Page 211 of Mud

The mountain groaned one more time, and when the ground shook, people screamed.

I held onto the edges of the rock panel until it subsided, and a second later, colors exploded into the air.

So. Much. Color.

I went momentarily blind, and I imagined everyone elsedid judging by their screams. The top of the mountain that seemed a bit bigger now than it had in the darkness, had opened, and the Rainbow had sprung out just like we saw in the beginning—a collection of all possible colors woven together to perfection, a magical light, something so unearthly it could very well be just a hologram.

But it wasn’t because I felt the energy of it. I felt it in my bones, and it was real.

It wasmagic,raw and uncontrolled.

Moments later, letters began to rise from each key I’d put in that panel—letters made of colored smoke. I wasn’t breathing, blinking rapidly to try to adjust my sight to the blinding new light, but when I could make out what they were saying, I realized…

“It’s a spell.”

The words slipped from my lips in a whisper.

A spell was in front of me, written in the air, waiting for me to speak it.

I turned around again, so panicked so suddenly my throat was tight. Taland was looking at me, together with the other five players, four men, one woman, all with their familiars nearby, the biggest one some sort of a miniature bear the size of my vulcera.

Taland’s eyes held fear, raw fear. He knew as well as I did that I was screwed, yet still he mouthed,go ahead.

Tears in my eyes.

I faced the keys and the letters in the air again, and I forced myself to breathe. To speak. To whisper every Iridian word in front of my eyes.

When the spell was over, that heat gathered in the pit of my stomach again and exploded outward.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. The pain was incredible, like being burned and frozen at the same time time,and it was all over me. It didn’t last, barely a second, but in that second, I felt like I was torn apart into a million little pieces.

Somehow, I’d managed to stay on my feet, holding onto the edges of the rock, but when I blinked enough times that I could see again, nothing had changed in front of me.

The letters were still there. The Rainbow was still there.

It hadn’t worked.

“What the…”

“Why is she stalling?” said one of the players behind me.

I turned, terrified already. It hadn’t worked—of courseit hadn’t worked because I had no fucking magic!

“What the hell—I saw her chanting? Why isn’t she draining the Rainbow?!”

“Why?”

“How?”

“Who the hell is she?”

“Why isn’t she claiming the colors?!”

And then…

“I know who she is!” the woman said. “She’s the Mud. It’s her—the Mud!”

Heart in my throat, I looked at Taland, and he looked at me. He wasn’t concerned, though. Not in the least. He smiled and winked at me, and he mouthed,be right there.

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