Page 178 of Psycho Gods
The men slept peacefully.
I shivered.
Wide awake.
Luka’s arm was hanging over the edge of the bunk above, and my right hand was reaching up, tangled in his grasp. My fingers tingled from loss of circulation, but I had no urge to pull my hand away.
I had bigger problems.
The jewel of death pulsed against my chest like a heartbeat intensifying.
The vibrations increased like the stone was trying to burrow underneath my skin and crawl into the emptiness that plagued me. I wrapped my left hand around the unnaturally warm stone.
My fingers buzzed from the force, and my forearm twitched.
Something was happening.
Maybe the Necklace of Death was trying to live up to its name and kill me?
Light suddenly exploded from the necklace.
I squinted as the new brightness burned my eyes.
The wooden bunk above my head was illuminated.
My breathing was loud and strangled as ice spread from my fingertips. It crawled across the bottom of the bunk that hung close to my head and coated it in a blue sheen.
Someone snored loudly across the room, and it startled me. I swallowed a scream.
My nerves were electrocuted from stress, and the cavernous hole inside my soul was expanding to consume my existence.
The jewel vibrated against my heart, and then there was an odd snapping sensation inside my sternum. Snowflakes swirled.
Everything went dark.
Chapter 31
John
CURSED
Portentous (adjective): being a grave or serious matter.
DAY 22, HOUR 3
I sat up in my bunk, heaving, with my hands placed over my heart like I was trying to keep it from falling out of my chest.
Unfamiliar panic filled my bones.
The darkness of the bedroom was stifling, and I must have been hallucinating, because snow drifted through the air.
The pressure inside my chest was unbearable.
I patted against my sternum like I was putting out a fire, half expecting to feel ravaged flesh, but my skin was warm and unblemished.
The pulsing sensation continued.
Were we under attack? Were the Fates themselves tearing me apart from within for failing to do my duty to the realm like Uncle always warned they might?