Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

Chapter 18

I wait as patiently as I can for Lenora to finish giving Kas a hug. She finally lets her go and kisses her on the cheek.

"I mean it. No more scaring me," she wags her finger

at Kas.

"I promise, Lenora. No more scaring you," Kas smiles back with a nod before turning to me. She takes her hand out of mine and brushes her fingers on the side of my face.

"All I want to do is pull you into my lap and hold you all night, Baby, but I need you to tell us about your vision before you forget. Can you do that?"

"Yeah b-but," she looks at me with watery eyes, "Can you tell me if James is okay? Was that real or part of my vision?"

"It was real, Kas. Don't worry, he'll recover. We can take you to the hospital wing to see him tomorrow. Okay?" Lenora squeezes her hand in reassurance.

Kas nods, looking at her hands for a moment. She collects herself so she can concentrate. When she's ready, she takes a ragged breath and tells us about what she saw.

"I think I saw some of the people who kidnapped me. There was a woman that looked just like Lenora, but maybe she was a little older? Or something about her seemed old, even though she looked young. She knew my name. She called me Iokaste. There was also a woman with dreadlocks and red eyes. She mind linked me, but it wasn't a real mind link. I could actually see her words in my mind."

Kas squeezes her eyes closed for a minute, then opens her eyes and looks at the nightstand. She grabs her journal and pen and scribbles something down on a page.

'Essai dynatós. Empistéfsou ta énstiktá sou.'

Lenora and I trade a confused look. Kas has never remembered this much detail from a vision before, and this message in

a picture of the page with her phone and sends it to Musu. "So then, um, I think I had a vision inside my vision?" a confused look crosses Kas's face, "but I-I'm pretty sure it was the past. Not the future, like it usually is. It seems like it was a past life, but not one I already knew about. I was fighting alongside the woman with red eyes in an intense war. We knew each other, and she sacrificed herself for me, Bronx.

rubs the heel of her hand over her sternum while she talks. Her eyes aren't really fixed on any one point in

Like a mate bond?" I ask as gently as possible, but in reality, I'm feeling a tinge of jealousy that Kas could have had a different mate. Even if it was in a different

our essences to each other,” her voice is soft, "She said something else in

did she say?" Lenora asks, smoothing Kas's partially dry hair. "Yeah, I think she was important to me. She told me she would always be there for me and when she died, it hurt so bad. It made me have this huge burst of energy come out of my body. I felt like a bomb was exploding out of me. And when I looked around, everything was...well, it was all gone.

into my lap and lean my head on top of hers. As soon as I fold my arms around her, she begins to bawl. Between her sobs, she says she didn't mean to hurt James. She doesn't

girl, who grew up not being able to trust anyone around her. She was lonely, scared, and trying to hide from the world. It's the deep dark part of her we all wish never existed. I know it will never go away completely. It will always be a part of who she is, but if there is anything I can do to keep it at

cell phone ding. She looks

"Is that Musu?"

she

mate.

gives Kas one last sympathetic look before kissing the top of her head and kissing

you need me, just send a mind link. I'll be back in a

mouth the words and watch

leave.

much faith in her as I do. I just

she pulls away from me slightly and gives me a

Baby?” I caress her face, hoping I can fix whatever's

if the red-eyed woman is a prisoner, too? What if she wasn't allowed to talk to

be around other prisoners, unless they have developed Stockholm Syndrome. Then the captors would want them to convince