House of Leights (Secret Keepers, #3)(47)

Could it be House of Leights? Was I remembering the place I was born? Were the trees calling me? At some point I forgot that it was important not to let go of Callie. When she squeezed my hand, I jerked, and in slow-motion turned to her. Her face was painted in shock and horror. “What?” I tried to speak but ended up mouthing the words because there was no sound.

Her eyes darted down to our hands, and I focused there as well. No! Oh crap.

Only the very tips of our fingers were still joined. In my fascination with whatever called me at the end of this tunnel, I’d started to slip away from her. The bright light at the end was close, thankfully, so I just had to hold on for a few more seconds.

I slipped again, and only my index finger remained linked with hers. I tried to reach out for more leverage, but I couldn’t get any more grip. We were literally being pulled apart, like suction was on either end. Another little slip and silent screams ripped from me.

One final slip, and then I was hurtling away into the endless darkness.





14





Panic took longer than it should have to crash into me. At first I was spiraling. Then there was some disorientation. Then there was panic. As the out-of-control spinning stopped, the world around me stabilized. My head cleared as I began to drift along in darkness. After some time, the darkness didn’t seem quite as … eternal. There were these tiny pinpricks of light, which appeared to be very far away, and somehow at the same time seemed like I could reach out and touch them. Nothing made sense in this place, not distance, or time, or emotion.

You’re going to die.

This voice of reason woke me up to the serious nature of my predicament. I was going to die. I would literally float along in this darkness until my body ceased to function. It was so unfair. I’d just found out the world was bigger than I ever expected, and I hadn’t explored more than a tiny percentage. I hadn’t seen the land of my birth. I hadn’t … I hadn’t kissed Chase. That hurt more than anything.

House of Leights had been so close…

One of the lights in the distance burned a little brighter, catching my eye. By instinct, I reached for it, but the light faded before I could touch it, and I was again just floating along in the nothingness. Despite logic telling me otherwise, I refused to give up this quickly, so I started to experiment, figure out what I could do while I drifted. Obviously doorways could be opened from here, because Lexen had said there were infinite possibilities of travelling to other places. So how did I get one to open?

Instinct was telling me it was the tiny pinpricks around me. Those lights were the only thing to differentiate the emptiness, and the transporter itself had been made of light. We’d literally used a light beam to get from Earth to Overworld. Focusing lessened my fear, so I put every ounce of effort into that. I reached for lights, over and over, and after some time I figured out a way to swing my body closer to them. Eventually I actually brushed against one, and as shock rocked down my arms and across my chest, I immediately let go, unsure if I’d just done something really bad, breathing deeply until the tingles subsided.

With renewed determination, I tried again.

This time it was relatively easy to reach the speck, easier even to wrap my hand around it. The shock took me less by surprise, but that didn’t mean it still wasn’t uncomfortable. From this point, though, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I’d connected to something, locking in, but utilizing the connection was not going to be as easy, apparently.

It was very bright being this close to the speck – which wasn’t really a speck any longer since it filled my entire palm. The tingles increased the longer I held on, until eventually I had to release the light. My body started to move through the darkness again – those specks of light were anchors, holding me in place.

The panic I had been suppressing was starting to swirl within me again, not the best when trying to focus, so I drew on teachings from my mom, her methods of achieving inner peace. The first image that came to my mind’s eye was Chase; I connected peace with him. He was my feeling of safety … something that had been there from the first moment I caught sight of him at the party. Chase, the overlord of House of Leights…

One of the lights shone brightly again, startling me, and without thought, I reached for it, swinging myself out like I’d been practicing. The connection was easy, but unlike last time there was no shock. Warmth washed over me, and my stomach did a swirling thing. A very familiar swirling thing.

Chase… I couldn’t call out loud, but I mentally screamed, Are you there?

There was no reply, because Chase was clearly not here. But the light had gotten brighter when I thought of him. What had I thought of the first time the light beamed at me? Kissing Chase and … House of Leights.

Maybe that was where I needed to focus. On House of Leights? The land of my birth. The Daelighters kept saying we had a connection to it, that the water I’d been born in had filled me with energy and life, infusing into my essence.

With a speck of light in my hand, I remembered how I felt with Chase in the trees around the cabin. The peace, warmth, acceptance…

Take me home.

An infusion of heat rushed through my body. I gasped, and my arms started trembling, but I didn’t let go. Not even when the light burst out from my hand, forming a long tunnel.

This time I would not let go. Not for anything.