Page 228 of A Winding Wave of Magic
The shadows screamed.
Power surged through me, the strength of a wave.
Please, I asked us.Protect us.
Rocks tumbled.
Darkness fell.
And the last thing I saw in that final tract of light was the back of the shadowed sorcerer, arched in pain and anger as the rocks crushed him into the earth.
Then darkness fell, and the river carried us away.
I don’t knowhow long we floated like that, chest to chest, legs trailing as the river took us deeper underground.
Jonathan held tightly to me, and though his fear never lessened, something closer to trust joined it as we both allowed the water’s will and power to take us where it would.
The darkness slowly gave way to a dim light ahead, beckoning us toward it. The current slowed as if it had finally come to its intended destination when we entered a vast underground chamber, its walls glistening with moisture. Jonathan and I were deposited onto solid ground, a smooth limestone slab large enough to accommodate us both at the water’s edge. The air was cool and damp, carrying with it scents of earth and moss.
We collapsed on the rock, hands about each other’s waists as we gasped for breath in the dark.
“Can you…can you see anything?” I didn’t mean magically. His glasses were long gone.
He looked down at me and smiled. “I’m only a bit near-sighted. I can see you perfectly.”
I exhaled. “That’s a relief.”
At the top of the cave, light pierced through cracks in the ceiling just enough to reveal traces of spirals and handprints on the walls. This place was old. Older than the tomb we’d explored with Rachel. The ancients of ancients had been here and had put their mark on it.
Jonathan squeezed my hand tightly, grounding us both. The bond pulsed with a newfound strength, a smoother ombre connection between amber and blue. One I’d certainly never Seen before.
“You divine secrets,” I said.
He turned his head and frowned. “In a way.”
“Then ask it,” I said. “Ask this place why we are here. There’s magic here. I can feel it. And the river wanted us to come here.”
“Or the river was just taking us away from my father.” Jonathan shook his head. “My questions only work on the living, Cass. You’re the one who divines from objects and reads memories from rock and stone. They won’t listen to me now.”
“But before—” I grabbed his hand and did my best to ignore the confusion in his touch.“Use the power you feel flowing through me if you can. Borrow its secrets. Look around and find the secrets of this cave. If you can find where the spells were laid, maybe I can undo them.”
“But—how—Cass, I?—”
“Just do it,” I said urgently. “Jonathan, honestly. Justdoit.” I couldn’t tell him why, but something in me had shifted. The power in this place flowed through me in a way it hadn’t before. Speaking to me. Vibrating at my core.
I reached down to put my hand in the water, willing it to flow through me again.Come, I asked in that strange language I seemed to speak and understand without knowing how, exactly. It was a language of feelings, not words.Free us. Unbind yourself. Show me the knot so I may untie you.
But unlike before, there was no surge of power from the water. There was no response at all. The river would not speak to me.
“Look,” Jonathan said.
Light gleamed through a tiny hole at the top of the cave.
I turned with him. “Your magic?”
He shook his head. “Not. That’s still gone. I don’t know how he did it. I can feel it healing, but it will be some time. I used everything I had to block that entrance and keep them from following.”
I swallowed. “You did good.”
