Mystically Bound (Frostbite, Book Three) (18 page)

“All is well,” Alexander stated.

No, it really wasn’t. All of this was
seriously messed up. Not only did my guilt return in a flash seeing
Caley in this condition. But I might also have been slightly
annoyed I didn’t see Kipp last night in my dream.

Gretchen had given me the sternest of all
lectures before I went to sleep to avoid the Netherworld and while
I agreed with her, part of me didn’t want to listen. But the
stronger and more sensible part realized the danger. Until I got
Nettie’s diary and found out the implications of going into the
Netherworld, I couldn’t take chances. All of my efforts and current
hell was to get Kipp alive again. It’d mean nothing if I were dead
once we achieved it.

My desire to see him as a living-breathing
man held more strength than my desire to touch him again…for now.
And it surprised me that traveling to the Netherworld wasn’t as
easy as Wayde suggested.

Motivation held the key. Since part of me was
hesitant, the veil never opened. From what I figured out from last
night, I needed a damn good reason to be welcomed into the mystical
world and I had to believe without a doubt I wanted to go
there.

Made sense, I supposed—my first experience in
the Netherworld had been caused from my longing for Kipp, my
outright
need
to be together, and my soul deep craving to
touch him.

My second trip, I had simply been so
desperate to see him again. I wondered, without the motivation of
Kipp urging me on, if I could travel there at all. Could I feel
that driven about a ghostly stranger? Truth was, I didn’t think so,
and somehow, I felt perfectly okay with that.

Deep down, I didn’t want to go into the
Netherworld if I didn’t have to. I had never lied—I wanted a normal
life…well, as normal as I could possibly obtain.

Only problem?

Life kept making things backasswards.

Pushing the blankets off, I sat up, rubbing
my hands over my face to wake up. My head thumped like a drummer
was having a heyday in my skull, indicating I moved too quickly.
“Ugh. My head is killing me.”

When my headache once again became tolerable,
I noticed the dead silence around me and lowered my hands.
Alexander was giving me a curious look. “When did the headaches
start?”

I didn’t want to answer because it only
firmed up a big negative for my ghostly travels, but his expectant
expression demanded an answer so I grumbled, “After I went into the
Netherworld.”

“Might be one of the aftereffects,” he
murmured, staring at me a little longer before he gave a firm nod.
“We need to keep an eye on that.”

Gretchen sat up, leaning a little forward in
the bed to look at me. “Do you notice anything else other than the
headaches?”

I glanced at the bedspread and swirled my
finger over the fancy detailing. A hard truth stared me in the
face. “To be honest, this might be emotional rather than any
leftovers from there. I’ve kind of been through a lot.”

“You have,” she agreed, dragging my attention
back to her. “But we can’t overlook it either. You need to let us
know if they get worse or if anything else changes.”

“Okay.” While I truly hoped it had nothing to
do with the Netherworld and was, in fact, caused from stress, I
knew we couldn’t ignore the truth either. My headaches
were
worsening. “Let’s say it is from the Netherworld, why would it be
getting worse since I haven’t been back there?”

Alexander shrugged, gazing at me intently and
shifting on the bed, facing me more fully. “I don’t know.”

“Which is why we need to keep an eye on it,”
Gretchen stated, fixing her messy hair with a brush of her hand.
“Exactly why you shouldn’t go back there until we have a clear
understanding of how this might further affect you.”

“True.” I gave my face another quick rub,
ignoring the hard thumps in the front of my skull, then looked at
Alexander. “So, how did it go last night? Did you find the
Lux?”

Darkness spread over his face. “Sadly, I
didn’t.” At the slow slide of disappointment over me, he added,
“While everyone slept, I searched this house from top to
bottom.”

“And nothing?” Frustration clipped my voice.
“No sign of it at all?”

He sighed, stood from the bed, and paced in
front of it. “I’m sure it’s no longer in this house.”

I mulled that over, aggravated to my very
bones that it couldn’t be as simple as him stumbling upon the damn
book. When being irritated got me nowhere but pissed off, I asked,
“Where did you keep the Lux?”

He stopped his pacing, turning back to me.
“In my bedroom.”

