Empire of Eternals (Book 1 of The Eternal Series) ✔️

Chapter 24 | Holy Grail Of Nightmares

Johnson Residence, The Night Of The Masquerade

***Hermione Garcia POV***

My eyes scanned the lying figure beside me, their blonde hair resting by their sides as their sky-blue eyes looked over at me. Jenna's appearance lightened my mood every time for the past 3 weeks. This familiar feeling that rose from inside consumed me whole as I chatted enthusiastically with her, telling her all about my day, though it was the same.

"You know you're going to have to step out of the room sooner or later? There's no point in lying in bed all day." She repeated the same thing for the third time

"I know. Just five more minutes." I pleaded, gazing at her

I was happy. For the first time in weeks, I was happy. Jenna was the only one who could provide me with the comfort that I needed, one that didn't include my friends hanging at Paige's house the entire day, begging to be let in. At least tonight, they weren't here. The silence was all I required to spend time with Jenna.

"Hermione, you can't keep on doing this." Jenna spoke, speaking carefully

"Do what?" I asked, sitting upon the white sheets as the thick blanket hogged around my legs

"You know what I mean."

I felt the sternness behind Jenna's voice as she sat up beside me, her eyes intently looking at me as I refused to meet her sight. Why did it all go wrong at this certain point? She would appear, we'd talk, then she'd get angry and disappear.

"I'm not the real Jenna, Hermione. You know that. Then why am I here?" She continued, forcing me to throw my head into my hands

"I'm just a spiritual manifestation created from your memories of Jenna. The real Jenna is in The Aether. She has been there the moment she died."

"Stop." I snapped, gritting the word through my teeth

This was too much. I couldn't bear to hear Jenna say this every night. I didn't care if she was a manifestation of the fragments of my memories; she was my Jenna. She was the woman I loved, the woman I held in my arms before her death.

I still felt her cold body in arms, her weightless figure like air in my embrace as the pangs of pain arose from my chest over and over again. I remembered the despair when I cried out her name, her body ripped from my arms by her neighbours. Her face was imprinted in my mind.

"You are my Jenna." I stated, narrowing my eyes at her

"No." She replied, shaking her head

"I'm not the real Jenna. If I was, I would remember where I came from, who I was. I'm nothing but a spiritual manifestation who has been given the name Jenna, my appearance that has been altered by your memories. You need to let go of the connection."

I glared at her, the fluffy pillow tightening under my grasp as I felt the rage building up. She could say whatever she wanted to, but she was Jenna. She was always going to be Jenna. It didn't matter if even the devil rose from his throne and told me to destroy the connection, I was never going to do it.

"Let go of the connection." She shouted, startling me

"Shut up." I retorted, gripping the pillow

Without a second thought, I threw the pillow in Jenna's direction. As I expected, the pillow went right through her, her manifestation dissipating the second the pillow knocked the items off the nightstand, along with her necklace.

I breathed heavily, taking in the silence as it was just me now. She was gone. I was going to have to summon her again - use most of my magic before seeing her - just like the past 3 weeks.