Suddenly, the loose rock and scree along the ridge rumbled and shot toward me in a swarm of dust and debris, encircling me in a protective silo.
It was dark inside, save for the faint red glow squeezing through the gaps between the jagged rocks.
It was crazy. This strange, inhospitable landscape was responding to my magic in ways that pushed the boundaries of my imagination—ways I’d never before experienced. It felt like a lucid dream. Like I could literally bend and shape and recreate the world by thought and intention alone.
A smile touched my tight-pressed lips.
This is how it should always be.
The magic inside me pulsed. My body buzzed with power.
But the demons outside my newfound walls weren’t deterred. They hit me with a coordinated, sustained attack, their flames heating up the stones around me.
Immediately the temperature inside my silo began to rise.
They’re going to cook me alive.
I was weakening fast, my muscles cramping, pain hammering my skull as my mind fought to hold on to the magic keeping the rocks in place.
And it was so. Fucking. Hot.
A few months ago, I might’ve tried to fight them. But I wasn’t that crazy, impulsive witch anymore. I knew when I was outgunned, and I had no intention of becoming a human barbecue.
With one final, desperate burst of magical will, I blasted apart my stone silo, turning my protective rocks into projectiles that shot outward at my foes.
The demons were thrown back by the explosion, battered with a barrage of hot, sharp rocks.
Taking advantage of the momentary chaos, I threw myself down the rocky slope.
I tumbled forever, feeling every bump on the way down. When I finally stopped rolling, landing unceremoniously in a shallow depression at the bottom of the rise, I was pretty sure I’d died somewhere along the way.
But I wasn’t dead. I could still feel every ache, every scrape. My skin was shredded, my bones rattling, my insides jumbled up like beaten eggs. And the fire demons had already taken wing—they were circling overhead.
Wincing, I pushed myself up and got to my feet, trying to get my bearings. The scent of sulfur was much stronger down here, but beneath it, I caught a faint strawberry whiff once again.
“Sophie?” My heart was pounding. Was she really here with me? “Where are you?”
Here,the voice responded. It sounded like it was inside me. Come with me.
“I can’t see you!”
This way. Here, Gray. Hurry!
The response was louder this time, accompanied by a flash of coppery red—her hair blowing in the breeze.
“Hey!” I called out. “Wait!” I darted after the blur of colors ahead of me, catching a brief glimpse of her white lace tee and black miniskirt—completely out of place in this twisted realm—and those unmistakable red curls.
Curls that flickered with rainbow light.
I laughed as I jogged after her, ignoring the pain, the burn in my lungs, the ash filling my mouth. Smoke billowed across the landscape, winding its way around me as the demons circled closer, but my Sophie was here, and I pressed on.
I couldn’t lose her. Not in this awful place.
“Sophie! Wait!” I’d reached the edge of another rocky rise, but unlike the steep drop from the ridge, this one descended gradually. At the bottom, not too far in the distance, the landscape morphed into a lush, inviting forest that I could’ve sworn wasn’t there before.
It made no sense, but I didn’t care. A cool breeze drifted up from the woods, rolling across the valley and up to greet me. In front of me, for as far as the eye could see, the earth was green and verdant, teeming with life. That meant there was a water source. Probably food—edible plants, maybe even a rabbit or deer.
My mouth watered at the thought.
