Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery Trilogy #1)(33)
Author: Kim Harrison

Closing my eyes and praying I wasn’t making a mistake, I let her touch me.

I stiffened when her hand pinched my shoulder. Willing myself into my unconscious, I let the existence of my amulet fill my mental sight. Beside it was another, much weaker presence. Nakita’s amulet held far fewer threads to me, but as I watched, the number grew, making me more solid, more real. More dead, I thought, trying to cut the lines between us, and only succeeding in wiping out the lines from me to my amulet.

Nakita felt it and jerked, but her hand was still on me and I wasn’t invisible. I couldn’t cut the lines from her amulet to me without taking control of it, and I couldn’t take control of it unless I claimed it. Do that, and I’d be blown to dust. But her sword, I thought suddenly. It was made from her amulet. A direct connection to it. Maybe if I worked through that…

Nakita’s sound of surprise pulled my eyes open. Grace was above Josh, bathing him in a haze of light. She was beautiful and savage, a harsh beauty that hurt to look at. And she was crying. Crying for me. I tried to tell her it would be okay, but I couldn’t think of the words.

Something fell on me, sending me staggering. I would have fallen if not for Nakita holding me up. I met her eyes, and they widened. Her lips opened, and horror crossed her face.

Unexpected and overwhelming pain jerked me stiff. I fell to a knee when Nakita shoved me away. In sudden terror, I realized what it was. A black wing. A black wing had found me.

Cold so deep it felt like fire pushed from my spine and into my mind. I gasped, unable to scream. It wasn’t death. It was the sensation of never having existed, of never being. The black wing was taking my memories and leaving emptiness in its place. It was destroying me, stripping my past away, moment by moment.

Instinct pushed me backward to the earth. Frantic with pain, I tried to scrape the black wing off, writhing. I reached to pull it free, but the cold sheet hung like a second, sucking skin. It was eating my soul, burning where I touched it with my hands!

I got to my feet, agony in every move. I stood, staggering as another fell on me. Shocked, I could do nothing. The pain had shifted me back to being visible – I couldn’t even see my amulet, much less the lines of connection – and, wobbling, I looked at Nakita.

I had failed. I’d made a mistake, and I was going to die. Clever, beautiful Nakita had gained my end and the stone with no trouble at all. If I did nothing, I was going to be eaten out of existence. I should be happy. I’d had an extra summer of life. But it wasn’t enough, and I refused my end even as I saw it. All I needed was her damned sword. It connected directly with her amulet, and through it, I was sure I could sever the ties it was making to me.

"You may be a dark reaper," I said as my limbs seemed to go numb, "but you don’t know crap about human determination."

She blinked, eyes wide and confused. Gritting my teeth, I went for her.

Two years of practice kicked in, and I planted my left foot on the ground beside her right, then spun to stand sideways next to her, my right elbow swinging with all my momentum toward her middle. I hit Nakita’s gut hard. She bent forward, muscles seizing.

Her blade hung slack, and I grabbed it above her fingers. It was mine and hers both. In my mind’s eye, I could see our two amulets and all the lines holding me to the now.

Realizing I was trying to take it, Nakita put her hand above mine that was gripping her sword. We both held it. I had to go misty. The sword would come with me if I did. But I hurt.

If I couldn’t do this, Josh would die. I wouldn’t let him die just because I was afraid of pain. The decision was easy.

My hand ached under the angel’s grip. I gave in to the pain. I let it wash through me and away, leaving me scoured clean of everything but my will. Euphoria rose, a false high as my mind tried to protect itself. Exhilarated and powerful, I exhaled, blowing on the ties connecting me to the present – and with the breath of my will, all of them shriveled like silk threads in flame. Her sword was mine.

"No!" Nakita shouted, pulling back as she felt her blade go invisible with me. I was the mist, and she couldn’t hold me, but she lunged as if she could. Instinct brought my hand up, and the reaper passed right through me, her amulet blazing like a violet flame.

Nakita’s face went wonder-struck, and her mouth opened in a silent scream. It was as if time slowed, and I held my breath so as not to breathe her in. I started to crumple, feeling her cold anger, tasting her frustration, seeing in my mind Kairos standing on a black tile floor in the sun and telling her I was a threat to seraph will and sending her secretly after me. For an instant, I was her. I was Nakita – and she was me.

The black wings attached to me felt her too. And they found something better to eat than my paltry seventeen years of memory.

Nakita screamed in agony as the black wings let go of me and cleaved to her instead. Pain lifted from me as they parted from my soul, embedding themselves inside the reaper as she passed through me.

I hit the ground, and the shock broke my mental hold on the amulets. Lines burst into existence, two stones tying me to the present. I was again solid. Nakita stood above me, stiff with pain. In my hand was not her sword, but her amulet. By taking one, I’d taken both.

Her voice pitched high in agony, Nakita dropped to kneel upon the ground. Her white wings shimmered into existence, stretching to the high branches. I scuttled backward to Josh, frightened. Josh looked up, one hand to his middle as he watched, shaking as Grace again became a glowing ball of light above us.

A third piercing scream came from Nakita. It didn’t sound human, and fear iced my veins. She had black wings inside her. I stared, horrified, as I realized what I’d done. But I hadn’t known. I hadn’t known!

Her wings and back arched again in what must have been horrible pain, and her wail cut off with a frightening suddenness as, with a downward thrust of wings, she vanished. Dirt and grass clippings flew, and I cowered.

"Madison," Grace said, her terrified voice clear over the noise of the middle school band. "Get in the truck. Get Josh and get in the truck."

Nakita was gone, but the black wings were still swarming. There were hundreds of them. I was solid, and Grace was with us, but they were not dissipating. "Josh," I panted, feeling weary and insubstantial. Stumbling, I helped him up, Nakita’s amulet wrapped around my wrist. Lurching, I snagged my camera, forgotten on the ground. The truck door was open, and I shoved him in, making him slide across to the passenger side. It was still running, and I thanked God for small favors.

"Is Josh okay?" I panted as I slammed the door shut. The hard gearshift felt like it was going right through to my bones. "Did she hit him?"