I nibbled my lip and hated to doubt him, but
needed to be clear. “You checked there?”

“Wayde is staying in my room now.” He dipped
his head with a measured expression. “But yes, I checked.”

While that annoyed me since I hoped Alexander
would’ve been able to help more, it also horrified me to imagine if
Caley had gotten caught by someone, especially by Wayde. “How
exactly did you do that?”

He resumed his pacing in front of the bed. “I
exited her body.”

I blinked. “You did
what
?”

Gretchen chuckled, but Alexander went on, “I
discovered last night I can absorb Caley’s energy even while I’m in
ghost form because we are now joined.”

I gazed over my best friend as he continued
to move impatiently through the room, not noticing her looking
overly tired, which eased some of my guilt. The last thing I wanted
was for Alexander to drain her completely and she ended up being
ill or something. “So, what did you do with her…err…body?”

He had made it to the far wall and spun on
his heels, heading back my way. “I went down to the living room on
the couch and left her there.”

Trying to imagine that, I totally failed.
“Sleeping, you mean?”

Once in front of the bed again, he inclined
his head, and Caley’s long blonde hair fell over her shoulder. “It
completely drains her because I am, in essence, piggybacking her
energy, so while she slept, I searched the bedroom. Then, once I
was done, I joined with her again and here we are.”

“That is weird.” At his eyebrows rose, I
snorted. “Yes, weirder than you taking over her body in the first
place.” I blinked in total disbelief, shifting uneasily against the
mattress. “But okay, so you found nothing?”

A slow smile reached his face. “I didn’t say
I found nothing, only that I didn’t find the Lux.”

My mouth parted to demand an answer when
suddenly, an icy coldness washed over my skin. On a gasp, I scanned
around the room and maybe now, more connected with the Netherworld,
it heighted my gifts. I’d never been so aware a ghost approached
before. “Hold that thought. Someone is coming.”

Gretchen jumped off the mattress, rushing in
front of the bed next to Alexander, looking around frantically.
“Who?”

My first instinct was to get my hackles up
because if a ghostly stranger came into this room, I would lose it.
Still, the sensation seemed stronger now and I knew, without a
doubt, a ghost would soon arrive. The goose bumps trailing over my
skin and the hitch of my breath had always been a sure
indicator.

With my lungs crying out for air, I released
my breath on a loud rush when the ghost winked into existence. It
didn’t shock me a spirit had arrived in the room since I had
totally expected it, but the
who
standing at the end of the
bed sure-as-shit stunned me stupid.

I finally found my voice. “Err…Kipp?”

Standing at the end of the bed, Kipp surveyed the
room in a slow sweep before he glanced at me with a dazed look.
“Where are we right now?”

I peered over the room again, then looked at
Gretchen, who stared at me perplexed. I even glimpsed Alexander,
who stared at Kipp in surprise. “Am I dreaming?” I asked. When
Alexander shook his head, I turned to Kipp. “In the real
world.”

He seemed genuinely surprised with wide eyes.
“How am I here?”

“I have no idea,” I snipped.

“What’s going on?” Gretchen demanded.

Alexander finally snapped out of his apparent
shock, blinking rapidly and looking Kipp over from head-to-toe.
“Who are you?”

My hunky ghost studied Alexander with a
suspicious glance for a long moment, and then his eyebrow arched at
me over top of his icy blue eye. “What have you done to Caley?”

Without a doubt, ghosts could see ghosts even
if they possessed a body since those two acknowledged each other.
For the moment, I remained stuck on Kipp’s appearance, and
repeated, “What are
you
doing here?” Not that I wasn’t happy
to see him and the little flickers of pleasure dancing like
butterflies in my belly declared that well enough, but what the
hell?

“Tess, what’s going on?” Gretchen pressed,
more earnest now.

I gestured toward Kipp, who had folded his
arms, giving his cautious-cop-look. “Kipp is standing at the end of
the bed next to Alexander.”

“He’s back?” Her eyebrows practically hit her
hairline. She left her spot on the other side of Alexander, coming
closer to where Kipp stood and staring at what I assumed to be a
shift in the energy only she could see. “Why are you back?”

