Have Been There Before Novels & Stories

I had been here before, and that was years ago. The place wasn’t just a familiar sight, it was a scar. It was an operation long buried, one that had nearly cost me everything. Only a handful of people had known about it, and every one of them was either dead or had disappeared. Getting summoned and fixing the rendezvous point here, of all places, wasn’t a coincidence. It was personal.

Even before they were born. And I never lose.

I was going to sound like a crazy person, I already knew it. He tilted his head to the side as his eyebrows furrowed. “Serena, say something.” I quickly glanced over my shoulder once more to confirm I wasn’t imagining things, but I was only met with reality once again. “I, uh, I’ve been here before.” He shuffled on his feet as he glided his palm over the back of his head. “I’m not following. How can you have been here before?”

“You aren’t part of what I forgot.” “No,” it replied—finally, with a voice so calm it made her stomach knot. “I am what you were before.” Before the Gate. Before the Spiral. Before the first time she bent instead of broke. “Before what?” she asked, her voice smaller now. “Before you chose to survive.”

Whatever we were facing… It had begun long before Aria was ever born.

“Of what?” I looked at the sigil still faintly glowing on my palm—the one I hadn’t realized was there until the creature pointed at me. “Of whatever came before us. Before memory. Before maps.” Rowan shook his head. “You’re saying we didn’t find an old gate.” “No,” I said, throat dry. “We found the first one.” Kye exhaled. “Then whatever we locked up back then—” “Wasn’t the whole story,” I finished.

And before it did… They needed to be somewhere else. Together.

Letting it ground me the way it always did. Still… the thought lingered. Someone had stood here before me. And I didn’t know if that made me special— Or just next.

"No. You said nothing wrong." My voice came out quiet, almost reverent. Could she possibly know? Was there any way she remembered too? In that moment, something passed between us—a connection I couldn't quite name. I started walking again, falling into step beside her, but my mind was racing. This time around. The phrase wasn't common, especially not in reference to mate bonds. It implied previous iterations, previous lives. Just like mine. Just like the memories that haunted me.

I lie there in the dark, my body still humming and my mind reeling. The line we’ve so carefully drawn isn’t just blurred; it’s obliterated. Something irrevocable has happened, and I know, with a terrifying, exhilarating certainty, that we will never be the same again, no matter how much Devon Pretends.