Page 71 of Dragons Of Shadow and Sea

My throat catches painfully, and another tear escapes the corner of my eye. The gods know what happened to Rook. The fact that the Sorceress is standing here steals any hope I might have had that Mariutza and Delaynie made it out. My mates are probably on the other side of the earth.

A bottomless pit of despair opens up at my feet. But just as I'm about to sink into it, distant whispers rush into my ears.

I suck in a rough breath. I'm alone--but maybe I'm not.

I start to reach for the bag of Soul Stones, but the Sorceress snarls. "Don't move."

The two mages raise their hands higher, crackles of magic rending the air. Dark shadows creep across the floor, spreading a chill that seeps into my bones.

Hopelessness threatens to swamp me again. I'm ready to do the unthinkable. I have no options left. But how can I smash a Soul Stone if I can't even get one in my hands?

The whispers gather strength, growing more urgent.

What if I don't have to smash them?

I had to touch the orbs to release their captives in the past. I have no magic left, but there's so much power in the spheres themselves. Spirits flicker in and out of awareness all around me, and I can feel their energy seeping into my bones.

"Help me," I breathe.

There's a tug, somewhere deep inside my chest, but there's a stronger one within the bag slung over my shoulder. A white light begins to grow, burning in its intensity. My bracer crackles with energy.

"What--" the Sorceress starts, flinching backward.

And I can't explain it. I don't even know what I'm doing, but I imagine all of those imprisoned souls bursting free, and my entire body is glowing with magic that's black and white and purple and gold, and it's too much. I can't contain it.

My feet rise off the ground.

All the windows in the room shatter as one.

Brilliant, blinding light explodes all around me. Dozens of faces snap in and out of my vision as spirits rush forth from their confinement. The stone beneath my feet shudders and cracks, and the soldiers murmur in alarm, and then one screams.

The tower collapses in a rush of breaking stone.

I stumble backward, barely swallowing my shriek. A dozen soldiers are tipped onto the rocks below and into the sea, and I hold onto the window frame for all I'm worth. Broken glass cuts my palm. I have half a second to laugh at the fact that I'll have a new scar. But then everything is falling out from under me, dragons swooping through the air. It's bedlam--black scales and black stone and the last rays of the sun. Dust and ash and smoke, and one last soul, still in my bag, refusing to be released.

"Amethyst," it whispers.

And then I'm tipping backward, the floor crumbling. A piece of the roof swings free and crashes into what's left of the window frame, and it explodes into rubble, chunks of rock flying into my face. There's nothing left to cling onto.

Air rushes past me as I fall. I reach out into nothingness, spinning helplessly. My dragon roars, and for an instant, I think she's here, she's finally ready to Emerge and fly me out of this hell.

But I'm still plummeting.

A wall of water rushes up to meet me.

More dragons roar, black scales falling all around me, but then--in the distance--

Color.

Brilliant blue and fiery red and gleaming silver. My heart leaps, and there's a warmth someplace deep inside my chest, a golden, gleaming thread--

But then I crash into the freezing water.

My entire body seizes up at the pure shock. I can't feel my arms or legs for the cold. My bag and my bracer weigh me down, and I'm sinking and spinning, tossed around by the violent waves.

I gasp.

The water closes over my head.

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