Couldn’tfeelanything. I was no longer connected to my body. All Icouldfeel was the remnants of the pain that had overtaken me.
The feeling of my heart shredding apart. Ripping clear in two.
I knew what it was now.
Itwasmy heart.
My heart broke itself in two. It tried to cleave its way from my chest and find its way to its other half.
To find Luka.
My heart had broken because Luka’s heart had stopped.
We hadn’t anticipated this.
That stopping his heart would stop mine too.
Where is he?
A sliver of light crept in through the darkness that surrounded me.
I didn’t hesitate; I followed the light.
As I followed as light seeped in until the room was full of light, I was back in my tent at the camp. There was a mutedtone to everything surrounding me like some of the light had been leached out.
That’s how I knew this wasn’t real. It was a dream, a hallucination, or something. I wasn’t really here.
Luka lay on our bed, his dark lashes fanned against his pale cheeks. Even his lips had lost their pallor.
Luce’s hands were pressed to Luka’s chest. Hisunmovingchest.
Hecate’s hands were on Luce’s shoulders, her eyes watching her carefully.
He was supposed to come back.
He was supposed to come back.
“Do something!”
Luce remained frozen. Hecate’s lips moved as she murmured something to Luce I couldn’t hear.
“DO SOMETHING!” I screamed.
But they couldn’t hear me.
Luce’s face fell. She brought her hands up to her face, they trembled as she stared at them. Her lips moved, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. She turned and faced Hecate, her arms gesturing wildly.
Deep lines were etched into Hecate’s brow, her lips fixed in a frown.
This wasn’t the plan. They were supposed to bring him back.
A sob worked its way up my chest.
No, I didn’t accept this fate.
I called to my magic, and even in this weird dimension, it responded. My fingertips tingled as my magic pressed against the surface.
I moved to the bed, straddling Luka, with my legs on either side of him. I pressed my hands to Luka’s chest. I pushed down and let back up, trying to get his heart pumping again.
