Fate's Revenge (Twisted Fate, Book 4)

Chapter Twenty

Gabe said to rest, but I couldn't sleep. Though my body felt exhausted, my mind was racing. Everything that had happened since I met Death—dying, coming back to life, losing memories and friends, gaining abilities, going to new realms to learn I was a leader—filled my head with confusion. How did it all string together? I'd moved past wondering how it was all possible as nothing seemed impossible anymore, but there was no way everything was just a coincidence. Not with the Brothers and Sisters involved, not to mention Death and, well, Him.

Given all the evidence, there was no way it wasn't interconnected.

I figured I'd been grateful to have landed with my parents, but really, that must have been planned. Destined. I had been created from light, which in turn sustained students of Hell's Fire and Glory Academy, but my so-called gifts stemmed from my human heritage. That was more than luck. I died for experience and then lost my memory so I wouldn't realize it. Then there were the students... That made my brain hurt too much to try figure out beyond what I had already learned.

If I could just figure out where it would all culminate—the true purpose—I would know the rest.

That, at least, made sense.

Hadn't Gabe already revealed where my answers would be found? There was just no way for me to reach the Sisters, feeling as tired as I was. I slammed my hand against the covers and felt a lump. Of course. Every time I went to sleep, I tucked it under my pillow for safekeeping, and then kept it in the pocket of whatever I was wearing during the day. My soul healed my body and my body my soul.

The potion. How could I have forgotten?

I pulled the vial out and stared at the liquid as it twirled in my fingers. The spun glass glistened against the walls, shining like a kaleidoscope of purple in various shades. It was amazing how such a little thing could hold such an important remedy. If what I was thinking was right, and I didn't see how it could be wrong, this would be the guide to where the answers lay.

Thinking about everything Deryk had told me, I put a drop onto my finger and stored the vial back in my pocket. Like a lucky charm, I never wanted to be separated from it. Trinkets were a tool for positive thinking; the potion from Renalda could literally save me from danger by separating my body from my soul or bringing my astral form back to my body. Of course, that was only true if my body was away from harm or it wouldn't help me in any way except to allow me not to bear witness to whatever hurt, possibly with fatal results. Only one other thing could kill me in astral form: staying away so long that the connection from soul to body became severed. Hence my blue skin—I had come much too close.

Deryk had also said that I must think of my destination and I couldn't be transported from one spot to arrive in the same place as I had begun. Did that include the same room or just where my body was? It wouldn't help to go to Hell's Fire. I had to have access to my body while in astral form.

It was uncertain, and the consequences too many to prevent, but it was all I thought could help. Gabe might get answers, but he wasn't likely to share if he did. The annoyance from that was only lessoned marginally from knowing that was because the Sisters ordered nondisclosure, but still... it wasn't fair. Secrets about me should be kept by me. So, as far as I could figure, and would argue if someone tried to give me hell for doing it, this was necessary to reach my goal. I had to discover my destiny, apparently, if I was ever going to learn what it entailed.

I placed my fingers with the drop of potion on my tongue and closed my eyes to imagine my dorm room at the opposite side from my bed. The floor didn't fall from under me, there was no gusting wind whooshing to render me temporarily deaf, and I didn't crash land on rocky ground intermittently broken by bubbling lava pools.