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Home… where was that? I couldn’t remember anything.
Something tugged at me. It was subtle at first, so that I barely noticed it, but the tugging grew stronger and stronger. It yanked me backward.
I tried to fight it. The tugging was a sensation that didn’t feel right, and I wasn’t ready for it. I wasn’t ready for any of this.
As the tugging got stronger and stronger, I started to remember. A face flashed in front of me.
Ash.
Suddenly, I was jerked backward. I cried out, and Charon lifted his hand.
I blinked my eyes open and looked up at a bright sky. Ash’s face was stricken with grief, and Philippa’s head was bent over me.
“Ash?” I asked in a creaky voice.
Ash looked at me, and his eyes widened. “Oh, gods, you’re alive.”
“What happened?” I asked. “I don’t…” I was going to say that I didn’t remember, but it all rushed back to me. The guy chasing me. Philippa coming after me to save my life. Ash being shot, and me wanting to go to him.
The searing pain in my chest, and the aching knowledge that it was all over.
I frowned. “Why didn’t I die?”
Ash shook his head. “I don’t know, but right now, I don’t care.”
“What did you see?” Philippa asked.
I sat up. Ash let go of me, but he took my hand like he was scared I would be yanked out of his grasp again.
“A ferryman,” I said. “Charon.”
Philippa pressed her fingers to her lips.
“He asked for money, but I only had a piece of twine,” I continued. “It glowed, and he said he wouldn’t take it.”
Philippa looked at Ash, and a silent conversation passed between them. I swayed, feeling lightheaded.
“Come on, let’s get you inside,” Ash said.
“The others…?” I asked.
“They’re gone,” Ash growled.
Philippa’s brows knitted together, and she worried her lower lip between her teeth. “Let me go ahead,” she said.
Ash nodded curtly. I had the distinct feeling there was something they didn’t want me to see, but I didn’t care. As I stood, the world tilted on its axis.
“I’ve got you,” Ash said. He picked me up and carried me back to the cabin.
Inside, he grabbed some bandages for my wound and put me on the couch. He walked to the bedroom and brought back the quilt from the bed, throwing it over me.
“I’ll get the room cleaned up,” he said.
I mumbled something, but my tongue felt thick, and I couldn’t say the words I meant to.
Ash lowered himself and dropped a kiss in my hair. “I’ll be right here when you wake up,” he said.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and then I fell asleep.
