Page 67 of The Stone Survival
“But I should not need to hear it,” Derek says. “I shouldfeelit.” He presses his hand to his chest. “I am her shield.”
“Then we’ll speak to Yarrow,” Shar says. “We’ll figure it out, okay?”
“You can’t tell him what happened,” Orix reminds them. “About the facility and the graynite attack.”
“We’ll keep that out of it,” Shar says. “Derek, it’ll be fine. We’ll figure this out.”
Cameron enters the kitchen trailed closely by Taz. She looks shaken and subdued and in need of a hug. I cross the room and pull her into my arms. “It’ll be okay.” I kiss the top of her head, and she bursts into tears.
My eyes heat, the stress and uncertainty of the last few days hitting me hard, and I blink back my own tears, hugging her tighter.
We need to find this faction and take them down. And soon.
CHAPTER 32
SERATH
It doesn’t take long for me to sink into darkness, almost as if it’s waiting for me. It cradles me, pulling me deep into its obsidian embrace, only to spit me out in a place that’s gray and barren with no clue as to which way is up or down.
“Hello? Ubron? Are you there?” I can sense a presence. It must be him.
My skin prickles. Strange because in this place I have no body, merely a consciousness. Can that be altered? Can I manifest somehow?
“If you focus and expend energy,” the voice says in my head. His voice. “I would not advise it or your time with me will be cut short.”
“Cameron told me everything.”
“I know.”
“You were listening?”
“No. But I felt your disconcertion and your anger. I am sorry that I am the cause.”
Dammit. I want to hurt him. To rage at him, but I…I can’t.
“We are connected, you and I,” he says. He sounds…resigned.
“How connected?”
“I am not certain how deeply we are woven together, but the longer I remain trapped in your body, the more I see, hear, and feel, even when you are conscious. I believed it to mean that I was becoming stronger and that I would soon be able to take over and?—”
“You wanted to take over?”
“Of course I did. I wanted to save my people. To go home. You cannot fault me for that. Your body is my prison.”
“So what changed?”
“This bond.” The gray lights up with soft blue tendrils that swirl and twine. “My bond to her, and yours…” Golden threads join the blue, slipping between them and around them. “And our beasts too…”
Crimson ribbons materialize, followed shortly by burnt orange ones until there is a ball of energy pulsing in front of me.
It’s beautiful. “That’s our bond?”
“Not all of it…Wait…”
An iridescent ribbon of power blooms to life, thick and pulsing. It weaves through the ball of energy, becoming one with it and allowing it to burn brighter.
“This is our bond, and I…I am not sure how to sever it.”
