Carve My Pumpkin (The Night Realm: Halloween Marked #3)

Chapter 30

THIRTY

MATEO

“This isn’t right.”

We were back on the Island, and I knew this wasn’t right.

Collins kept her eyes locked on the pendulum as it swung in different directions. “Pendulums don’t lie, Mateo. They can only tell us what is .”

“I’m telling you this isn’t right.” I ran my hand through my hair. “Colette and I combed this entire Island, and she didn’t find her. I haven’t seen her. Peggy showed us exactly what she looks like, and I can assure you she is not here.”

“Collins is never wrong when it comes to crystals,” Bash assured me.“We need to let this play out, Mateo. Have some faith. Let us do what we do.”

I nodded. I didn’t want to argue with the rulers of Third Realm. But deep down, I knew this wasn’t right. How could we be back on the Island and not in Third Realm? We’d looked everywhere and now we were walking down Main Street following a stone that didn’t seem to have any sense at all.

Collins smirked up at the Halloween decor. “This is so pretty. We should get some hot cocoa after this.”

“As you wish.” Bash walked beside her, doting on her every move.

“I love that you guys are so sure about this, but I have to tell you I feel like it’s not going to work.” Disappointment riddled my body, and I knew this wouldn’t help me. I was doomed to love someone I couldn’t have and never find the one I was supposed to.

When the pendulum switched directions and turned toward the park across the street, my eyes shot in that direction. Sitting on a blanket in the middle of the park was Colette . She was surrounded by all her new friends. To one side sat Gertie, Susan, and Sylvie. Her mother had even come out and sat on her other side. Across from her were her friends from the office, all sitting with tiny plates piled high with food. Gemma, Brittany, Kate, Cameron, and Halley walked around their little picnic pouring drinks for everyone and looking like they were aiming to get everyone partying.

Yet Colette didn’t look happy. Her smile didn’t touch her eyes. She wore the same pants from the wedding and a loose-fitting sweater that hung off one shoulder. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun. Even so, she was lovely as ever.

When Collins crossed the street toward her, I hurried to catch up to them. “Guys, no, come on?—”

“Just following the pendulum.” She shrugged and started to walk out onto the grass.

“I’ve bothered her enough. I promised to leave her alone, to let her move on?—”

“Mateo, I need you to trust me,” Collins said smoothly. “Breathe for me.”

Collins didn’t stop. The pendulum went wild, swinging in Colette’s general direction. I didn’t dare to hope or dream that it might be her. Instead, I glanced to Gemma and Halley, wondering if maybe they’d dyed their hair and that was why I didn’t recognize them. But their arms were out and there were no soulmate marks on their skin. Kate and Brittany were soulmates, so it wasn’t them. Cameron’s soulmate was Jude Graham. It definitely wasn’t any of the office girls, or it would’ve shown up long before December. I even glanced at the golden girls. Their wrinkled skin was free of soulmate marks. Fauna’s sleeve was rolled halfway up her forearm, but it was enough to see there wasn’t a mark there. I huffed. Maybe it’s someone else in the park, like those girls way over there.

And then the pendulum made a sharp change in direction and swung directly at Colette. There was no one behind her either, and she wasn’t that close to the other girls for it to be confused. That damned pendulum was pointing at Colette.

“I don’t understand,” I heard myself whisper with a shaky voice.

Colette’s head snapped up and her eyes met mine, then widened. She sat up straight. “Mateo?”

“Colette, I’m so?—”

The pendulum shot right out of Collins’ hand and soared through the air like a rocket. It was moving too fast. In the blink of an eye, it slammed right into Colette’s chest. The collision was so strong it threw her onto her back. I leapt forward but Bash grabbed my arm and held me back.

“Breathe, Colette! brEATHE!” Collins shouted.

Fauna leapt to her feet, tears filling her eyes. She dove for her daughter, but Collins flicked her wrist and a vine shot up from the ground and held her in place.

Colette gasped. Light flashed from her chest, and then the tiger’s-eye stone buried itself into her skin. I choked on a gasp. Bash gripped me with two hands.

“Colette!”

Her back bowed and her arms flew out to her sides. She lifted off the ground like something out of a comic book. Dark-green magic exploded from her chest and down her arms. Her wings exploded from her back, and her body lifted higher off the ground. The wind kicked up and all the people on the blanket scrambled backwards. All but Fauna. She was outright crying, sobbing even. The magic trailed down from Colette and wound around Fauna’s body.

I was shaking.

Colette’s hair flew back from her face, and she seemed to glow from within. Her power spread over the ground and the grass turned a bright, lush summertime green. Tiny flowers sprang up in waves moving out from her. They were an array of blues, pink, and purple. The park turned from a plain, grassy place into a field of wildflowers. When her magic touched the trees surrounding the park, gone were the effects of autumn. Their leaves turned from yellows and browns to full green. In the blink of an eye, we were surrounded by spring.

That dark-green, smokey magic surrounded Colette’s body in a fog of power. Her hair blew free from the bun and started to change color from the root. Her blonde strands turned to a dark, forest-green all the way down to the tips. Her skin turned from her milky pale to a rich, deep olive tone. When her eyes met mine, they were still green but had turned even darker and matched her hair. That tiger’s-eye stone in her chest glowed a brilliant yellow as her feet touched down right in front of me.

She was still Colette . I could see her features so perfectly now.

A strangled cry left my lips, and I collapsed in Bash’s arms.

Peggy was right about what she looked like. This was her. My soulmate.

I didn’t understand what had just happened, but I didn’t care.

Colette was my soulmate. All along, it had been her. She’d been with me with whole time, and I didn’t know it. God, I wanted her more than anything in the world and now it was possible. She looked up at me with those deep green eyes and pulled the sleeve of her shirt up to her elbow.

Where our soulmate mark should’ve always been was a mark that matched my own. It was perfect. I couldn’t believe it. Finally. A feeling of completeness overcame me, like all the puzzle pieces inside me finally fit together, and the most important one was right in front of me.

“ Oh my God. It’s you,” I cried.