Chapter Twenty-Two

Wade

Wade gasped for air. He was alive. His muscles ached; even the tips of his fingers burned. He rolled his head to the side. A few feet away from him, Iris was motionless, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

He twisted around and struggled to his knees.

Josh shot his hand out to him. “Dude, you okay?”

Wade raised his head. There was something in Josh’s eyes. Relief? Wade took Josh’s hand and he towed him up. “Thanks, man.”

Violet came rushing out the door onto the balcony. She glanced around, and at noticing Iris still lying on the balcony, she dropped to her knees beside her and took her face in her hands. “Are you okay?”

Iris nodded against her hands.

“Daisy did it,” Violet said. “There was an entry in those notebooks by a woman named Dika. That spirit had cursed her, too. She wrote how to stop cursed tarot cards. Daisy changed everyone’s fate and the curse went back to the spirit.” She looked at Wade, then back at Iris. “It has a ritual to exorcize that demon bitch from you. We need to get you to Daisy.”

Iris pushed herself up to her feet. “Let’s go.” She sounded strange to Wade. Something was different in the tone of her voice. Her eyes darting around at the faces in front of her, she backed up to the opened door. “I won’t let you send me away. If you try to rid Iris of me, I will take her with me.” Wade made his move for her. She slammed the door before he could reach her and locked it, trapping him with Violet and Josh on the balcony.

Wade turned the knob frantically. “Shit. We have to get out of here. She’s going to do something to Iris.”

Josh tried the window by the door that led into the house. “Locked,” he said.

Violet picked up a tiny wrought-iron table by the chaise chair and slammed it against the window. The window shattered with a crash, glass spilling to the wooden deck. Josh wrapped the sheet around his arm and brushed away the jagged pieces clinging to the window frame. After draping the sheet over the sill, he climbed inside and unlocked the door.

“What fucked-up game are you guys playing? You could have killed me!” Josh stormed down the hall.

“I swear that guy is going to get his one day.” Wade pushed by Violet. “Come on, we have to find Iris. Do you know where she’d go?”

“It’s not Iris. I don’t have a clue where Crina would go,” Violet said from behind Wade, the sound of her hurried steps following him.

Wade glanced over his shoulder. “Text Dena and ask her if she’s seen Iris, or have her search for her. Maybe Carys and Lauren can help.”

When they got to the tent, they watched Josh get into his car and speed away. If there were justice, he’d get pulled over.

“We need to clear out the party,” Violet yelled over the music.

“Can’t now,” he said, breathing like a bull through his nose. “The police will detain us. Ask questions. That spirit could hurt Iris while we’re held up.”

“Who is it?” Miri’s voice came from the other side of the door.

“It’s us. Violet and Wade,” she yelled.

The door eased open and Wade pushed on it, too anxious to wait. “Is Iris here?”

“No,” Miri said. “We haven’t seen her.”

Wade looked past Miri at Daisy. She was sitting on the floor with cards perfectly aligned in a partially formed circle around her. One card was pinched between her fingers. Her eyes closed, she nodded and placed the card next to the others.

“What is she doing?” Wade asked.

Miri’s eyes went to where Wade’s were staring. “She’s feeling the cards. It’s like a puzzle. Each fate changer has her own pattern for an exorcism. Once the circle is closed, we must get Iris in the middle. Then Daisy will complete the ritual by touching the main card.”

Sweat dripped from Wade’s forehead and he wiped it away with his sleeve. He hadn’t realized how overheated he was. “And that’s going to work?”

“We can hope,” she said. “It was in Dika’s notes.”

“We’ll find Iris,” he said. “Keep the door locked and don’t let her in. Even if she says she’s Iris. We can’t trust that spirit. I don’t want you alone with her.”

Wade shut the door and the locks slid into place.

“What do we do?” Violet asked, eyes frantically searching the party. “Where did she go?”

“She must know that we need her to complete that ritual.”

Violet turned to him. “I’ll check here. The house. Garage.”

Dena and Carys approached, maneuvering around partiers.

“No. We stick together.” Wade tugged his phone out of his pocket. He sent a text to Iris, hoping she had her phone. “You come with me. Dena and Carys can search here. “Where are we going?”

“The beach and the rock jetties.” He walked off, meeting Dena and Carys by the punch bowl. He wanted all the partiers gone. He was sure that spirit was going to fight them, and he didn’t want anyone asking questions or thinking they were attacking Iris.

The wind bit at Wade’s exposed skin. His lab coat didn’t offer much warmth. He pulled up the collar and tread across the beach. The smell of seaweed was strong and the lapping of waves was a welcoming sound to the loud party he’d just left. Violet kept brushing her hair from her eyes. The light from the flashlight in her trembling hand danced over the sand.

“How is this even happening?” he asked. “I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around it and I just can’t. It’s so fucking crazy.”

Violet glanced down at her shoes. “I’ve told you everything, but I understand. It was tough for me, as well.” She looked over at him. “But we can do this. Once we find Iris, we can end all the crazy and get rid of those stupid cards.”

Wade heaved a sigh. “I’m going to need a shrink after this is all done.”

“Tell me about it.” She laughed—a quiet, sarcastic one. “I’m seeing a therapist. It helps. But I can’t really tell her why I need her help. We just deal with my attempted suicide.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“No need to be. I’m fine.”

“I’m glad you’re here.”

“Where is she?” Violet’s voice was shaky as she changed the subject.

