Intertwined

Chapter Fifteen

I went through the entire school day craving Lyall. I wanted nothing more than to see him. If he'd felt an anchoring of this, the smallest percentage of what I faced, I couldn't understand how he could see me walk past without doing something. It would be torture, hell, if I had to watch him walk past me and not be able to talk to him. Lyall was much stronger than I.

Jason gifted me with the best news I'd ever heard when he announced that we were going straight to Erica's house after school. The need for the meeting reminded me of the dark and unwelcome things that we still had to face, but that didn't stop my heart from squeezing at the thought of seeing Lyall sooner than was originally planned. Jason looked at me like I was crazy before walking away. He wasn't as overbearing as Erica, Marleene and Lyall. Jason let me do my own thing at school. It felt nice.

Jason took the bus with me, and it dropped us off at the stop where I'd met the two girls my first day. I thought about how things could change in only a month while Jason led us toward Erica's mansion. The first time I saw it, I gawked. It looked like it'd gotten bigger. The driveway to the door even felt long and rich as we walked it. I felt underdressed.

I didn't have to guess, I could feel Lyall's presence in the house and clenched my fists to keep from running through the door and into his arms, wherever he was.

"Come in," Erica said, opening the door before Jason could knock.

"Thank you," I said.

She wrapped a crushing hug around me. I could almost feel my bones becoming dust.

"Don't kill him," Lyall said from behind her. His voice was blank, warm, and safe.

"Lyall," I gasped.

Erica dropped her arms and I stumbled toward Lyall. I didn't have enough awareness to worry about what the others would think when I stretched onto my toes and planted a kiss on his lips. He hugged me back, not as crushing as Erica's, even if I wanted it to be.

"Okay, honeymooners, upstairs," Mike called from the top of the huge staircase that I had not seen. Lyall did a good job at blocking everything out.

I took in the room for the first time. Again, it was huge and white, but now that I was focusing, I could see gold crusting and decorating the walls and stairs.

"You have a gorgeous house," I said to Erica.

"My mom would appreciate that," she said, smiling.

I greeted the other two when in Erica's too-big and too-pink room. It was like a Pinterest board threw up on it. Don't get me wrong, it was absolutely gorgeous and wreaked of wealth, but I felt bad when sitting on her bed. The canopy made it feel too fancy.

"Great, now that we're all here, we can get started," Marleene said, sounding like a teacher again, "has anyone found anything that might help us figure this out? Em?"

"Er, no not yet. I read something about how it's near impossible to bring someone back from the dead, but that's about it."

"It is impossible; what do you mean by 'near'?"

"I read that the line between both realms should never be crossed, it's almost impossible, but that only comes from the things needed in order to make it work."

"And those things are?" Marleene asked, settling into one of the pink armchairs.

"I don't know."

"Did you bring the book? It has to be in there."

"No, I didn't, but there was a missing page. Like someone had ripped it out, I can bring it tomorrow if you want me to."

"Please do, that's strange. Does anyone else have anything they found?" Marleene asked, looking around.