And then I was weightless. I was on my back, spinning in the air like I was on a clock face and I was unable to breathe. It was as if all the oxygen had just vanished. My insides started to burn like I’d swallowed acid then the pain slowly made its way to the surface.
My skin felt like it was being peeled off, inch by agonizing inch. Then an intolerable pressure began to build inside my head. My vision blurred and my eyes felt like they were being forced out of their sockets—from the inside.
I gasped and flailed, fighting for a breath and writhing in pain. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t utter a single sound.
In the silence, I heard her cluck her tongue at me and then I was inverted—feet in the air, face down and falling. My body jerked to a halt and I floated in the space in front of her. We were eye to eye. Only it wasn’t a woman anymore, it was a man. It was the Fahl I’d seen the first night in the woods. Even upside down, I could make out his emaciated form and black wispy hair.
“Now, are you going to be reasonable or am I going to have to be mean?”
I shook my head, in no way ready to do anything less than tear his head off.
Suddenly, I was upright again. Fahl turned and walked toward the trees and, like a balloon tied to a string, I trailed helplessly along behind him, floating several feet off the ground. The pale faces in the shadows grew closer and closer, clearer and clearer until I was upon them.
Their mouths yawned wide and I could hear the clicking of their teeth as they snapped their jaws at me. With their arms outstretched, they clutched and clawed at me, but only so far as the darkness went. I hovered just outside their reach.
I scanned the gruesome faces and tattered clothes, fear rising inside me.
“I could let them have you for a while. That might change your mind,” Fahl crooned happily, stepping into the forest, pulling me along behind him where I could feel greedy hands grabbing at me. I kicked my legs and lashed out with my arms, but there was no resistance, no contact so I drew my legs up out of their reach.
I scanned the ravenous crowd and then I saw him. Derek stood at the back of the crush, arms crossed over his wide chest, staring at me, an inscrutable expression on his face. His eyes were dark, onyx beads in a pale face, just like the rest of them.
I felt the pain of my wound again as the chasm in my heart grew, widening as the loss of him became more poignant than ever. Bitterness began to churn in my stomach. Derek held my gaze for several long seconds before he looked to his right. I followed his eyes. And the bottom dropped out of my world.
I existed in a vacuum of pain and suffering, the most incredible sorrow I’d ever felt rushing in on me, occupying all the space around me. I was certain it would suck me into oblivion and I would cease to exist. And, for a moment, I wished for it.
Standing on the other side of the crowd, to Derek’s right, was the pasty, weary face of my father.
When Derek suddenly moved, my attention was drawn back to him. He rushed toward me. For an instant my heart soared, but it was short lived. Though his expression never changed, he raised his hand and lashed out at me, striking my cheek. More than the sting of the slap, I felt the painful burn of my flesh tearing. There was something in his hand.
I looked at him, dumbfounded, my eyes drawn to where his brother’s medal dangled from his fingers. When I raised my eyes to his face again, he was mouthing something to me. My confused brain struggled to make sense of it, rational thought beyond my capability. And then I saw him raise his arms like he used to when he was wielding fire. I looked back at his lips and saw him say, “Fight.”
I looked down at the mob reaching for me and I relaxed my legs, my feet quickly falling to within their grasp. One woman who’d obviously suffered a fatal wound to the side of her head took my foot in her hand and yanked. When my body dipped, I