Amanda Stevens - The Prophet

I stayed by Devlin’s bedside day and night, clinging to his hand, willing him to come back to me. The temptation to stay with Shani must have been irresistible because he showed no sign of coming around.

On the third night, I had just nodded off when I felt another presence in the room. I opened my eyes to find Darius Goodwine in the doorway.

“I know what you tried to do,” I said. “You used Shani to lure me through the veil so that Mariama could inhabit my body.”

“You’re strong,” he said with what I thought was grudging admiration. “Far stronger than Mariama.”

I didn’t feel all that strong at that moment. I felt…helpless.

“You said I had untapped power. Show me how to use it to bring him back,” I begged.

“There are always unintended consequences when you bring back the dead,” he warned.

“I just want him back.”

I lifted my head and glanced around. I was alone in the room except for Devlin.

A moment later, his eyes fluttered open. “Amelia?”

“Yes, it’s me. Welcome back,” I whispered, with only a momentary trepidation as I pondered those unintended consequences.

Devlin was released from the hospital two weeks later. He would need months of physical therapy, but he was already able to get around with the aid of a cane. He hadn’t been well enough to attend Ethan’s funeral. I had gone only to pay my respects to Dr. Shaw. His health was deteriorating rapidly, his mind slipping into a place that couldn’t process the reality of what his son had done. I thought that might be for the best, but I would miss his counsel. I had dropped in on him earlier, only to find that Layla had been replaced. I wondered if she’d disappeared with Darius. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since that day in the hospital, and I still wasn’t certain his visit had been real. I wanted to believe Devlin had come back to me on his own, without any unintended consequences, but sometimes when I lay awake beside him in bed at night, my mind would drift to a dark and disturbing place. What if he had brought something back with him from the other side? What if I had?

Shani had moved on. Robert Fremont had moved on. Even Mariama had vanished. Devlin was free of his ghosts, and I wanted to believe that we could finally be together. But something tormented. Something haunted. What you are, I once was. What I am, you will someday become.

I thought of the sightless woman’s prophecy as I watched Devlin kneel at Shani’s gravesite.

My name is Amelia Gray, she’d said.

A chill wind whispered through the trees and I shivered. Devlin rose and I went to him at once. He pulled me into his arms and I melted against him. He was my sanctuary now. My only safe haven.

The sun glimmered through the trees as we walked hand in hand through the lichgate.