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Twenty-Nine
Rosalie
Calvin, Baine, and I stood in the center of the maze garden where the rocks spiraled around a dirt patch on the ground. There wasn’t anything special about this area, at least none that I could see. Calvin and I wore matching blue robes. The thick material made me itch and sweat, but Baine told us Lord Demious wore only this when he performed his meditation out here.
Having my brother back home filled me with relief. He glanced over and winked at me.
The moment we were reunited, I wanted to spend hours talking with him, but there was no time for reconnecting until the barrier around Farrow’s Gate was secured.
“What are we supposed to actually do here?” Calvin scratched the back of his head as he stared at the ground.
Baine had been extremely brief on how Calvin and I could maintain the wards surrounding Farrow’s Gate. Even after all my incessant prodding on our way here, he was extremely tight lipped about the whole ordeal. I wasn’t sure if he knew or if he did and he regretted allowing Calvin and I to stay and help. Not like we had a choice. I doubted Kelia would’ve agreed to step aside during the fight with the crone otherwise.
Behind Calvin a bright whirl of light began circling into the air, the color swirling blue until the air disappeared and an oval opening showed a woman with stark blonde hair wearing a black dress with red trim along the edges and a red patch on her chest.
Kelia stepped through the portal alone, her gaze fixated on Calvin. He smiled wide at her like the two were long lost friends.
“You should have revealed your heritage early on,” she said, seeming unphased by my brother’s charm. “The magi have agreed to allow you and your sister to maintain the barrier.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked at my brother. We could do this.
Kelia’s blank expression was as icy as her blue eyes. “Sit in the center, there, and hold hands.”
Calvin arched a brow at me, but begrudgingly sat on the dirt circle. Baine stepped aside, keeping both hands on the hilts of the swords hanging on his hips, his brow furrowed with concern.
“Do we sing now?” Calvin joked, his wide smile almost making me laugh.
I squeezed his hands and didn’t miss the stern gaze Kelia sent our way.
“Ouch,” he whispered.
“Stop acting like a child.” I wondered how my twin could even joke at a time like this.
“You must perform the ritual at the exact time the sun hits the horizon,” Kelia said. “Or you fail to keep this land safe.”
I eyed my brother, begging him to focus.
He nodded and closed his eyes. “We’re ready.”
“Search for the power inside you then release it into the ground as deep as you can reach.”
With my eyes closed, I focused on my flame, the spark that made me feel alive, the fire that had kept me warm when nothing surrounded me but darkness.
“Release it,” Kelia said.
Warmth spread through my core, my arms, my hands, almost as if the connection with my twin would swirl us up into a tornado of fire. An unnatural wind picked up my hair and swirled it around my face. Calvin’s grip on me tightened, our hands burning as one flame.
“Into the ground,” Kelia shouted beside us. “Focus the energy below you, nowhere else.”
Her loud voice pushed me to action. Gathering the vortex inside my body into a single mass, I shoved my power low, to my legs, lower, the energy funneling through me like a conduit.
A bolt of electric ripped through my body, melding my hands to Calvin. I screamed, opening my eyes, but could see nothing but flames, my vision hazed and unfocused. Calvin yelled with me, but didn’t let go, his vicelike grip keeping us connected.
“What’s happening?” Baine yelled. “What are you doing to them?”
“Nothing. This is how the barrier is maintained.”
I screamed as pain ripped through my body, shredding my insides.