Fear sank in his stomach, wondering what that spirit would do to the girl he loved. Would she harm Iris? He used the flashlight to see the shore, hitting the whitecaps on the waves. The rock jetty looked like a dead body stretching out from the beach into the ocean. Water hit the base of the rocks and sprayed up in the air.

Violet abruptly stopped, a gasp escaping from her lips.

Wade’s eyes followed the stream of light coming from her flashlight. It caught something in the distance. Iris jumped from rock to rock on the rock mound, heading for the ocean. Wade didn’t say anything. He sprinted across the beach toward the jetty.

“She’s going to jump,” Violet called after him, the beam of light bouncing sporadically as she ran after him.

He climbed the first rock, and then moved as quickly as possible across them. His boot slid on a slick one, and he crashed down on his knees and elbows, the pain rocking his bones. He slipped a little as he got to his feet. He had to keep going. Save Iris. Her silhouette was a ghostly figure against the dark sky and ocean. Violet’s light swept across Iris. He was almost there.

Almost.

Three steps.

And she jumped.

“Iris!” he yelled, diving in after her. It was as if a million icy knives stabbed him. The ocean’s frozen embrace engulfed him. He couldn’t see her. Where was she? It was too dark. Seaweed tangled in his arms. He pulled from them and moved farther out. “Iris!” he called again, gulping in water, the salt burning his throat.

She was gone.

Gone!

Panic hit his chest with thundering beats. His arms and legs ached as he rose and fell with the waves.

I can’t lose her.

He dived under, reaching, searching for her. His breath ran out and he broke through the waves, bobbing and sucking in air and water.

Where is she?

“Wade!” Was it Violet calling out? He spun around, riding a wave, and crashed against a rock. Pain erupted in his side.

He pushed off the rock and swam a ways out.

“Wade!” There was a frightened shriek in the voice.

He turned to look at the jetty. Violet flashed her light over the water and pointed. “She’s there!”

“Wade!” Another terrified scream. It was Iris calling him.

He swam to her, coming up behind her and wrapping his arm around her chest. “Stay still. I have you.” He pushed through the water with his legs and free arm, dragging her toward the beach. When he could stand, he lifted her into his arms and carried her out.

The beam from the flashlight bounced across the jetty’s rocks as Violet made her way across to them. He laid Iris on the sand and she rolled to her side, coughing up water. Each breath he took hurt and he touched his side. Blood drenched his fingers.

Sand kicked up around him as Violet reached them and fell to her knees.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding, still straining to breathe.

“What happened?” Iris said through coughs and tears. At least, he thought it was her. She rolled onto her back.

“Crina tried to kill you,” Violet said and lifted Iris’s head on her lap. She brushed the wet strands of hair from her sister’s face. “It is you, right?”

“Yes.”

“What’s my favorite dessert?”

“Really?” Iris got to her elbows. “It changes all the time.”

Violet laughed. “Yes, it does.”

Wade stood and looked down at Iris. “We have to bring you to Daisy. Can you get up?”

“I think so,” she said.

He took her hands and helped her stand. His side protested and he winced, but he wouldn’t let go of Iris’s right hand.

Violet pointed the flashlight at him. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Come on.”

Iris pulled her hand away from him, backing up. “Leave me alone,” she ordered, falling to the sand on her butt and scooting away from them. Her hand came across a piece of driftwood and she grasped.

Wade took an uncertain step forward. “We’re trying to help you.”

She tottered to her feet and held out the branch. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll hit you.”

“Crina?” He cautiously slid his foot in the sand, moving closer.

“You do not understand,” she said, swinging the branch back and forth. “I will not go back. Not there. Evil is there. I am not the only spirit in those cards. It is full of firstborns. Those stolen from the curse. They torment me.”

“You can’t have Iris.” Another step and Wade could grab her. He had to get her back to Daisy. Stop this crazy messed-up stuff. Shoving the hopelessness aside, he moved forward. Seeing her scared and hurt tore at him.

I’ll do whatever it takes to save you, Iris. Just hold tight. Daisy and Miri were his only chance to get Iris back. No matter the cost to him.

Crina swung her weapon at him again. “What would you do if it were you?” she asked. Her tortured expression made Wade want to hold her, take on whatever demon held her. Anything to remove her pain. “I am not an evil person,” she said. “I am a girl who made a foolish mistake. Am I to suffer eternity for it?”

Violet moved to Wade’s side. “We could find a way to release you. There has to be something we can do.”

“Stop trying to trick me.” Crina backed away, her heels sinking in the sand. Her wet dress stuck to her skin and her water-drenched hair slapped her face as she turned her head back and forth to watch them and then her steps.

Violet heaved a long sigh and glanced at Wade. “Just knock her out.”

He shot a puzzled look at her. “What?”

“Deck her. We don’t have time for this.”

There was no way he could hit a girl, even if it was a demon spirit instead of Iris. It was her body. “I can’t.”

Crina glared at him. “You are such a weak man.”

Violet rushed Crina and punched her square on the jaw with so much force both girls stumbled back. “Ouch,” Violet groaned.

Crina, her shoes stuck in the sand, lost her balance and fell right on her butt.

Wade grabbed her arms and lifted her over his shoulder.

“Put me down,” Crina screeched.

“Come on,” he told Violet as he trudged through the sand with Crina kicking and beating her fists against his back.

Everything on his body hurt and real blood covered his chest, but he was saving Iris, damn it.