The two of them turned toward the tornado and held out their hands as if they were going to walk in and embrace the spinning thing.
“Try to collapse it!” Jane yelled. “Throw all your Chi’karda into collapsing its mass then we’ll blow it apart! We have to hope that ends it and seals the breach into the Fourth!”
“Okay!” Tick screamed, his heart pumping. The power was an inferno inside his chest, and he was ready to unleash it. “Let’s do it!”
He pushed his hands toward the spinning beast and released the Chi’karda that had been building and building. Streams of orange fire exploded from his fingertips and into the tornado, getting caught in the spin. Jane was doing the same. Soon the gray funnel was colorful and bright; the lightning was more brilliant and sharp, the thunder louder.
Tick screamed with the effort as he pushed more and more of his powers at the Fourth Dimension, trying to envision what he wanted, trying to make it happen. His body began to shake, his muscles weak. Chi’karda poured from him and Jane in spouts; the streams were almost the same color as what had come from the mouths of the Voids.
Now everything was shaking—the ground, the castle, his skull. The funnel of the tornado was white-hot, blinding. Impossible noises erupted from its form, and the wind was torrential, ripping away the shield Tick had built around himself.
He screamed again and threw all of his strength into the storm.
There was a sudden concussion of pure energy that ripped away from the tornado like the blast of a nuclear bomb. Tick felt his body be jerked into the air, and then he was flying. What remained of the castle exploded, every last brick of it cracking apart and flying right along with him.
He didn’t hit the ground until he’d been thrown a thousand yards. A chunk of rock landed on his head, and all he knew was pain.
Chapter 29
Joints and Eardrums
Lorena held Lisa close, and it broke her heart to feel the trembling of her daughter’s bones. The girl had always been strong-spirited and tough, but no one could be expected to hide their fear after the last few days of their lives.
Mordell had brought them back to the Great Hall, whispering something about its natural powers and it being the best place to protect them. They found the farthest corner of the chamber carved from black stone and huddled together while Mordell sat nearby; she had a look on her face as if she wanted to be closer but had to maintain her dignity as a Lady of Blood and Sorrow. There wasn’t much for the three of them to do except be scared and listen to the sounds of battle.
They were distant, but terrible: the swooshing of fire, screams of pain, shouts of command. Soon it all changed to a great, rushing noise, like wind passing through a narrow canyon, or a tornado. The screams intensified. And then the worst sound—breaking rock. It wasn’t the loudest noise, but it made the entire castle quake and tremble. Lorena felt the vibration in her joints and eardrums.
She’d never felt so helpless. Her only son was out there, fighting something that seemed impossible. Something that shouldn’t exist. And to add to it, he was fighting alongside the woman who’d tried to kill him and countless others. Atticus was putting his faith in a madwoman. It took every ounce of Lorena’s willpower to not run back out that door and try to help her boy—she almost itched from the desire. But she had Lisa to think about. And Edgar and Kayla back home. Atticus could take care of himself—he’d proven it over and over.
And so the battle raged on, the sounds of fire and wind increasing in volume. Lorena could do nothing but sit and hold her daughter and imagine all the awful things that might have happened, or might be happening, to her sweet, sweet son.
Everything changed again in a moment. An instant so terrible and horrifying that Lorena knew she’d never sleep again without it haunting her nightmares.
It was an eruption. A detonation. A thunderclap of sound and movement that shook the Great Hall as if it were nothing but an empty cardboard box. Lorena and Lisa both screamed as they flew across the room, smacking into Mordell and rolling another few feet before coming to a stop. The air was filled with the noise of cracks and booms, as if the entire castle had exploded and collapsed in on itself.
Lorena threw away her caution and scrambled to her feet, trying to set aside the panic that thrust itself through her nerves. She grabbed Lisa by the hand, lifted her to her feet, and ran to the exit of the Great Hall, swaying back and forth as the floor continued to tilt and pitch. She’d just stepped in front of the doorway when she stopped, her heart plummeting. Rock and stone and brick had collapsed into a heap, blocking the arched opening completely. Dust choked the air.
Mordell’s voice from behind Lorena made her jump and spin around to see the woman standing there, impossibly looking even more grave than before.
“The Great Hall has survived,” the Lady of Blood and Sorrow said. “But I’d guess nothing else has. We’re trapped.”