Page 57 of The Fallen Kingdom

“No.” Kiaran’s voice is hard. He nods to me. “I need it to be Kam.” His expression leaves no room for questions.

Aithinne presses her lips together and, as if she’s projecting her thoughts to me, I can hear her in my mind. Tell him.

I give the barest shake of my head.

If I tell Kiaran, his attention would be split between finding the Book, and worrying that every small burst of power will be the one that kills me. He’d stop me from using my abilities to find the Book—and against the Morrigan, I won’t have a choice. I’m going to need them.

“Stand back.”

My powers are a storm building inside me. Electricity crackles in the air. I throw back my head when energy rushes down my veins, through my blood. My heart slams faster and faster, filling my ears with a dull roar.

Vines break through the stone around my feet and I smile grimly.Stop. When the vines cease, I command them to die. They begin to break apart around us, falling to the ground and withering. That ought to give us enough time to get out of here before the Morrigan attacks again.

Seconds seem like minutes. The fine hairs on my arms rise and the feeling of a storm builds and builds and builds within my chest until it becomes a painful pressure there.

Breathe it out like air, I tell myself.Easy.

I let my power go in a blast that turns the wall to rubble—and all that’s behind it is a hallway identical to this.Well, so much for that.

Another vine breaks through the wall behind us with a thunderouscrack. Out of the corner of my eye, I see leaves growing beneath the old dead ones. They shoot out of the walls and the floor faster than before, shattering the stonework all around us. The foliage is bigger and thicker and stronger, with thorns long enough to impale.

“Great work, Falconer,” Sorcha says. “You made the Morrigan angry.”

We’ll have to take our chances in the next hallway. The archways behind us are crumbling, pierced by thorns. A wall next to me shatters and a massive vine comes straight for us.

“Go!” I yell.

We clamber through the hole in the stonework just before the hallway behind us buckles and the plants begin to close in. Brick shatters to the ground, detritus dusts the air. My breath comes out in a cough. I can’tsee—

Rebuild. Quickly.

I clench my fist and raise my hand, directing my power to stack the stones, throwing them in place so there’s something stable enough to hold for now. We just need enough time to run. The makeshift wall forms to cover any cracks the vines might come through, and then...silence. Only our strained, tired breathing fills the space.

A burst of power pushes against mine. God, the Morrigan is so strong—

“Hold it, Kam.”

Hold it? Is he mad?I shut my eyes, my body straining as the Morrigan’s power fights mine, shoving hard against my makeshift wall.

“MacKay,” I say. “Now isn’t a good time—”

“I need a moment,” he says. Some cold and brutal emotion darkens his expression. “Aithinne, feel for your power.”

Aithinne shuts her eyes. Almost immediately, she frowns. When she opens her eyes, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen her look scared. “It’s there but I can’t...I can’t reach it.” Aithinne holds out her hand, like she’s expecting something to happen. “I can’t even conjure a flame. A bloody child’s trick.” She looks at Sorcha with accusation. “What did you do to us?”

“Our powers are bound,” Kiaran says shortly. He pulls Sorcha to him.

I gasp as the Morrigan’s powers crash against mine again. The hallway shakes. Above us, a small portion of the wall crumbles and falls.Hold. Hold, damn it.

“MacKay,” I say warningly.

But Kiaran ignores the chaos around us. His gaze is focused on Sorcha, his grip bruising around her arm. “You knew, didn’t you?”

Sorcha tries to look nonchalant. “I knew that little girl needed the Book.”

Kiaran slams her into the wall and Sorcha gasps in pain. “Explain. For every answer I’m not satisfied with, you’ll lose a finger. Try growing it back without any powers.”

Fear flares in Sorcha’s eyes. “All right,” she says roughly. “All right.”

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