Page 12 of Written In Flesh

“Lorel–” Azriel starts to say, but I cut him off when a laugh escapes me.

I pin my gaze on my aunt, but she’s watching him. “Are you kidding? Yeah, this is the friend I’ve been telling you about. Azriel.”

She looks from him to me and back again. Her hands settle gently on my shoulder, pulling my attention to her. “Is this a joke?”

She shakes her head no. “Honey, what does he look like to you? When you look at him, what do you see?”

I glance back, my gaze running over Azriel, while he stands there watching me just as intently as my aunt. “Normal. He looks like a normal guy I’d find near the beach.”

Azreil smirks, and his gaze flies to my aunt. “You’re worried for nothing.”

She shakes her head in denial. “No. No, Skully, look at him. What do you see?”

Pulling out of her grasp, I move to stand next to him. “I see a man with dark hair, a hoodie, shorts, and shoes. I guess his eyes are a little unusual, but they’re seriously cool. Maybe they’re contacts.”

Loreli pales and gasps at the same time. For the first time since she ran out here, fear skitters across my spine, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Why? What do you see?”

She shakes her head, her hands resting on her chest. I feel Azriel’s chest brush against my shoulder as he stands closer to me. He’s watching my aunt, but his focus is on me.

“You can’t keep it from her forever, Loreli. Just tell her. She’s ready.”

“No,” My aunt’s hair swishes in her face, denying him what he’s asking. “She doesn’t remember.”

“Memories or not, she needs this. It’s who she is,” Azriel argues.

Since meeting my friend, this is the first time he hasn’t sounded calm and chill. For some reason, his words fill me with panic. My eyes swing to him, and that’s when I see it. The subtle change in him, one I wouldn’t have ever seen if my aunt wasn’t forcing me to look.

“What do you see, Aunt Lore?” I ask her again but keep my eyes on him.

His gaze connects with mine, and he shakes his head. My aunt’s breath stutters in her throat. “I’m sorry, Skully.”

“What do you see?” I plead with her again, tears filling my eyes. I know her words are going to shatter the illusion I’ve created. A normalcy I thought I had found is going to crack, and whether I want it or not, this moment is going to link me back there.

“I don’t see what you see, Skully.” She bites her lip, tears slipping down her cheeks. I don’t know if she’s crying for me or for her. “Black mist, skeletal, an apparition. A chill in the night, numbness with a hollow voice. Death.”

My chest tightens in pain, and I clamp my hands into fists. My veins tingle as if electricity is sliding through them. Everything hurts and feels freeing all at once. All my interactions with Azriel replay in my mind with clarity and understanding. How every time we met, including that first night, if he didn’t walk me home, he walked me to the hospital. We always went our separate ways, and I never even followed him or went with him to meet the uncle he always said he was meeting. But without fail, the next morning, Aunt Loreli would mention that one of her patients had passed. At a hospital, I wouldn’t have expected anything different. People are born there and die there every day. I never did see Azriel leave, though. I never waited for him to conclude his visit or meet up after. It was as if he disappeared once he left my side.

“I prefer the term Angel of Death.” Azriel chuckles. He turns to me, his hand touching my arm. “She doesn’t get to see what you do. You are my friend. I have been looking out for you. The only reason you can see the real me is…”

Ice slides across my heart when his warm fingers gently run over the scar on my forearm. I lift my eyes, and they immediately clash with violet ones. “I almost died.”

His gaze sharpens. “You did die, S. At least for a few seconds before you came out of the water.”

“How is this possible?” I gasp, my frozen heart now racing in my chest. The pain to breathe grips me by the throat. My vision fades in and out, and black spots dance in front of my eyes.

“Enough.” Loreli rushes toward me. “She’s having a panic attack.”

“This is what she needs, Loreli,” Azriel argues. “Let it happen. Skully, look. Look at your hands.”

Through the fog, through the noise of my heartbeat in my ears, through the voices, there’s a zap, an electric current, and my fingers tingle. Glancing down just like Azriel told me to, I see it. Electric purple sparks shoot between my fingers. Stumbling back from them both, I raise my hands in front of my face.

“It’s your magic. Skallan Morgan is back.”