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“That’s all we need,” I said with a tight nod. If she could provide even a glimmer of hope, I’d find a way to navigate the rest. For Gaige, I would do anything.
“We need to move quickly.” With a definitive shove, she scooted her stool away from the counter and stood.
“Who’s all going?” Calem asked as he jumped to his feet.
“All of us,” Raven said with a hard look that dared anyone to defy her.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to. Kaori stepped beside her and placed a shaky hand on her shoulder. “I want to rush after him, too. But our powers don’t work in the shadows. What if something were to happen? The Charmers need a Council to help them rebuild.”
Raven’s lips quivered as she fought back what was likely abiting response. She gave in with a forceful exhale and rolled her lips together, ignoring the weight of our gazes. “Just bring him back.”
“I will,” I said. Isla had already moved toward the bedroom, and I fell in line behind her, along with Ozias and Calem. We had no idea what we were walking into. I would have loved to utilize the Charmers’ powers, but there was no arguing against Kaori’s logic. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Kaori pull Raven into a one-armed hug, but her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. She nodded to me, then let her gaze slip to Calem’s back before dipping her head to speak with Raven.
“The magic already worked once here before, so perhaps the veil is still thin enough formymagic to pierce it again,” Isla said.
Ozias stood to her left and held out his hand. “Ready?”
She studied the lines of his palm and then gripped his forearm instead. “Let’s go.”
Shadows unfurled from the rafters and poured from the hidden crevices of the room in a flurry of movement. They blanketed us in a spectacular world of onyx, sable, and charcoal, wreathing the furniture and casting everything in darkened hues. Since my death, I’d found peace in the realm. But now, staring at the washed-out space that had been so full of life, so full of color, just the evening prior… I needed to see the flushed red of Gaige’s sweat-slicked skin, the steel-blue of his eyes heated like fresh metal, dampened hickory curls plastered against the nape of his neck… Before, the shadows had been a reprieve. Now, they only served to remind me of what I’d lost.
Wide-eyed with her lips slightly parted, Isla raked her gaze over the room. “I can still feel his magic.”
Hope purled in my chest. “Gaige’s?”
“No, the mage’s.” She’d focused on the bed and raised her hand above the space where Gaige had slept. She sucked on her teeth as the hair along her arms stood on end. “This person… His magic feels…old.”
“What does that mean?” Calem asked, drawing closer to the bed so we were all within arm’s reach of the frame.
Her throat bobbed. “That he’s very, very powerful. I don’t know how he managed to blend our magics or why, but that’s how he’s trapped Gaige somewhere.” Tipping her palm toward the ceiling, she centered herself with several breaths. “Okay, Ozias. I’m going to send an electrical current over this space, and I need you to cover me in shadows while I do it. Understood?”
“Understood.” Eyes tight, he studied the space where her fingers had entrenched in his forearm. Inky tendrils began to wrap his muscular arm until his skin was obscured. They stilled near her touch, waiting for her command. She said nothing, but the swell of electricity was unmistakable even in the realm. Yet, as the sparks arced down her arms in faded-white waves, the charge felt stifled, like an uncomfortable prickle instead of a torrent of violent magic. She noticed, too, because she gave Ozias’s arm a squeeze, and then his shadows enveloped her so rapidly and with such hunger that, for a moment, there was a void where her body stood.
And then the shadows jolted. Tiny, electrical zigzags spired off her like miniature lightning strikes, and she grunted as she forced the magic to follow the path down her arm. Sweat broke out along her forehead and her muscles strained as she braced against Ozias. Electric shadows lashed against his skin and left visible wounds, but he didn’t flinch. He braced her with two steady hands, feeding more shadows to her currents until her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
Her power left in a rush as a thunderous clap shook the realm, followed by a sickening rip. A gash hung in the space above the bed, and through the rip in the veil, I saw a world of gray mist and a path laden with ebony stones.
I’m in a grayed-out world until I come to a beach and meet a man cloaked in shadows.
Gaige’s recollection of his dream slammed into me, and my breath caught in my chest. He’d been dreaming about this place—visiting this place—for days on end. That first time… Back in Cruor… It hadn’t just been a dream. I’d witnessed him being stolen away and ripped him back from the clutches of this dangerous mage without even knowing.
And now that I knew, I would most certainly do it again. “Let’s go.”
“I don’t think Isla can make it,” Ozias said, cradling her tense body against his chest. Her eyes moved rapidly beneath her closed lids, and quiet, mumbled words spilled out of her parted lips.
“Fracture. The fracture. Don’t…” A violent shake ran through her body and then all at once she went limp, save the shallow rise and fall of her chest. Ozias’s grip on her tightened.
“Take her back. Quickly,” I said.
“What about you two?” Ozias asked. He glanced between Calem and me, but he was already commanding the shadows by his feet to pull back so he could return to the corporeal world.
“We’ll figure it out.” I tipped my chin toward Calem, and his single nod was the only confirmation I needed.
“Be safe.” He tucked Isla closer to his chest and backstepped out the realm. Unwilling to wait any longer, I leapt into the fracture—for indeed she had managed to split the shadow realm to reveal this hidden sphere—and landed quietly with Calem a breath behind me.
With the jerk of his thumb, he indicated to the gash behind us. “How long you think that’ll last?”
“Without Isla…” I started to jog. “Not long enough.”
