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28
ADDIE
Iwould have screamed with frustration if I had a voice. Hel wasn’t here to help. The other Reaper had seen herself out, much to my annoyance. Beside me, Vi looked on with abject horror.
She turned to my body and shook me. I wished I could have told her that I wasn’t in there. I wasn’t going to stick around and try, either. There wasn’t time.
Vince howled and the weave of reality shattered. Fate threads snapped on a larger scale than I thought possible. When the dirt beneath Maddox’s paws cracked open, I threw myself into the gorge.
Even in spirit form, my feet tangled beneath me. I was undeterred, though. Nothing could stop me from reaching Maddox. He plummeted into the gap and vanished from sight, but only for a second. I threw myself at the hole and shoved my arm into the darkness.
It shouldn’t have worked. Nothing about what happened made any sense. The moment I touched Maddox, my hand turned solid. I was able to wrap corporeal fingers around his leg and pull him back up to solid ground.
It reminded me of limbo. I’d fallen into a similar hole only to be grabbed by a spirit.
I realized now that the spirit had been Maddox. His soul wasn’t in him.
It was with me.
Somehow, I kept his soul on me at all times. I didn’t know how I’d done it or why, only that I was never alone. Maddox and I were always together because the most essential part of him was in my possession.
I moved to push his soul back into him, but before I could even muster enough thought to do so, Maddox licked the side of my face. His tongue should not have connected with my cheek, but it did.
Something about us defied the laws of reality. Perhaps that explained why Hel had given us such an odd look earlier. She’d taken notice.
I didn’t know what this meant for either of us, and there wasn’t time to find out. The world continued to crumble around us. More holes split open. Behind us, Vi and Ness yelped. I twisted and shouted for them to run. It should be safer away from here.
To my surprise, my body spoke. My fear for my friends was greater than the shades’ vengeful urges. Vi and Ness gave my body a startled stare before turning their attention on the fight below.
“Leave us,” I said, through my body. “We’ll be fine.”
Even from down here in the quarry, I could see doubt written all across Vi’s face. But her gaze hopped over the bodies surrounding the soul-torn wolf. Her face blanched before she gave a nod.
My path was a dark one, full of things that no one should have to see in their lifetime. I would keep my friends out of it if I could. They would have nightmares if they stayed any longer—or they would fall into a hole in reality, which no one wanted to happen.
I stood and put my back to Maddox. He faced Vince. I faced myself.
The shades would kill me if I couldn’t get back into my body. They’d locked me out, but there had to be an opening I could sneak past. Every door had a keyhole.
First things first, I swept up the power I’d gathered from the world around me and used it to sew the tears in reality together again. Death was a natural part of life. It set everything right, even rips in the fabric of reality.
I struck balance with my every step. Vince howled again, but I countered it with the power I pulled into myself. This stasis was fragile, though. There was too much death. If Vince howled again, I would need life arcana.
And Cerri wasn’t here.
Maddox snarled. I glanced back and watched him bite down into Vince’s flank. He pinned Vince to the ground, but the soul-torn wolf lifted his head and howled again. The sound ripped through reality. I didn’t have the power to fix it this time.
Even if I reached my body again, what could I do? The answer was obvious.
I ran up the ravine and rushed my own body. This had to work or else I was screwed. With the last of the power I’d harnessed, I turned it into a sharp wedge that I pushed before me. It carved into my body and shoved the shades aside. The shades doubled down, but there was a split second where my body was empty.
I leapt into the space.
Gasping, I dropped to my knees. Blood dribbled down my chest and onto the ground. My lungs were made of fire at this point. Everything else crackled like ice. The shades had drained me of so much life energy that I could barely lift a hand, let alone stand.
Down below, in the quarry, Maddox pinned Vince to the ground again. When it came to a fair, one on one fight, Maddox came out on top every time. This time, when Vince howled, Maddox stomped on the wolf’s throat. The sound became gargled. The black rips in reality fluctuated, but they didn’t tear wider.
All around me, the shades gathered to darken my vision. They moaned and groaned, but they didn’t have the energy to fight me anymore. Under my breath, I promised them peace and crawled down into the quarry.
