Page 72 of Golden Star

“Sapphire,” she chokes out, and I can barely hear her over the scream. “What is that?”

“I don’t know.” I shake, closing my eyes as the pain seeps into every cell, every nerve, freezing me from the inside out.

I can’t move, let alone run. All I can do is curl into a ball on the ground, barely able to see through the haze clouding my vision.

We’re going to be sitting ducks for the hunt. Not justbecause we stopped moving, but also because Riven and his knights will surely hear the screaming as well. It’ll lead them straight to us.

Focus,I think, searching for any idea for how to get out of this agony. How have I used my magic so far? The ice boots, making Zoey’s shower explode, splashing Riven and Ghost at the stream, swimming in the lake?—

There.

That’s it.

In the lake, with the water in my ears, everything was muted. Dulled.

Maybe I can somehow use water to plug my ears?

Desperate for anything that might help, I reach for my magic and take a deep breath, prying my hand from one of my ears.

It’s so agonizing that I nearly cover it again.

But I grit my teeth and force my way through it. The faster I do this, the faster I can find relief, and then the faster I can get us out of here.

So, I scoop up a handful of snow, using my magic to melt it.

The screaming’s tearing my mind apart. But I cling to the image of water filling my ears, drowning out the sound, pushing through the pain as I press the snow to one ear and will the water to move inside it.

It follows my command, and quickly, I do the same thing to my other ear.

The piercing scream dulls to a muffled, distant echo.

Relief rushes through me.

It worked. I can think again.

With no time to waste, I crawl over to Zoey.

She’s curled up with her hands pressed to her ears, crying, her cheeks streaked with tears.

“Zoey,” I say, even though there’s no chance she can hear me. “Hold still. I’m going to block it out.”

She doesn’t respond. She just whimpers, her eyes squeezed shut, her nails digging into her scalp.

I gather another handful of snow, melt it, and pry one of her hands away from her ears, guiding it inside with my magic like I did with mine.

Her breathing slows, the lines of pain on her face softening.

I do the same with her other ear.

She stills, then opens her eyes, blinking up at me in disbelief.

But she’s not looking at me.

She’s gazing out over my shoulder in total fear.

I turn slowly, heart hammering as I watch an eerie, spectral woman glide through the trees toward us.

She looks like something pulled from the depths of a nightmare. Her face is ghastly, her eyes hollow, her mouth stretched wide in a scream. The sound isn’t debilitating like before, but it’s still clawing at the edges of my mind, getting louder as she moves closer.

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