Page 216 of Flame and Sparrow

Then I was spinning, as if being pulled into a drain.

Everythingwas spinning violently out of control, but somehow Andrel’s hand caught my wrist. His fingers dug in painfully hard, and we were pulled deeper into the depths together until suddenly we were not falling through water, but air, careening downward so quickly I couldn’t breathe.

There was no sound. No light. Only the horrible sensation of falling away from everything into absolute emptiness.

We eventually hit water once more.

Breathtakingly cold, thick water.

Another river. One that led out of this realm, I prayed—one not damaged by the weapon I’d dropped, that could carry us somewhere, anywhere except into more emptiness.

Whether because of the magical bracelet I still wore, or by some stroke of luck, the water soon answered my prayers. The churning began again, spinning and pulling me along, and then the river expelled me like a living beast spitting out spoiled food.

I struck a rocky shoreline with violent force, my leg crumpling underneath me as I hit, bending at a sharp angle that no leg should ever be bent into.

Groaning, I rolled over and slowly tried to stagger back to my feet. No use—my crushed leg protested even the tiniest bit of weight I tried to put on it. I slumped and fell onto my back, throwing an arm over my eyes to protect them from the glaring sunlight.

I had no idea where I was. But judging by that sun—and the lighter feel of the air, and the countless familiar scents within it—I seemed to have crash landed somewhere in the mortal realm.

I heard the sound of someone else scrambling over mud and rocks, and I realized with a jolt of terror that Andrel had landed on the same shore as me, no less than twenty feet away. He had fared better than I had, too, and was already up on his feet and staggering toward me.

“Do you realize what you’vedone?” His voice was just above a whisper, yet it seemed to echo and rattle through me, like a horrible thud in the middle of a silent, pitch-dark night.

I sat up, shoving down a gasp of pain, trying to arrange myself into a formidable stance so he wouldn’t realize the extent of my injury. “Ruined your plans,” I growled. “That’s what.”

He stopped a few feet away from me, looking down at me. His body had gone as still as a beast crouching and waiting for the precise moment to pounce. Even his breathing seemed to have stopped.

I reached again for the bracelet Dravyn had given me, intending to disappear once more. I was dazed, overwhelmed, aching—but I could picture his face. Even through the pain and the fear, I could still find my way home to him. I’d done it before. I could do it again.

Wind swirled to life around me, flickers of fire appearing within it.

Just as before, Andrel dove through the building flames and tackled me.

But this time, the spell had not yet taken hold, because hedidmanage to stop it. The flames extinguished, turning to mere wisps of smoke, and my thoughts of escaping this realm turned to more immediate thoughts of escapinghim.

I kicked free of his hold, swallowing down a scream of pain as I extended my injured leg. I dragged myself away, rising and balancing on only one foot and hobbling away as fast as I could.

But I knew I couldn’t outrun him.

I would have to fight, somehow.

I’d lost Hydrus somewhere in the tumbling through realms, but the dagger Valas had given me was still against my back.

Before I could pull it out, Andrel tackled me again, tangling himself up and falling with me down the rocky shoreline.

I wriggled free again and rolled away, rising to a kneeled position, propped up on my one good leg. My claws were faster to unsheathe than any blade, so I unleashed them and braced myself. As Andrel dove for me, I drew back to strike, aiming for his throat.

I caught a flash of metal in his hand—a knife.

He swung forward too quickly for me to avoid it.

It sank into my chest, his wild strength surging after the tip was in, pushing it deeper and deeper, swiping it back and forth as it went all the way into my heart.

Our eyes met as the first flare of pain hit me. I made a sound—not a gasp, not a scream, but some horrifying cross between the two—before tumbling backward, my vision flickering.

Andrel caught me as I fell, cradling my body for a moment before laying me gently back against the pebbly ground.

I couldn’t breathe.

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