I didn’t even know the type of mushrooms he’d eaten. I could whip up an antidote in less than an hour— but it was already too late.
Oh, shit, Oberi gasped.I guess I’ll die.
Oberi dropped to the ground. His paws convulsed for a second or two, and his body shook with tremors before going still completely. Oberi let out one last breath, and it whooshed out of his body as his lungs ceased to expand and his sight became distant.
I felt my connection to Oberi rip and tear. The effect was more painful than a dagger to the heart. The piece of Oberi that bound itself to me withered away, a fading beacon in a cold, dark world.
I struggled to hold on to my sense of self as everything I’d ever cared about— everything that had meant anything at all— turned into a bleak nothingness. I ceased to know who I was, to feel the ground, or even the heartbeat inside my own chest. My breaths became shallow, each inhale a stabbing blade that carved out my lungs. An effect like a cursed spell froze my organs, turning them to chilling stone. All I felt was a floating sensation that told me my Familiar was gone.
Without Oberi, I couldn’t comprehend why life was worth living anymore. Why did I even bother existing? It’s not like I mattered without my soul.
Charlie let out a sob, and tears trickled down my face as I reached out a shaking hand to feel Oberi’s pelt. His body was already growing stiff and cold. I shook him, but the Familiar gave no sign of life. He had no pulse. The edge of our bond that connected to Oberi was lifeless, and his magic didn’t respond when my own pushed against it.
I let out a shuddering wail. Our Familiar was gone.
Oberi was dead.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
CHARLIE
Everything had happened so fast that it felt like a dream. One second Oberi was beside us, and the next he was gone. I lost all feeling in my limbs as I shook his lifeless form. A weight crashed down on my lungs, and even with my Air magic, I couldn’t be bothered to breathe. It was like I’d forgotten how.
This couldn’t be happening. It had to be some sort of illusion. But I felt it through our bond, and I knew what had happened for sure.
Oberi had died.
No.I refused to believe it. This wasn’t real.
“Charlie, do something!” Ava demanded. “Get these mushrooms out of Oberi! You have Earth magic.”
“They’re not plants, pidge,” I snapped. “I can’t control fungi any more than I can control animals.”
“We have to do something!” Ava cried.
Fuck, we were both paralyzed. Our grief was so tremendous that it made us completely worthless to even try and reverse Oberi’s fate.
Marcus leapt up from his seat. “We’ll find Professor Woolly. He’s an expert on mushrooms. He must know how to fix this.”
Marcus was trying to give us hope, but I knew it was already too late. Kallie and Marcus’ footsteps scrambled across the prison yard. Rishi meowed and raced behind them.
My hands trembled as I pulled Oberi into my lap. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I pressed my face into his fur. Gently, Ava reached out for him. Her fingers brushed against my arm as she stroked his fur.
“He— he can’t be…” Her tone wavered.
All the horror I felt twisting in my gut was amplified by her emotions. I felt them surge through me, then just wither away. Ava’s connection to me faded, like a candle flame burning out.
This was worse than when we’d tore our bond apart when we broke up. Back then, I could still feel the edges of our soul reaching out for one another. Now… there was nothing. Without Oberi connecting us, the bond tying me to her was gone.
It was as if the earth had dropped out from beneath us, and the air had swept away. I was spinning through an empty vacuum, in a place where time didn’t exist. Everything I knew to be true seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye, and all time and space lost its meaning. I forgot my name, or what I was even doing here.
The place in my heart where my soul should’ve been became empty and hollow. The chasm that opened inside of me was worse than any loneliness I’d ever felt, because I didn’t even have my ownsoulto keep me company. Terror shook me to the bone.
I put an arm around Ava, just to make sure she was still there. Her presence was the only thing keeping me sane. I pressed my forehead to hers.
“I’m sorry, pidge,” I whispered.
She sagged into me, and I placed a kiss on her head. The moment my lips touched her skin, she yanked away from me. “Hang on. If Oberi’s dead, why are we still here?”
