Chapter 1

There’s a Song Playing Somewhere Deep

“There’s a song playing somewhere deep in the night and my mind is… w-was muddled. It’s like grasping at smoke while trying to tread water,” she sighed.

Leaning back in her chair and adjusting her glasses, Dr Paul stared at Elana’s still form.

Frustrated, she looked down at her notes before sliding forward in her seat.

“Don’t try to hold onto the memory. Instead, focus on the emotions you feel,” she calmly replied.

Elana tried.

The song was still there.

Somewhere.

Deep.

Distant.

A melody drifting through the darkness, there one moment and gone the next.

She couldn’t make out the words. She wasn’t even sure there were words.

Only music.

And movement.

Something passed beyond her closed eyes.

Light.

Darkness.

Light again.

Too fast to hold.

Her stomach rolled with the strange sensation of moving without actually going anywhere.

A flash of black road.

Pale hands.

Something shining.

Glass, maybe.

Gone.

She tried to reach for the image.

Pain exploded behind her eyes.

Elana flinched.

Pulling off her glasses, Dr Paul reached for the small amber crystal which hung on a delicate silver chain around her neck.

Her fingers closed around the warm stone.

Melissa focused all her energy on Elana and gently lent her some of her own.

Not enough to interfere.

Only enough to steady her.

The change was almost immediate.

Elana’s breathing slowed.

The pain remained, but now she could stand at its edge rather than drowning beneath it.

“I feel pain, like a thousand knives piercing my brain and cold… I... I feel c-c-cold.”

She exhaled.

An icy breath misted the air.

Melissa’s gaze sharpened.

Drawing her arms around herself, Elana began to shiver.

Cold.

It wasn’t around her.

That was what frightened her.

It was inside.

Something icy moved through a body that wasn’t hers, reaching deeper and deeper until Elana had the terrible sensation of fingers brushing against something that should never be touched.

Her heart stuttered.

The darkness shifted.

For half a heartbeat she saw—

Hair.

A woman’s shoulder.

Something dark across pale skin.

Then nothing.

Elana frowned.

The harder she tried to see, the less there was.

Another flash.

A man’s hand.

Large.

Tense.

Then darkness swallowed that too.

The song continued.

She concentrated on it.

For some reason, it felt important. Not the tune itself. Something about it.

A feeling.

She knew it.

No.

That wasn’t right.

Shewouldknow it.

The thought slipped away before she could catch it.

Her chest tightened.

Fear washed through her.

Not hers.

Someone else’s.

Desperation. Anger.

Grief so sharp it left her hollow.

Then something worse.

A tearing.

Elana’s back arched against the chair.

Melissa sat forward.

“Lana?”

Elana couldn’t answer.

For a fraction of a second, she felt something being ripped apart.

Not flesh.

Something deeper.

Something ancient.

Something that had been joined and was no longer whole.

The grief that followed nearly dragged her under.

Then rage.

Hot.

Violent.

Humiliation tangled through it.

The darkness flickered again. A road. Trees rushing past. Light reflected against glass and the impression of someone beside her.

Another body close by.

Male.

Then—

White.

Blinding.

Her stomach dropped.

Everything turned.

Pain slammed through her.

Her head.

Her chest.

Her limbs.

Everywhere at once.

The world became fragments of glass suspended in darkness, light, something red and a shape bending where it shouldn’t.

The song.

Still playing.

And beneath everything—

Cold.

The cold changed.

Until then, it had been something Elana could feel.

Now it felt alive.

Patient.

Reaching.

She drew her arms tighter around herself, her body trembling violently.

“There’s someone here.”

Melissa went very still.

Elana frowned. She couldn’t see them properly, only feel the panic pressing against her mind.

More than one presence.

Pain.

Confusion.

A terrible weakening.

Life flickering like candle flames caught in a sudden draught.

“They’re scared.”

Melissa’s grip tightened around the amber stone.

Elana’s breath misted again.

The cold moved closer.

Not towards Elana.

Towards one of those fading lights.

And suddenly Elana understood something she had no words for.

It was reaching into her.

Into the woman.

Past flesh.

Past bone.

Deeper.

Towards the tiny, brilliant place that was simplyher.

Elana recoiled.

“No…”

The word escaped before she knew she’d spoken.

The woman’s presence fluttered.

The song seemed farther away now.

The light was disappearing.

Melissa released the crystal.

Enough.

She pushed herself back into her seat and snapped her fingers.

Elana’s body relaxed.

The darkness vanished.

The cold went with it.

Mostly.

