Page 54 of A Door in the Dark

She opened her eyes to immense pain. Her elbow sent shooting vibrations down her entire right side. Something shifted beneath her. It was Cora. She’d fallen from the rope and landed on the other girl. The two of them were all the way back down on the stone shelf.

“Timmons. We have to help her. She fell.…”

But Cora grabbed hold of Ren, wrapping her up so that she couldn’t start down the ice-laced path. “She’s dead. I saw her fall. Ren. No. We can’t go back.”

“Get off me. We have to go get her.”

“Are you two okay? Anything broken?”

It was Theo. He was scaling back down to help them. Cora was stronger than she looked. Ren tried to break free, but exhaustion stole through her entire body. The steadfast charm was completely spent. Every muscle felt even more drained now.

“She’s gone, Ren,” Cora whispered. “She’s gone.”

“We have to go after her.”

Cora wouldn’t let go. “The enhancement magic. Don’t you feel it? Her spell is gone.”

Those words broke her. It was such a logical conclusion. The truth slicing through a make-believe world where Timmons had survived. Ren slumped down to her knees. There was a scuffle of boots nearby as Theo arrived. Cora was right. The enhancement that had been bolstering their magic was gone. There was only one reason that would happen.

“But she… we have to…”

Cora still held her tight. “We need to keep moving. He’ll come back.”

“Let him come.” Her anger flared. “I’m ready.”

“No. You’re not ready, Ren. You’re in a heightened emotional state, but you are physically exhausted. We are facing a creature that we do not understand. We’re not ready. We need to get as far as we can today and make a plan. If he circles back, none of us stand a chance.”

Ren’s chest was heaving. She felt something guttural rattle out of her throat. She wanted to pull her hair out. She wanted to burn the world to nothing. Her fingers were bleeding from how hard she was pressing them down into the ice. Theo gently helped her back to her feet.

When she didn’t protest, he set his hands on hers, guiding them back to the rope. She followed the trail of his magic with mindless obedience. Her final glimpse of Timmons echoed. Those blackened hands tangled in her bright hair. The way her slender body was drawn like a marionette over the cliff. That memory felt vibrant and knife-sharp compared with the rest of the barren world, which had gone briefly colorless. Ren moved through that void without purpose.

31

Up three more passes.

It’s my fault she’s dead. It’s all my fault.

Theo tried to encourage them, but in truth, Ren didn’t listen to a word he said. Cora made no response either. A glance showed the girl scratching nervously at the skin by her eyebrow piercing. She’d clearly been at it a while, because the spot was an angry red compared with the rest of her olive complexion. Ren had no comfort to offer. She’d lost too much to summon any form of hope.

Now their bodies moved out of instinctual preservation. Ren’s thoughts returned again and again to that rock wall. She watched the moment Timmons was drawn over the cliff. She couldn’t stop replaying it in her mind. The helpless feeling of being dragged into her own memory. The dark shadow that stood at her shoulder. All of it.

She remembered the surprise that had been nestled into Clyde’s magic. A chain spell. That was some advanced damn magic. Empty as she felt, her mind ran inexorably back through everything she’d read on the subject. Different spells and strategies for countering one. All the weaknesses and strengths and historical references. Mental research was the only thing keeping her from drowning.

They reached a flat stretch laden with snow. Theo asked if they wanted to stop. The sun would be setting before long. No one replied, so they pressed on. They were high enough now to have some clarity on their aim. The target Avy had chosen, even from the distant valley below, was perfect. A slice of a pass that slipped between Watcher Mountain and the Eyeglass. There were no trails, but the land itself acted as their guide. Ren saw a natural valley running between them. It wouldn’t be easy hiking, but finally seeing a path through to the right side of the mountain was the only hopeful offering of the day.

When the sun vanished from the hills, Theo finally convinced them to stop for the night. They had enough logs—and book pages for kindling—to get a proper fire going. The switch from warming spells to clothing enchantments meant cold noses and frostbitten hands. Ren stared at the flames as her fingers thawed. Theo and Cora kept exchanging looks, both silently urging the other to say something. Ren caught the glances and cut them off before they could make the attempt.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “I want to talk about how we survive what’s chasing us. There’s no way to honor Timmons if we die out here. We have to survive. For them.”

Another exchanged glance. Theo nodded. “Fair enough.”

“The retreating ward should have worked, but her spell fizzled.”

Cora nodded. “That was so unlucky.”

In truth, her friend had always been a subpar spell caster. That wasn’t the strength she offered the world. Ren had watched her falter with any number of spells during undergrad. It was a sign of poor execution—a lack of focus—but there was no point saying that out loud, because it changed nothing about their circumstances now.

“The failed spell left her exposed. And that left us exposed. Clyde used a chain spell.”

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