Fractured (Josie) novel Chapter 178

Luke and Axe make quick work of tying us together, despite the tremble I notice in both of their hands. It’s obvious neither of them wants to do this. They’re fighting their every instinct to protect me but I haven’t left them much choice. We either do this together or I’ll attempt it alone. I won’t sit back and wait whilst I can feel my bonds life leaving his body. I place a hand over my small bump. ‘Hold on Little Bean,‘ I think to my unborn child. 1 guess this might be my first failure as a mother. 

“Ready?” Luke asks, he looks as though he’s about to vom 

“Yes, let’s go,” I nod. I take Luke’s hand in my own and squeeze it. 

“Remember, what you see in there isn’t real. Don’t react to it,” Luke reminds us and Axel and I both nod. Luke takes a breath and closes his eyes, “On five,” he breathes and begins counting. I take one last look at Axel and Luke and then close my eyes. 

“Mason, Theo, I love you. Please don’t be angry,” I say into the mind link just before we port, not giving them a chance to respond to try and talk me out of this. I probably shouldn’t have alerted them like this, but I couldn’t bear doing this without telling them I loved them. 

Coldness brushes over my skin and I open my eyes. It makes no difference. The void has no light, there is nothing to see here. There’s nothing to smell or hear. There is simply nothing. 

“Deacon!” I call out, but I don’t hear my own voice, the void absorbs it. “Can we shift in here?” I ask into the mind 

link 

“I have never tried. The goal has always been to get out, not search around and no one volunteers to come here and test these things. If we shift though our bindings will fall off and we might lose each other,” Luke responds. 

“What the fuck is going on!” Mason roars in my head. 

“Not now, Mace, we need to focus, you can shout at me when we get out of here,” I snap at him. 

“Fuck! Get out of there now!” he shouts. 

“Babe, what are you doing?” Theo pleads. 

“Guys, I will explain, but right now I need to concentrate, I’m sorry,” I tell them. 

“You have ten minutes to get out of there before I find someone to bring me in,” Mason threatens before dropping from the mind link. 

“Be safe, please,” Theo says. 

“Deacon, can you hear me?” I ask through the link. There’s not even a flicker of recognition from him; he’s fading faster now and panic grips at my chest. I don’t have time for a panic attack. I suck in a breath. 

“Deacon Collins, you answer me right now!” I scream into the mind link in desperation. “I need you, you can’t leave me… Please, don’t leave me!” 

Rain begins to pour down on us and it takes a second for me to register that it burns, I brush the scalding water from my skin desperately but it’s useless as more falls on me. 

“Josie, it’s not real, whatever is happening is not real, ignore it,” Luke pleads as I fight against the pain. 

1/2 

+25 BONUS 

“It’s not real, it’s not real,” I chant to myself and the burn ases, becoming warm. I sigh in relief and a spotlight lights up the space. I look down at my arms and I see it is no longer rain, it’s blood! My eyes shoot up and I scream at the sight above me. Deacon’s broken body hangs above us, his blood soaking my skin. My knees give out and Luke holds me up. 

“It’s not real, Josie!” he screams in my head as my heart shatters into a million pieces. 

“What do you see?” Axel asks, his tone is soft and not fitting the scene above us. 

“Deacon,” I whisper. 

“Do you 

want to know what I see? I see shadows, they have reached out and taken you from us twice already, but you are still here. It didn’t happen, Josie,” he says and I blink my eyes a few times. The spotlight disappears and is replaced by the pitch–black of the void. It wasn’t real. 

I am so done with this place! Anger fuels me as I straighten up, no longer needing Luke’s support. I’ll be damned if I’m going to be defeated by a damn hallway. This is nothing more than a passage from one realm to another. It has no right to be this scary or dangerous. 

“You are not having my bond!” I scream into the void, “Do you hear me? You can’t have him. You can’t have any of us! I will tear this place apart before I let that happen!” draw on my bonds. I channel their energies and combine them with my own as I reimagine this place as the corridor between realms that Deacon had once described. It has doors on each side and there is nothing scary here. It is just a plain, boring corridor. Nothing more than a passage.