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It was a different numbness now, though. This one was not from lack of emotion, nor was it from the cold in the forest air surrounding us.
No, this numbness was from adrenaline, taking over every sense in my body and forcing me not to feel.
It was my basic instincts protecting me, saving me.
Narcissa kept pushing the blade deeper and deeper into my skin until the blood did not just pool at my palm, it overflowed. It did not drip onto the forest floor beneath us, it poured.
And poured.
And poured.
Wrath said something behind me. Movement threatened to pull my attention, but I didn’t let it.
Then Alek was yelling, cursing at Wrath, at Narcissa, at me.
I snapped my attention from Narcissa, tugging on that fragile thread of electricity that still strung through my body and looking for Alek in the dark forest.
Wrath held him back. Alek’s arms were pinned to his sides by Wrath’s embrace as Alek thrashed against him. “Calm down!” Wrath yelled.
I tried to pull away from Narcissa, but her nails dug into my forearm, yanking me back to her. “We cannot break the connection! We must complete the ritual!” she hissed.
“Then do it already!” I exclaimed.
My eyes snapped between her and Alek, who still fought against his brother, trying to get to me.
“It’s too much blood!” Alek roared with fury. “Don’t do this, Lyra!”
I closed my eyes, trying to shove him away from my consciousness. I couldn't think about him right now, not with my blood pouring onto the forest ground below and the weight of the entire world in my hands.
“Hold him down!” I yelled at Wrath.
Narcissa began chanting again, louder than before. She yelled into the world around us, engulfing the clearing of the forest in her words as she chanted and chanted, begging the gods and goddesses who listened to close the veil.
Just as when she opened the veil, she flipped my palm over and let the blood pour into the fire.
It erupted to life, drinking my blood as if it were oxygen itself.
And then it appeared; that green light, the shimmering wall that signified the veil appearing before us.
Narcissa actually did it.
She summoned the veil.
I stared at it in utter shock, taking in the gleaming beauty and terrifying power that radiated from the emerald light.
It was not real. I knew in my mind that this thing—this wall to the other side—only existed here and now because Narcissa summoned it forward. Yet every bone in my body chilled at the sight.
Alek quit fighting. Wrath let him fall to the ground, both of them utterly powerless against the sheer force of the wall.
“What are you waiting for?” Wrath yelled. “Close the damn thing!”
Narcissa hesitated, taking a few long breaths while she, too, seemed to be entrapped in this powerful force.
Marcus was not here this time. Neither was Theia.
It was just us—just two demons, a half-goddess, and a witch—standing in the middle of the forest, pouring our blood out and bringing the veil forward.
“Well?” I asked Narcissa, shaking her lightly with my bloodied hand. “What do we do now? How do we finish closing it?” I pressed.
