Page 174 of Visions & Shadows

I look at the woman called Silvana, who’s rushing between a desk and a cabinet in a large tent.

It feels as if I glide toward Silvana, where she’s shoving a laptop and hard drives into a bag.

“Your research is worth nothing if you die out here,” the other woman screams. “We have to go.”

“I’m right behind you,” Silvana shouts, but then there’s a loud crack, and aburning tree falls at the entrance of the tent, setting the fabric on fire.

I snap out of it, and before I know what I’m doing, I dart off the bed and yank the door open.

“Ares!” I call out as I run down the hallway.

Before I can make it past the bathroom, I slam into a wall of muscle as Ares appears out of thin air and catches me by my shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

A second later, Raighne’s arm wraps around my middle, and I’m tugged back against his chest.

“I had a vision. She’s in danger,” I say, grabbing hold of Ares’ forearm. “Take me to her.”

His eyes lock with mine, and I feel his breeze sweep through my mind before we shimmer away in the blink of an eye.

When we appear in the tent, Silvana is lying on the ground with smoke billowing all around us and flames devouring the fabric of the tent and furniture.

I pull free from Raighne, and crouching beside my chosen one, I lift her head to my chest while trying to see if she’s still breathing.

I can barely take a breath myself, the heat quickly making my clothes stick to my skin.

“We don’t have time,” Raighne says while coughing as he places a hand on my shoulder.

Ares moves closer, and with a hand on Raighne and me, he shimmers us back to Ireland.

When we appear in the living room, some of the chosen ones startle. I struggle to get a breath of fresh air past the burning in my throat and croak, “Lydia, check…on Silvana. I don’t know…if she’s breathing.”

When I start to cough, Raighne places his hand on my back, and while the burning eases in my windpipe, he struggles to suck in a breath of air. I quickly pull away and shake my head at him.

Raighne practically tackles me to the ground, and with an angry glare directed at me, he presses his hand to my chest and eases the last of the discomfort from my lungs.

When he sinks back to sit down, Jason quickly brings him a glass ofwater, but it takes way too long before Raighne’s able to breathe normally again.

“I was fine,” I bite out, not happy at all. “You can’t take all the pain.”

“I can,” he mutters with clenched teeth. “And I will.”

I climb to my feet and look at Lydia. “Will Silvana be okay?”

“What happened?” she asks.

“There was a fire. She was unconscious when we got to her,” I explain. “I think she was in the Amazon forest.”

“I can’t run any tests, but she’s breathing, and her pulse is steady,” Lydia says. “Let’s hope there’s no damage to her lungs.”

“They’ll be able to heal her on Vaalbara,” Brenna mentions.

“You should all get ready,” I say. “I only have one more chosen one to retrieve, and then we’re heading back to Vaalbara.”

Turning around, I walk to the sliding doors and step outside, where I keep taking deep breaths of the fresh air.

That was too close. I almost lost Silvana, and it makes me worry about my last chosen one and what kind of situation the person will be stuck in.

“Don’t fight me when I have to heal you,” Raighne snaps as he comes up behind me.

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