The Space Within (The Book of Phoenix #3) by Kristie Cook Read Free Book Online

braced the weight of his upper body with his hands on his thighs. His head hung between his arms.
    Bex and Brock came around, too, also rolling to their knees.
    “What the hell was that?” Brock asked.
    “The worst thing ever,” Bex said through heavy breaths.
    “Enyxa paid us a visit,” I explained. “She told me we’d be reliving every pain we’d ever experienced and we’d ever caused. From all of our lifetimes.”
    “That’s what she does,” Hayden said. “Leads us into the Darkness.”
    “At this rate, we’ll be Dark in no time,” Brock said as his hand pressed against his chest.
    I assumed the accident had been his memory, but I didn’t know what exactly happened that hurt him so much. He hadn’t actually been in the accident. Had he and Asia known the people in one of the vehicles? Or had they somehow caused the wreck? They’d never spoken much about how they’d met. I didn’t know their story. I had a feeling Enyxa was going to make sure I relived it myself. She said I’d caused all their pain. Had I been the reason for the accident? I didn’t know how that was possible, but my stomach tightened anyway at the thought.
    Bex hiccupped with another ragged breath. “As if living through it once hadn’t been bad enough.”
    My stomach heaved with the reminder of what Bex had just gone through. Again.
    “Brock’s right,” I said. “I can’t remember everything about all of my lives, but I know they haven’t been paradise. We’ll never survive the Darkness if we don’t get out of here.”
    Nobody argued any more. We all pushed to our feet and stumbled a few steps before taking off in the direction of the Gate—but staying far away from the forest.

Chapter 4

    I leaned my elbows on the wooden conference table in the small meeting room, dropped my head between my arms, and rubbed my hands over the back of it. The news kept getting worse and worse.
    “You don’t have to make a decision today, Jeric,” Asia said from across the table.
    “So far, the Guardians have been able to protect all the Gates,” Yoshi agreed from my right, “but if the souls from the Dark worlds grow any more persistent in opening them, I don’t know how long we’ll be able to keep the Gates sealed.”
    “And if sealing them doesn’t keep the Lakari out, our only option is collapsing all of the Gates?” I clarified. “We’re sure there’s no other way?”
    “Not that anyone knows of,” Melinda said quietly. She and Uri sat on the other side of the table by Asia.
    I banged my fists on the table, making everyone jump. “There has to be, damn it! There must be a way for us to pass through or we wouldn’t be able to help the Broken and the Lost.”
    “He’s right,” Asia said. “Why would the angels, or whoever they are, give us this job without alternative passages for times like this? If God and the universe work in mysterious ways to help us with other problems, why not with this?”
    Nobody could provide an answer.
    “I can’t believe there are no records,” I said. “ Nothing? Nowhere?”
    “If there are, nobody remembers,” Uri said. “The information got lost between generations somewhere along the way.”
    “Well, then, we need to fucking remember,” I growled. “Aren’t there hypnotists who do age regression? Maybe they can help. Or, here’s an idea—maybe Leni wasn’t the only one smart enough to create something to leave clues. Maybe there are more journals … somewhere.”
    “There are items, but Leni’s not the only one who’s forgotten what they do or how to use them,” Tasha, Yoshi’s other half, said, her English strong, though edged with a Japanese accent. “It’s the curse of the Guardians. No matter how hard we try to keep the information flowing generation to generation, it gets lost or jumbled up. It’s part of our test in each life to figure everything out.”
    I shook my head. “I don’t buy that. If guarding the Gate and helping the Darkening, Lost, and