“You can open your eyes now, Lana,” Melissa said, scribbling more notes in her leather-bound book.

Elana blinked.

For a moment, she simply stared at the familiar ceiling.

Then she sat upright.

“How do you feel?” asked Dr Paul.

“I feel great, thanks, Doc.”

Elana smiled as she stretched her back.

Melissa watched her carefully.

“Good. A few more sessions and we’ll have your sleep cycle back on track.”

Elana rolled her shoulders.

Whatever she’d been dreaming about was already becoming difficult to hold onto.

There had been a road.

Maybe.

A woman.

She thought.

And—

A song.

That remained. Not the melody; she could never remember the bloody melody. Only that there had been one.

Typical.

“Lana, could you send in your aunt before you go?” Melissa asked as Elana reached for the door handle.

“Sure, Doc.”

Elana pushed open the door and walked into the taupe-coloured waiting room.

Her aunt was exactly where she’d left her.

Walking over to the sectional, Elana threw herself down next to her.

“El, how was it?” asked the curly-haired beauty.

“Ooh… um, fine. I feel relaxed, like I could sleep for a thousand years,” Elana replied with a smirk.

“Uhm, is that so? Maybe I should get Lissa to see your mum and remove the stick from her arse.”

The brown-skinned woman winked, gazing into Elana’s inky-blue eyes.

Elana laughed.

She’d heard some variation of that particular complaint about her mother for years.

Pushing herself upright, she stretched her back.

“Oh, Dr Paul wants to see you before we go.”

Leandra’s eyes flicked towards the office door, too quickly for Elana to notice.

Nodding, her aunt sashayed her way towards the doctor’s office.

She knocked.

Then pushed open the door without waiting for a reply and walked right in.

By Hecate, Leandra, what if I’d been indisposed?

Leandra shrugged and plunked herself down onto the sofa.

Is there a reason we’re not using our mouths?

She swung her long, lean legs upon the seat as she reclined.

Melissa glanced towards the closed door.

Lana doesn’t know she’s manifesting. I’d hate for her to find out like this.

Rolling her eyes, Leandra sighed.

Are you sure that’s what this is, Lissa?

Melissa didn’t immediately answer.

That made Leandra lower her legs.

Lissa?

Melissa reached for the small amber stone around her neck.

Old magic hummed beneath its polished surface—protection and concealment, the kind witches had used for generations to keep their young hidden.

Elana had no idea how much of her life had been spent beneath its protection.

Yes. I was able to properly access her mind this time.

Leandra sat forward.

And?

Melissa glanced down at the notes in her leather-bound book.

She’s going to be one powerful practitioner once the final seal is broken.

Leandra studied her.

That’s not what has you worried.

No.

It wasn’t.

Melissa’s thumb moved slowly over the amber stone.

The sessions are working. Her subconscious is learning to control how deeply she enters the dreams. She’s separating herself from what she sees instead of allowing the experience to consume her.

Then that’s good.

It is.

Leandra waited.

Melissa sighed.

But this wasn’t one of her normal dreams.

The humour disappeared from Leandra’s face.

What was it?

Melissa looked towards the door again.

Elana was on the other side. Close enough that speaking aloud wasn’t worth the risk.

I believe it was a Death Call.

Leandra stared at her.

You’re certain?

As certain as I can be.

Whose death?

I don’t know.

Melissa closed her notebook.

She couldn’t see enough.

But you could?

Enough to know there was a crash. More than one person was hurt.

Leandra rose from the sofa.

How soon?

You know Death Calls don’t work like that.

They don’t normally happen to witches whose abilities are still sealed either.

Melissa’s eyes hardened.

Which is why we’re not going to panic.

Leandra gave her a flat look.

I’m not panicking.

You’re pacing.

Leandra looked down.

She was.

She stopped.

Does Lana know what she saw?

No.

Does she know what the cold was?

Melissa’s expression softened.

No.

Leandra went quiet.

That was answer enough.

After a moment, she looked towards the door.

Should we tell Elie?

Melissa shook her head.

Not yet.

Leandra’s head snapped towards her.

Lissa—

What would you have me tell Ellie? That her daughter has foreseen a death but can’t identify the person, the place or when it happens? Elie would bury her beneath the strongest wards she could construct before sunset.

Leandra opened her mouth.

Then closed it.

They both knew Melissa was right.

The girl in the vision isn’t necessarily connected to Lana.

But you think she is.

Melissa looked down at the page.

Song.

Road.

Pain.

Cold.

I think there’s a reason Lana was shown her.

Leandra’s jaw tightened.