Page 95 of A Dusk Of Stars

It only makes it grow more out of control.

I hear Bane’s dead serious voice boom from behind me. “Three seconds to stop this, Novak, that’s how long you have before Imakeyou.”

He's right, my wolf's voice booms.You're going to get yourself hurt.

Neither of them manage to stop me from letting it flood me.

You can’t gain control unless you first lose it.

Taking a big, desperate breath of air, I first fix my eyes on a tree on the other side of the bridge, then I close them shut and let the current swell as much as it wants to.

Blinding, the pain is blinding, and it feels as if I'm going to implode.

Then it passes and I open my eyes and I see whips of electricity hitting just the spot I wanted them to hit, cutting a couple of branches off.

There’s a moment of silence before I breathe a sigh of relief, leaning forward with a hand on my stomach, but as soon as I do, I sense Bane march up to me, grabbing me by the upper arm as he commands, “Yeah, we’re leaving.”

“No,” I say with a shake of my head.

“There’s nothing here,” he grits out as he gets in my face. “And you seem too eager to get hurt.”

I don’t know if it’s a smart decision, since we’re already here and everything, but I don’t trust myself in this place, so I just say, “Fine, have it your way.”

Alaric and Raven both throw me sympathetic glances when I turn around and start walking back.

Yeah, it’s better this way. I can’t fucking stand being in this place.

But then there’s this low, rumbling sound that makes me slow to a stop, my blood curdling in my veins.

Slowly, I turn around, seeing the others looking in the same direction. There’s nothing perceptibly different about the solitary bridge in front of us.

It’s more of a feeling of something crawling, fast and from all directions, straight towards us. It’s invisible and powerful like the breath of death itself.

The next thing I know, the bridge is splitting in half and there’s this thing lifting from the depths of the chasm.

I frown. A bone?

My eyes round. A rib.

My mind buzzing and drowning out all the sounds, I see Bane shift and come to land between us and the bridge. I can tell that Alaric is shouting, “What the hell is going on?” But that pain is setting my body on fire again and I see everything around me explode in light, before it turns pitch black.

Then there it is, hitting me like a wave.

The knock.

***

I’m standing in the doorway, looking into a dark cottage. There are smells of spices hanging low in the air, and there’s something nudging me forward, a need to make things right. I tear myself away from the doorway and step deeper into the darkness. There’s a woman there, old, sitting on a stool with her back turned to me.

And she’s not turning around, she just keeps sitting there in silence, but somehow, the more I look at her, the more I know that everything will be alright.She’sthe one I’ve come to ask for help, to wash the blood off my hands.

But when I try to get closer, my body stays where it is. I try to will it into moving, dread seeping into my bones when I fail. The image in front of me flickers as if it's about to turn into something else, making my breath catch in anticipation. Then I hear the laugh and everything turns pitch black.

***

I’m in pain, this all-pervasive, dull but foul pain. Half-unconscious, Bane carries me out of the Pull Chamber on castle grounds. He doesn’t stop, he keeps marching in the direction of the Elevator. I struggle to open my eyes.

“What do you think is wrong with her?” I hear Alaric ask with concern in his voice.

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