I stand in the funeral parlor, staring down at Aggie's body. But just as I am about to say goodbye to her for the final time, she sits bolt upright. As if she's waking up from some kind of nightmare, she turns her head and looks right at me. She stares into my soul.
"Aggie?" I ask, my voice sounding distant.
"Wren," she says. "You must be careful, Wren."
"What? Aunt Aggie, what is happening? I thought you were dead!"
"I am dead, child," she says. Her voice is so unlike hers. She is so monotonous. Unfeeling.
The world around us flickers and goes dark. Then, when it snaps back into place, we aren't in the funeral home. No, we are instead in the home I lived in with my adoptive mother. Aggie seems to float around me. She then is right in my face, and when I jump and back up, she seizes my arms.
Her iron grip on me is painful. And her eyes are gone, now nothing but black pits. Her face had no flesh or muscle, just bone. Just a grinning, eyeless skull staring at me. She grabs me by the hand, then.
"Wren, you are in grave danger. A warlock and a demon covet your soul. Stay with the female warlock, and the vampire. They will protect you. But perhaps this fate of yours is inevitable. Perhaps you cannot escape that which the Sisters of Fate have deemed you worthy of experiencing."
"Aggie, you're scaring me," I say.
"Good. You should be scared, Wren. This is not something to underestimate. Magnus and Rainor aren't the only ones who will try to kill you. But they are the ones that will succeed. You have but one chance to come back from that which I could not. And that chance lies within the warlock called Annika. She loves you, Wren. More than you will ever realize. And she will be your salvation."
"Annika ... loves me?"
Aggie laughs. It does not sound quite like a laugh. More like a raspy inhalation of dust on ancient bones.
"You will find yourself at a crossroads, soon, Wren Killoran. I cannot help you the whole time you are there, but I will do my utmost to prevent your death from being permanent."
"Did you really die at Magnus's hands?"
She nods. "I did. And I am not the only one of our family who he's killed. But I'm also not the only one who's trying to prevent your death from being the same as mine. As well as it happening so soon. If I have a say in this, Wren, you will live a long and happy life with Annika."
"But I'm mortal. She's immortal. How will we be together if I'm going to grow old and die one day?" I ask.
"You will not always be mortal, Wren."
Suddenly, a distant voice rises from the darkness. A black mist swirls through my childhood home. I turn to Aggie.
"Wren! Wren, come back, please!"
"You must go," Aggie says, releasing me. "You are needed elsewhere."
"Wren! Please wake up!"
YOU ARE READING
The Shadows from Beyond
HorrorWren Killoran finds herself working in a very odd restaurant/bar. After her aunt Aggie passes away, Wren inherits the Sapphire Lotus from her. When she meets the people that she will be working with, as well as the customers, she realizes none of th...
