeezes it.
“What can I do? Tell me what you need, Evie.”
Evie?
There’s a tug at my neck and the scene disappears in a flash. I hear a light thud, and I open my eyes to see the necklace resting on the carpet in front of me.
“Eden?”
I look up to see Jesse hovering over me, his expression twisted with panic. I lift a hand and press it to his cheek.
“I’m okay,” I say, then repeat the words. “I’m okay.”
Scooping me up against his chest, he carries me to the bed. Laying me on the soft mattress, he climbs up behind me and curls around my body, holding me close. The gesture is so sweet and caring, guilt and remorse wash over me in waves.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, and a whimper leaks through my lips as he tightens his arms around me.
“It’s okay,” he says softly. “I’ve got you.”
I twist in his arms, rolling over to face him. “I broke my promise.”
“You did,” he says, his dark gaze locked on mine.
“I don’t know what happened. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I pulled it out of the drawer and set it on the desk. I wasn’t going to put it on, I swear. But the longer I stared at it, the more it…called to me. And when I finally picked it up, I don’t know, Jesse. It was like something came over me, urging me to put it on. I couldn’t stop it.”
“That sounds like a spell, Eden.”
I stare at him for a moment, searching his eyes. When he mentioned the necklace being spelled earlier, I’d scoffed. But now? Now, I think he might be right.
