loosened, hit the dirt and collapsed against it, breathing hard and fast as her entire body quaked from the drain of using her power when she was still under the influence of the drug. Her vision tunnelled and she shook her head, shifting her cheek against the dirt, refusing to succumb to the darkness.
Thanatos needed her.
She pressed her palms against the dirt and gritted her teeth as she pushed herself up, cried out again as her bones ached and muscles shook and her arms almost gave out. Every fibre of her being seemed to tremble as she crawled to the rough wall of the tunnel, as she dug her fingers into the bumpy surface and hauled herself up onto her bare feet.
Bile rose up her throat as she glanced to her left, at the two males now suspended a foot off the ground by the sharp, black needles that punctured their bodies in multiple places. Sightless eyes stared at the roof of the tunnel, their mouths gaping open. She pivoted and hurried away from them, glared at the cage as she passed it and grabbed one of the wooden torches stuck in the ground. The warmth of the fire heated her right side as she held it before her, as she moved as quickly as she could manage to the other side of the cavern.
Another tunnel came into view there.
She followed it, picking up pace as her body recovered from the drain of using her power, as she set her mind on reaching the other side of the mountain range and the town she had seen in the distance.
Every step she took that carried her further away from Thanatos tore at her. She didn’t want to leave him, ached with a need to go back the way she had come and find him instead of finding help. She battled that urge, trying to resist it. She would be no help to Thanatos by herself.
She needed backup.
She needed her brothers.
Fear gripped her as she hurried through the tunnels, as the seconds ticked into minutes and then into hours. She tried not to think about what Thanatos was doing, tried to shut it from her mind, focusing on her task.
Reach the town.
Get help.
Save Thanatos.
She broke out onto the enormous black plain and into a run that had her legs feeling unsteady beneath her, but had hope soaring in her heart. The edge of the realm was here somewhere. Thanatos had told her that. She just had to keep running and she would find it.
Her feet ached, every tiny stone biting into her sore soles sending pain shooting up her legs, but she kept on running, her gaze fixed on the cluster of lights in the distance. She tossed the torch away when it began to feel heavy, wanted to summon her power as she had before so she could ride a vine but didn’t dare risk it. She couldn’t afford to black out, not now she was so close to help.
She felt it when she breached the border of the realm, skidded to a halt and looked back at the dirt just a few feet from her that looked the same as that on her side of the invisible barrier that surrounded it.
Calindria closed her eyes and focused, tried to picture the palace to teleport there, but she couldn’t remember it. She turned wild eyes on the town instead and the world around her disappeared, and suddenly she was in the middle of a square. She tucked her hands beneath her arms as her pulse jacked up, the thought of the innocent people bustling around the busy street accidentally touching them sickening her.
Calindria backed away, careful to avoid touching any of the people who were coming and going, struggling to breathe as they all seemed to close in on her. Too many people. She fought for air, gasping for it, but couldn’t get enough into her lungs. There were too many people. Staring at her. Scowling at her. Eyes filled with disgust, or heat as they dropped to her bare legs.
She backed into something, tensed and turned, exhaled hard as she saw it was only the black wall of a building. She needed to get a grip. So many people though, all of them close to her, crowding her.
Calindria drew down a breath and held it, tried to calm her mind and ease her fear. She wouldn’t touch them. She would be careful. She had to move though. She needed to find