With a muttered profanity, Skye sternly squashed her bizarre thoughts and rushed toward Micha, who was preparing to attack Lynx. She had to stop him before he did something impulsive. Micha might be twice as strong as the fairy, but Lynx had obviously planned this intrusion into his private rooms. He wouldn’t have come in here if he didn’t have a nasty surprise up his sleeve.
“Micha!”
His head jerked in her direction, as if startled by her presence. He was wearing nothing more than a pair of black running shorts that hung low on his hips, revealing his corded muscles that clenched in shock as he watched her run toward him. She grabbed his arm, intending to warn him he had to flee, but as soon as her fingers touched his bare skin, she recognized there was more than one danger.
She had a brief moment to savor the cool satin of his skin before the magic being suppressed by the dampening spell abruptly bubbled through her. It hissed as if annoyed at being repressed, and digging her fingers into Micha’s arm, she tried to battle back the surging magic.
A wasted effort, of course. This wasn’t just a spell. It was a deeper, darker power that came from the very depths of her soul.
Skye shuddered. The impending vision was like a black hole, sucking her into the center with a gravitational force that was inescapable. She felt a layer of sweat coat her skin as a blinding light exploded in the center of her mind. The world faded, leaving her defenseless in the hands of the lethal demons. Demons who were currently on the cusp of violence.
This was what it meant to be a seer.
The glorious gift of the future, combined with a terrifying vulnerability.
With grudging reluctance, Skye relaxed her coiled muscles, allowing the vision to form. The sooner it happened, the sooner she could return to reality. Or at least that was the hope.
As expected, the image of Micha burned in the center of the light. She was touching him, so it only made sense this vision would include him. But as the light expanded, she realized that Micha was wearing the running shorts he had on now, which indicated that the future she was seeing was happening within minutes, hours, or days from now. No more than a week.
She’d had precog events before. Most notably when her mother died, and another when Peri first came into her powers. Not to mention a day ago, when they’d been under attack at the old theater and she’d seen Maya lying dead on the stairs. But usually the visions peered years into the future.
The image expanded even more and Skye’s confusion deepened as she watched Micha throw up his hands to cover his face. Was he being attacked? Was it Lynx? No, not Lynx, she abruptly realized as flames suddenly surrounded him. It looked like a volcano had erupted, and she screamed in horror as lava spilled over him, searing the flesh from his body before his bones melted into a puddle of goo.
She kept screaming as the vision expanded to reveal that the fire was not just consuming Micha, it was consuming the world. Everywhere she looked the earth was drenched in fire, the ground cracking as lava poured out to create a hellscape from which there was no escape.
Her heart stuttered back into motion, beating with a sluggish dread as the vision seared through her brain. This was the future not just for Micha, but for the world.
She didn’t understand the fire, or how it was going to sweep disaster across the land. It could be actual fire, or it could be a mere symbol of utter devastation, but she did know without a doubt that Micha had to be kidnapped by Lynx. And while she couldn’t see herself in the vision, she sensed she had to stay with him.
Grappling to understand the images, Skye felt a stab of panic as the image became dazzlingly bright. She knew what was going to happen even as there was a blinding flash before the vision shattered, like a glass being tossed against the wall.
Pain stabbed through her mind, a pain so fierce she thought someone had stabbed a dagger in her brain. Then thankfully everything went black and she fell to the ground.