Bloodspell (The Cruentus Curse, #1)(61)

"Does this have anything to do with the barrier around you and the reason we can't communicate?" Victoria asked.

"Yes, it does," he said. "Promise me you'll stay with your friends!"

"I will."

"We're taking off now. I'll see you soon. Be safe, Tori."

"Bye, Christian."





VICTORIA WALKED BACK to the condo, relieved. Her phone had had no service and had been completely unusable. She couldn't believe how good she felt after hearing Christian's voice. Being so shut off from him for the last few days had been torture. She had tried to communicate with him mentally and all she'd sensed was a strange wall between them, a sort of impenetrable but flexible barrier, which meant magic. It worried her, and for good reason now that she'd spoken to Christian.

She went into her room and closed the door, where she sat on the bed and tried for the tenth time to summon her pendant. She couldn't believe that she had left it in Canville, and she cursed herself again for doing such a stupid thing. Leto would be furious if he knew. She'd put it in the music box at Christian's, and somehow it had been forgotten in the rush for the mountain despite Leto's and Holly's repeated warnings about always keeping it with her.

Victoria tried every place where it could be, but each time she performed the spell, all she got was a stinging headache and no amulet. She had learned from experience that to make the summoning charm work, she had to pinpoint the exact location of what needed to be summoned.

Foreboding rested like a weight in her belly but she refused to consider that somehow someone might have discovered and taken it. She felt naked without it, especially given what Christian had told her about that woman probably showing up again. And now, against his strict orders, here she was, alone, in the condo.

She heard the front door to the apartment open and close. She strained to hear anything, footsteps or voices, and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw the handle on her bedroom door beginning to turn.

"Who's there?" she said. The door swung open.

"Sorry Tori, it's just me. I didn't mean to scare you," Gabriel said, noticing her pale face. "Just checking to see if we are still on for this afternoon for snowboarding?" Although she was capable skier, Gabriel had volunteered to teach her to snowboard. She nodded and tried to be enthusiastic. At least she wouldn't be alone.

The afternoon was as briskly cold as the morning had been. She made it down several runs without falling a single time, even at some points outpacing Gabriel who said she was a natural before he zoomed past her showing off.

She felt exhilarated, the thrill of carving up the mountain was different from skiing, and it was addictive. Her thighs were burning as she got in line for the Sugarloaf superquad lift at the end of the Tote Road green trail that she'd just finished. Gabriel was nowhere to be seen, so she decided that she would try to find a trail a little further up that would bring her around closer to their condo on the east side of the mountain, located near the Lower Buckboard green trail.

As the superquad whizzed up the side of the mountain, Victoria wished she had read the lift sign more closely—it seemed like they were going all the way to the top of the mountain! She got off the lift at the top and pulled her jacket closer to her, it was freezing. Reading the trail map board, she realized with a pang that the only choices were black or double black diamond trails. She tried to pick the ones that would take her closer to the east side and plotted out a path memorizing the trail names: Gin Pole to the Mid-Station Connect to Ramdown to Upper Buckboard, which would take her on a straight path to the condo.

The two girls who rode the lift up with her strapped on their boards and took off with a wave just as the lift behind her swung to a stop. She glanced at her watch. It was four o'clock. The sun left golden streaks along the deepening blue of the sky as it descended to the horizon. It was a beautiful view but Victoria couldn't appreciate it as nervous as she was. She took a deep breath after checking her helmet and goggles, and eased herself down the menacing black trail that would turn into a blue some distance below.

Arriving at the Mid-Station Connect, she tentatively maneuvered her way through the ungroomed areas that became even more treacherous where they connected with other double black diamond trails. The trees were thick and the path narrow. Her nervousness resurfaced, its icy fingers sliding into her bones. She had to fight the urge to point her snowboard downhill and throw caution to the wind just to get out of there as fast as she could.

It had started to snow, which seemed odd given the fact that the twilight sky was still clear. She brushed the flakes off her goggles. There was no wind, the trees were barely moving and the silence was deafening. Victoria realized that she was completely alone, just as she had promised Christian she would not be and just when her warning bells were all ringing like crazy. She expanded her mind to see if she could isolate the danger.

To her surprise, she felt the same pliable barrier she had felt around Christian while he had been in Paris, only this time it was around her! Slowly, she unclipped her right boot and stepped out of her binding.

Staying alert and crouched low, she unclipped her left boot. She pushed against the barrier surrounding her like a bubble. It was the same, she was sure of it, and that could only mean one thing—they were here.

Taking a deep breath, Victoria moved closer to the intersection of the next double black diamond trail and only then noticed a single skier, tiny in the distance, heading down at breakneck speed—impossible speed—and generating a massive stream of powder, which was what she had felt earlier landing on her goggles. Victoria tensed, she could feel the sheer malevolence from the skier even as far away as he was.