I could feel the crackle in my skin, the power congregating before I released it – right into Cail’s chest. Cail screamed and jumped to the side, the powerful burst flying into the soft, blood soaked wall behind him.
“No!” I could only smile at his outburst, the fear in his voice making me feel more powerful.
“How do you remember?”
I looked at the group to my left. Cail obviously couldn’t see the vision as I could. “I am stronger than you would have ever assumed, Cail. My Father made me that way.”
“No! It can’t be!”
Cail moved to attack, but I stepped to the side, my brain able to determine the weakness of his weapon early on. I did not wait for him to regroup. I did not wait to find a weakness. I needed to get out of here, and Cail was keeping me trapped. I moved my energy seamlessly into him, the power burning him away.
His eyes grew wide at the first of the energy and at the pain my attack was causing him. Soon his legs gave way and he sunk to the ground, life leaving him.
“Wyn.” His final word was a whisper of his sister’s name. My best friend. I didn’t have time to make sense of it. I didn’t have time to rejoice.
It took a moment for me to realize my mistake. I was trapped inside Cail’s mind, a mind I had just destroyed.
Everything around me began to shift and fall as Cail’s mind disintegrated into nothing. I screamed as the ceiling peeled away, the doors fell off of their hinges, and red liquid poured into the room from behind every new opening. I would drown in it. Drown here, in Cail’s mind. There was no return path out of here. I would die here.
I turned to Ilyan, knowing this was the end.
My breath caught as Ilyan looked right into me, his eyes seeing me as I stood in the melting room, the floor shifting as it attempted to give way.
“Goodbye.” My voice caught as I reached toward him, my fingers twisting around his newly cut hair. I wished I could tell him I liked it. I liked how young it made him look, how strong. I smiled, trying to ignore the tears on my cheeks.
“No!” I felt Ilyan’s arms wrap around me, his body bridging the gap between worlds. His magic flared and filled me so quickly I couldn’t stop it.
I screamed in fear at the pressure before I realized the change.
My body seemed more real, and my brain was clearer. Ilyan had somehow brought me back.
I looked around wildly not knowing what to expect. I was lying on a bed, my body twitching and my breathing ragged. I could barely make out Ilyan’s voice while my mind tried desperately to focus on his magic.
“Joclyn?” Ilyan’s voice was wild, his eyes wide at everything that had happened.
I didn’t know how to respond to him. I didn’t know if I could. I reached up and placed my hands on his face, my eyes boring into his. I had his eyes memorized, every speck of gold every vein. Those memories came back stronger than I had ever experienced, and for one fleeting moment, I felt my heart calm.
It was him.
“Ilyan.”
I pulled him to me, placing my forehead against his as I clung to him, basked in him.
And then everything changed.
The door to the room I had been placed in flew open and Ryland walked in. His blue eyes were wide and scared as he searched for me. But it didn’t matter.
He was pain.
I couldn’t stop it.
My learned reflexes took over and my breathing picked up as my body moved into a panic. I pulled my head toward my left shoulder and tried to hide.
And then I remembered.
I had magic.
I lifted my hands as something deep inside of me yelled at me to stop. My brain screamed at me, but I couldn’t focus through the fear. The response that I had been trained to display over the past two months far too strong in me now.
Somehow I knew I had seen this scene before.
I aimed to kill.
My magic flew away from me and Dramin stepped in front of Ryland as he did his best to shield him. I knew why my mind had been screaming.
I had seen this before.
And now I knew where.
The screaming of everyone in the room intensified, as did Ilyan’s magic running through me. I was able to glance once at Dramin’s slow decent to the floor before Ilyan’s magic put me to sleep.
Thirty-Five
I didn’t know what had woken me. I didn’t even know where I was. I heard the thump of a knock, the whisper of voices and my mind kicked into overdrive. I spun out of the bed, landing on the floor as quietly as I could, my eyes darting around the unfamiliar space.
Several large stone arches sat to the left of the king sized bed I had been laid in, each one opening to a beautiful star filled sky. I should have been able to bask in the beauty, the safety that this mysterious place was offering me, but I couldn’t convince my mind of that.
My heart still beat erratically, my eyes darting around. This space was too open. I was too exposed here. Pain could find me.