Megan’s words echoed through River’s mind, over and over again, but they weren’t louder than the roaring.
Nothingwas louder than the roaring.
She grabbed a set of keys hanging by the garage door, her vision blurring as she slipped into the driver’s seat of a black two-seater convertible.
This was her father’s car, and he…
He would never drive again.
Oh, gods. River mashed the button to open the garage door, and the moment the car could fit through the gap, tires screeched as she pulled out. She’d left her purse behind, along with her license, but what did that matter?
She drove faster and faster, barely registering the white flakes falling on the windshield. The wipers pushed the snow out of the way, but nothing seemed to stop the tears leaking from her eyes.
This was her father’s car, and he was dead, and she…
She needed help.
She wasn’t entirely sure where she was going at first, just that she was goingaway. Waterborn House was on the outskirts of town, and she couldn’t stay there any longer. Couldn’t be in that place filled with her father’s memory.
He wasgone.
A wretched sob ripped out of her.
She drove out of her parents’ gated community as quickly as she could. Rambling estates with pristine gardens passed in a blur, becoming strip malls and neighborhoods as she drove far too quickly on far too slippery a road.
Horns honked at her, but she barely heard them over the rushing in her ears.
Death battered in her veins.
Keeping one hand on the wheel, she slammed her finger against the car’s console. The vehicle was connected to her phone, a remnant of the last time she’d been in it, and she swiped through her contacts until she found the name she was looking for.
“Please pick up,” she moaned, passing a park with childrenplaying on the swings. They were shrieking with joy. Laughing. Happy.Alive. “Please.”
Waves of magic pounded against her weakening dam, each more powerful than the last. Her stomach cramped, and the car swerved as grief overwhelmed her.
The phone kept ringing, and a ragged sob ripped through her. The waves crashed harder and harder and harder. Why weren’t they stopping?
Her mantra was long gone, vanished as if it had never existed.
Her control? Nonexistent.
Death had stolen them, along with her father.
River sobbed. She couldn’t get the image of Cyrus’s lifeless body out of her mind, and she couldn’t stop hearing the sound of her mother crying.
And then, the ringing stopped.
“Nik?” she whispered, gripping the steering wheel with white-knuckled fingers. “Nik, I need?—”
“Hello, this is the voicemail of Nikhail Galebringer,” said an automated female voice. “He’s not available at the moment, but please leave your name and number, and he’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
There was a beep, and then…
“You promised,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “You said it would be okay, Nik, but it isn’t.”
It would never be okay again.
She didn’t bother ending the call as she yanked the car off the road. She couldn’t. She left it running, throwing it into park before stumbling out the door. She barely registered the cold snow beneath her bare feet as grief raced through her.