magnified ability out toward him like a lightning strike, melding with him almost instantly. Then I focused on every mind in the group, Imparting to them as loudly and quickly as I could: “It’s Taron! It’s Taron! He took me and the Iris! I don’t know where I am! Please hel–”
But I was cut off as the Iris was ripped from my hand.
“What are you doing?” Cail yelled. “Why isn’t it working?”
He set the Iris on the floor behind him and grabbed my shoulders looking me up and down, his eyes finally fixing on my closed fist. He tried to tear it open, prying my fingers apart, while I struggled, clawing and even biting. I managed to get a good solid kick to his shin, knocking him over and freeing me from his grip. I scrambled over to where the Iris lay, now unguarded, and snatched it up, knowing I would need all the help I could get. I scanned out again looking for the Order, and found them closer than they had been before. They were coming. They’d heard me and were on their way. All I had to do was buy them time to get here and everything would be all right.
I honed in on Mr Reid, merging with him just as Cail started to get up. The power enhancement of the Iris made my earlier short lesson feel like a Master’s Class as I kinetically lifted a group of music stands as though they were nothing at all, hurling them straight at unsuspecting Cail. I continued to send stands flying, buzzing around the room like angry hornets, pummeling Cail to the ground, allowing me to crawl closer and closer to the exit.
As I reached the door, I heard Mr Anderson’s voice echo in my head: “Hang on, lass, we’re coming!”
Unfortunately, the wave of relief the news brought me also brought the moment of distraction that Cail needed to throw one of the airborne stands into my arm, knocking the Iris from my hand, and snapping my connection with Mr Reid like a frozen twig. The stands fell out of the air in a shower of rusted metal, and before I could pull the door open and make a run for it Cail had a fistful of my shirt and was once again throwing me to the floor.
“You’re going to pay for that,” Cail growled, still panting, blood and sweat running down his brow.
With a malicious gleam in his eye he stomped down on my forearm sending an excruciating pain through it and forcing a scream from my throat. My hand wrenched itself open, the green gem rolling to the floor. Paralyzed by pain I watched helplessly as he kicked the stone out of reach and knelt down beside me again, Iris and vial in hand. He put the Iris back into my hand and I closed my eyes as the enveloping warmth – now, without my Sciath, exactly like it had been that first time – flowed over me leaving me drifting in the familiar sea of light. The sensation was just as I remembered it with one small difference. This time the pool of swirling contentment and far off sounds seemed to be draining away, as if someone had pulled out the stopper. I forced my heavy eyes open and saw the same dancing colors and light, but instead of floating lazily around me, they were being pulled away, sucked into the glass vial Cail was holding.
He was taking my ability – and with it, my life.
I tried to stay awake, but I was so tired. Every part of me was so heavy, it felt like I was sinking into the stone of the floor. I struggled to find something to hold on to, but with every second that passed my mind drifted further away.
I thought of Ryland, and how much he’d grown. He’d be OK now. He finally had somewhere he belonged and people who would take care of him. He was safe. He didn’t need me anymore.
The comfort that thought brought me was almost enough to make me surrender to the hazy, leaden weight pulling me down to the dark peace. But then, just as I was about to give up, I thought of Alex, and my heart tore from my chest. Alex loved me. He needed me, I had to hold on. Who would take care of him if I was gone? I pictured Alex’s face and hung on to it. Pictured his