“What happened to you?” I whispered. “Are you still in there? Or am I just a crazy person?”
The urge to pry the lid off the coffin was so strong, that I actually turned to get my backpack before I realized how incredibly stupid that was.
I had no idea what the spells on the coffin meant, and until I did I had to leave that thing alone. There could be any number of curses tied to it that could hurt me if I tried to open it.
The smart thing to do would have been to leave then and return once the witches were available to help. But I’ve never really been common sense kind of smart.
Instead, I grabbed my backpack and sat back down on the ground, retrieving my notebook and a pen before leaning against the coffin and making notes about the things I’d found so far in the room.
I rested my head against the wood, staring up at the ceiling before closing my eyes for a moment.
If there was someone laid to rest in there, what must it have been like for them? Had they died of natural causes, and been mummified to ensure their passage to the other side? Or perhaps to keep their body preserved for a future return?
Had the sarcophagus been placed here as a punishment? Perhaps the chairs were set there because someone had kept watch, ensuring that the person or creature inside could never come back.
Or maybe they’d put themselves there. Maybe they’d lost someone and couldn’t bear to go on living without them, so they’d sealed themselves away where no one would ever disturb them again.
Tears pooled behind my eyelids as heartbreak washed over me. The sadness of that thought was so profound, that it truly felt as if I were experiencing the pain myself.
When I opened my eyes, I gasped, my heart leaping to my throat at the sight of a man standing before me.
It was the same man I’d imagined bathing in the waterfall.
And, I realized, the same man who’d been in my dream.
His hand stretched out toward me, and I lifted my own, desperate to reach out and touch him. But as our fingers were about to connect, I watched in horror as my hand burst into flames, my skin cracking and peeling, the exposed bone charring and turning to dust.
“Claire!”
I jumped, my eyes flying open to see Colton kneeling next to me, his hand on my shoulder and a look of concern on his face.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You were screaming.”
“Oh my God!” I buried my face in my hands as heat raced up my throat and spread over my face. I was absolutely mortified. “I’m so sorry.” I scrambled to my feet and brushed the dirt from my jeans. “I must have nodded off.”
“You fell asleep in a creepy tomb?” a woman asked. “Jesus, Colton, how uncomfortable are the rooms at the resort?”
I looked over to see three women standing near the opening of the cave. Two had dark hair and one had bright, fiery red locks that seemed to glow in the sunlight that filtered in through the woods behind her. They looked so similar in features, that I knew they had to be the LaFey triplets that Colton had told me about.
“How long have you been here?” Colton asked, apparently choosing to ignore the woman.
“Not long,” I lied, shaking my head as I got to my feet. “Thank you all for coming. I really appreciate it.”
Colton introduced me officially to his family. His wife Trudi, his sister-in-law Mindi and the red-haired sister whose name was Candi.
“My husband Booker will be over soon,” Mindi explained as they moved closer to the sarcophagus to start inspecting the spells carved into it. “He’s the French expert.”
Her sisters both snickered at her and Mindi’s cheeks turned slightly pink as she shot glares at both of them.
“This is very intricate work,” Trudi murmured as she leaned closer to the coffin. “Whoever invented this spell was a genius.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, stepping over to her and watching as she reached out to run a finger over one of the carvings.
“Well,” she explained. “It’s a collection of spells that are designed to work in tandem. This one here protects the body from overwhelming decay.”
“Overwhelming?” I wasn’t sure I understood that.
“I can’t tell you what you’ll find when you open this thing,” Trudi said softly. “But it seems like they intended for the body to be used again in the future.”