Chapter 16
“Geez, I thought we were going to fight,” Krystal said. “All this talking and explaining.”
“Because we’re on the level we’re supposed to be. You’re not.” Brad pushed his glasses up, glancing at Morgan. “So if you saw other mages, you’d only see their pupils. You’re what they call an anomaly. Right, Morgan?”
Morgan nodded. “Yes. Your servant should already be under complete control—without badges.”
Brad started toward the steps. That’s when it hit me.
“LONNIE!”
My head exploded with pain—April’s voice.
Fear, guilt, disgust—all at once. I stayed with these people to train, to learn how to get back to the present with my body, to save her. But I hadn’t felt her since I got stuck back here. I thought time travel broke our connection.
Her voice echoed inside me again, shaking my bones. My skull throbbed. The numbness spread. I knew this feeling—the dull, crushing pressure. It was like when Andy slammed my head into the ground. Not as intense, but enough to drop me.
“Lonnie, are you okay?” Morgan asked. Her eyes widened. “Your pupils are dilated.”
I didn’t hear April again, but I could feel her. Something was wrong. The iron taste of blood hit my tongue. The numbness crawled through my body, my vision doubling.
“Oh great,” Krystal muttered. “He’s broken.”
“Not again,” I whispered.
The world tilted. My vision folded into black.
I felt myself falling—Brenda’s voice fading, Morgan shouting my name. Then—nothing. No sound. Nobody. No air.
Floating came first. Then light.
Darkness melted into white, then blue. I could feel moisture on my skin, cold but alive. I recognized this place—the strange weightlessness of ghost mode. I was seeing through April’s body.
Shapes formed out of the blue. A silhouette sank slowly through the water, limbs limp, head tilted back. The white around her deepened to dark blue, and her skin came into focus.
April.
Her clothes clung to her body, soaked and heavy. Ropes were tied around her, a chained weight dragging her deeper. Her eyes were closed. She wasn’t breathing.
“April!” I swam down, panic tightening my chest even though I didn’t need to breathe. I reached for her chin, lifting her head. “Say something!”
Her heartbeat was faint—slowing. I hooked my arms under hers and kicked upward, pulling her with me. I couldn’t swim in real life. I hated water, hated drowning. But this wasn’t real. Not in the physical sense. I pushed harder until we broke through the surface.
The river.
I knew this river. The same one my dad took me fishing on. I used to hate those trips—hours of silence and missed catches. Maybe that’s another reason he left. Maybe he saw I wasn’t like him.
I dragged April to the bank and started chest compressions, breathless but determined. I tried mouth-to-mouth, unsure if it even worked in this form. Oya appeared beside me, kneeling in silence.
“Oh no…” she murmured.
April didn’t move. Her heartbeat was gone. Her thoughts—silent. I looked at Oya. My chest felt hollow.
“I was too late,” I said. “She called for me.”
“Don’t do that, Master.” Oya’s voice was softer than I’d ever heard. The storm in her tone had quieted to something almost human. We sat there in silence, water rippling around us.
Then—April coughed.
Water burst from her lips, and she gasped for air.
“Lonnie?” she croaked.
“Thank God.” I pulled her into my arms. Relief crashed over me like a wave.
“You came for me,” she whispered against my shoulder. “Both of you.”
Oya smiled faintly. “Well, young co-master, we couldn’t let my mana feeder die now, could we?”
For once, I laughed at her joke.
“I told you back in your room,” I said, “you’ve never had a friend like me.”
April smiled weakly. “Guess you’re right.”