Shit shit shit.My anxiety is spiking through the roof. “Should we suture the incision?”
“No point.” Danny is panting. “We don’t have time for stitches. And even the healing spell will need to be done again. It’ll all be reversed by the time we go back through the portal.”
“Going through the portal undoes magic?”
“It strips any spells, healing, enchantments…The theory is that the Void wants to reclaim the magic.”
I have to assume it makes sense, because I don’t have time to think about it. Already the rumbling has become deafening, the mist swirling around us in rapid circles. Our hair is all staticky, like it gets immediately before a lightning strike.
“Help me cut his ties,” I say to Danny, swiping my dropped scalpel off the floor and starting to saw through the ropes.
We release Harrisford, and together, we haul him up to standing,one of his arms around each of our necks. Percy winds around our legs, purring. Bits of debris from I don’t know where are starting to rain down on our heads.
Harrisford stirs as we prop him up, his head lolling to one side, his eyelids fluttering open. He blinks blearily at me, the pupils of his brown and blue eyes dilated.
“Gwendolynne,” he slurs, giving me a stupefied smile. “You…came.”
My heart stutters and I swallow. I can’t dwell on his words. There’s no time to think, no time to feel. “Hang in there, Briggs,” I say, curt. “We’re getting you out.”
Conall and Heloise fling themselves out of the portal as the ground judders and more fragments of rock plummet down upon our heads. Holding himself low to the ground, his tail streaming behind him, Percy too sprints toward the opening and dives through it.
Supporting Harrisford, Danny and I stumble closer, aiming for the tear.
“Wait.” Danny stops just before we go through. “We need a Source on both sides to keep it open.”
I whip my head around to look at him, over the top of Harrisford’s head. “Wewhat? Why didn’t you say that earlier?”
He reddens. “I forgot. I was so focused on rescuing Briggs.”
My throat is so thick, my chest so tight, that I feel like I can barely form words. “But…the Source. It’s still in Harrisford…” I trail off, my mouth going dry. The only other bit of Source I know of is inside Percy.
Danny gives me a rueful look. “Yeah. If we’d got it out, we could’ve left it here, as the tether.”
Harrisford scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, and says to Danny, his voice thick, “You never got my Source out?”
“Sorry, mate, couldn’t find it. Must’ve migrated.”
“Well, shit.” He sags against me. “Fucking dragon’s balls.”
There’s a loud bang, and something crashes to the ground, startling us. Panicking, I ask, “What’ll happen if he doesn’t stay behind?”
“If he goes through before us, the portal will collapse and trap us here,” Danny says, distraught. “And ifwego first, and he tries to follow”—he grimaces—“the portal will collapse on him as he’s passing through.”
All the blood drains from my face. “It’ll kill him?”
“Possibly.” Danny swallows. “Probably.”
God-fucking-dammit.My heart races and my limbs turn to jelly and it’s a miracle I even manage to keep Harrisford propped up. “This can’t be the only option.” It can’t be, it can’t be. My brain scrambles to find something—anything—that will solve this problem. But nothing comes to mind. This isn’t like studying, where every question has a logical solution. I cannot think of a single answer.
I heave a shuddering breath, in and out. My chest is so tight, it feels like it could explode. For once in my life I am…stumped.
And then Harrisford is there, holding me up. He has let go of Danny and has taken my face in both hands, gripping it.
“Gwendolynne,” he says, and he seems more lucid than he has this whole time. “You need to leave—”
“What?” I blink at him, distracted; I’m still trying to figure out how to fix this.
His fingers dig into the swell of my cheeks. “You have to go, love, you—”