“Yes, exactly.” I happened to wonder the same
thing myself. When Kipp looked away from Caley and settled his gaze
on me, my breath hitched. My heart clenched and I wanted
desperately to run into his arms, but knew in this world, I
couldn’t. I gripped the duvet beneath me to stay put. “Why are you
back?”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head, slow and
measured. “I didn’t want to be here.” At my obvious scowl, he
winked, giving me that sexy smile that could drop my heart into my
stomach. “Not like that, beautiful. Of course, I wanted to be here
with you. But I’ve been waiting for you to come back and tell me
it’s safe to return.”

“Is this your ghost?” Alexander asked.

I nodded, my chest tightening with the need
to go to Kipp overwhelming me. He must have seen it because he took
a step toward me before he stopped, his expression taut as he
clenched his fists, then he stretched his fingers out.

Right now, the distance between us was more
painful than anything I’d ever experienced in my life. I had a
taste of how it felt to be in his arms and I craved for him to
protect me from it all. But the reality was we remained in the same
position—torn in a fate we couldn’t control.

Kipp drew in a long breath, glancing at the
hardwood floors. When he raised his head, the heartache had
vanished from his eyes and he slid back into all-business mode.
“Now then, who is that?” He pointed at Alexander. “Because I know
that’s
not
Caley.”

Taking his lead, I released the blanket from
my fingers and forced myself to hold it together. We needed me
strong, not breaking to pieces. Besides, I tried to picture what
Kipp saw now. Did he see Alexander or Caley? Instead of mulling it
over, I got right to it. “How do you know it’s not her?”

He cocked his head and he examined Caley in a
slow sweep. “Her…energy. It’s not the same.”

Peculiar!
“Yes, well, it’s Alexander,
the ghost I’m helping. Caley agreed to let him possess her so we
could talk to him because he had this weird condition going
on.”

At Kipp’s further arch of his brow, I moved
along since we had more pressing matters than his surprise over
what I’d done to my best friend. “But more importantly, you have no
idea why you came back?”

He strode around the foot of the bed, taking
the few steps to reach me, settling in beside me. Warmth slid all
around me, pooling down low in my body, remembering what happened
the last time I saw him, regardless of the seriousness of the
moment. “Did you call me back here?”

“No,” I responded, forcing those thoughts out
of my head. They had no place divulging into now. Last night, I had
wanted to see him, but I had found resolve in why I couldn’t and
had even thought of it after I had woken up. “Did you not bring
yourself back?”

“I. Did. Not,” was his reply.

How did that make any sense at all? Not that
I wasn’t glad to see Kipp, but he had left me…for whatever reason
that I still intended to find out, but first…“Why would that be?” I
asked Gretchen.

When she stared blankly at me since, of
course, she couldn’t hear Kipp, I huffed. “Oh, right. Sorry ‘bout
that. How would Kipp come back here if he didn’t want it and we
didn’t bring him?”

With a furrow to her brow, she scanned over
the spot where Kipp stood next to me. “I haven’t a clue.” She took
a seat on the edge of the bed and shrugged. “Honestly, I’m
stumped.”

Looking back at Kipp, he stared at me with
his sexy little smile, and I allowed myself to relish in his
reappearance…just a bit. The way he looked at me, so heated and
loved, brought a smile to my face regardless we didn’t know the
reason. “Okay, so, you’re back.”

He winked. “Appears so.”

I remained staring at him, wondering if he
would poof out of existence on me again, and maybe still in shock
he stood here now. He’d left so quick before and clearly, it’d done
some irreparable damage. My pulse increased with my slight panic
and my palms grew clammy.

My pause must’ve been long enough since his
eyebrows raised and he said in a low whisper, “Something on your
mind, sexy?”

I swallowed past the emotion rising in my
chest, wondering if I really wanted to know the answer or not.
“Well, are you staying, like forever?”

He frowned. “You don’t want me to?”

“No, it’s not that,” I countered with a flick
of my hand and knelt on the mattress, coming closer toward him. I
relished the icy coldness his body exuded. “Of course, I want you
to stay, but you said it wasn’t safe here. Maybe you should go
back. Maybe I did something that brought you here. Like
really
wanted it or something. With my connection grown in
the Netherworld, perhaps I made it happen.”