Page 165 of The World Undone

Though the water had been still when I entered, waves crashed around me now, tumultuous and thirsty, the water spilling into the basin and joining the murky mixture there.

With a deep, panicked breath, I brought my lips to the ridge of the bowl and took deep sips of the liquid until it was drained to the bottom.

The iridescence of the stone was gone now, but it glowed a gentle blue.

When I looked down at my arms, I saw the glow mirrored in my veins.

The mixture was bitter, repulsive and I fought to keep it down as my body fought just as hard to reject it.

My throat burned with fire and I clutched my stomach as sharp pangs shot through me.

Breathing became impossible, my lungs suddenly raw and tight.

I ignored the pain, my lips and tongue seamlessly shaping the words of the ritual. It was a language I didn’t know or understand, but my mouth formed the lilting phrases with precision and ease, a familiarity and mastery that was etched in my body, deep in my roots, my voice a sister song to another that had long been unanswered.

My arms stretched out, like they were preparing for a hug, and my body began to lift towards the portal seam, held there in mid-air, floating above the water, weightless. My mouth stretched wide in a scream, though the sound that emerged matched the cadence of the spell.

Tears streamed down my face as every atom in my body opened raw and wide, magic and power slicing through me, the pain deep and unrelenting, but still, I welcomed it.

My thoughts were slower than usual, like they were fighting their way to form through a viscous liquid.

Not tears, I realized. I was crying blood. I watched it drip a crimson pool into the lake at my waist, a dark, thick river.

Blood that I tasted on my tongue as it spilled from the seam of my lips.

This, this was it. It was almost done.

My trembling body eased at the promise that it would fall into rest soon.

Thunder sounded around me, a perfect base to the song ripping from my lungs, shocks of lightning bolting through the sky—now dark and angry, no sun in sight.

There was rustling behind me, yelling, but I ignored it. I couldn’t turn my head, couldn’t remove my focus from the stone as the portal stretched and widened, shaping into something new—not a shape at all.

My vision blurred as the portal cut through me, and I knew it was almost over. I felt my feeble flesh wither against it, no match for the power that pulsed in the air—a one-use vessel that would melt with the barrier it sifted, one and the same.

The rustling around me grew louder, closer—and then there was a new pain, one that I wasn’t prepared for.

A hand grabbed mine, pulling my body back down to the water, grounding me.

The bonds I’d fought so hard to seal off, the lines of connection I thought I’d permanently severed, burst open with a new flare of power.

I turned my head, finding a pair of familiar brown eyes, threaded with gold, pupils blown wide.

Atlas.

His stare locked on mine, and while I saw a brief flash of anger at my betrayal, it was overshadowed by affection, by determination.

Darius grabbed my other hand, and as I shifted, I saw them all. I felt them all—Wade, Eli, and Declan too, connected to me with a strength I was too weak to fight against no matter how hard I tried.

No.

I knew their intentions as if they were my own. They were going to stay, even if it meant they died with me.

They’d waited until the exact moment I was too physically drained to fight them.

I tried to tug my hands away, panic gripping me, choking me. No. No. No.

But their hold only grew tighter, enforced with a power and magic I couldn’t fend off.

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