And that was when I felt it. The storm was passing, the rain lifting. Wild storms ended as quickly as they hit. Soon there would be no more wild magic to hold me up. I glanced up, away at the city, crouched in magicless darkness.
Lights flickered on, blazed. Magic caught again like a flame to a wick, and exhaled life and safety into the city. We had done it. We had channeled the wild magic away from the city. The storm was passing.
More than that, the wells and networks were filling fast. I could feel the deep tingle of familiar magic wrapping up inside me again, a heavy warm weight that stretched out against my skin, all pleasure, no pain.
I could easily access that magic, even out here in magicless St. Johns. But it was obvious Chase, lying still, eyes closed, hand clasped with Greyson’s at my feet, struggled to reach magic. To keep him alive.
My father let go of the sword, and bent over Greyson.
Stone growled. My father paid no attention to him. Instead, Dad traced a glyph in the air, a serpentine line that glowed pure white gold. He caught it up on his hands, where it pressed into place like gauntlets a king might wear. My father glowed with that light, as if the magic wrapped him in its vestments.
And then he pressed his hand into Greyson’s head.
Yes. Into.
Greyson went absolutely still, and Dad said something that sounded like an old language. A blessing more than a curse.
The gold lines of magic grew stronger and filled my dad with more light. He stood, and was more solid than he had been, though I could still see Stone and Greyson through him.
He regarded me for a moment. “Good-bye, daughter.” He turned toward the gate.
A rumble shook the ground. I turned. The gate, trapped by Victor’s spells, began to collapse.
Hayden was cutting a swath through the beasts toward us. He’d be here, on top of Greyson and Chase, in a second.
And out of the corner of my eye, I saw Terric stand and swing his ax, killing another beast, while he poured magic, less than before, into Shame. Terric was exhausted. The easy magic, the wild magic, was nearly gone.
Without it, Shame would die.
I spun, Zay’s sword still in my hand, and ran for the center of the field, for the pile of broken, blown-apart disks that no longer held magic, where the gate still shimmered in the air, growing smaller as Victor wrapped it in massive lines of magic that webbed it so that no more creatures poured out.
I didn’t want the disks. I wanted the crystal. Found it, glowing pink with magic beneath the burnt silver disks. I picked it up and could almost taste the sweetness of the full, heavy magic it carried like a perfume on the back of my throat.
“Terric!” I yelled.
He glanced over. I threw the crystal to him, willing it with mind and magic to find him, reach him. He caught it with the hand that was channeling magic, life, into Shame.
His eyes widened. And then he was on his knees, his ax discarded at his side, pressing the crystal to Shame’s chest with both hands, as if it were a new heart for a broken toy. He bent and pressed his forehead to Shame’s, whispering to him.
No time.
My father strode toward the gate. Close enough he could step through, but Victor’s lines blocked him.
“He must let me pass,” my father said.
Victor was focused, caught in a trance of sheer will, sweat peppering his face, his arms shaking as he chanted the spell and forced the gate between life and death to close. He was wielding a hell of a lot of magic with very little resources.
He did not see my dad. He did not know he was sealing Zayvion’s death forever.
There was no cavalry to come to our rescue.
But I didn’t need a cavalry to save Zayvion.
I strode over to Victor. My teacher, Zayvion’s teacher, who might even have been a father figure to Zay. I put my hand on his shoulder and used Influence so that he would understand me and obey.
“Wait until I pass through. Then close the gate behind me.”
“Allie,” he gasped. “It is suicide.”
“Zayvion is the guardian of the gates and I am his Soul Complement. No one’s going to tell me I can’t bring him home.”
Someone yelled. I thought it was Shame. He had told me I couldn’t go anywhere without him.