Page 138 of The Princesses of Ruin
I’m compressed against the stone as the world shifts again, turning down the right way. I summon all my strength, my desperate will to see Zane, and my sisters, and my thriving kingdom. I don’t want to die here.
I’m not supposed to die here.
I’m the vessel, and I need to fulfill my duty.
My groans sound like an animal’s roar. I push again, getting my hands under my elbows, under my shoulders. I bend and get my knees down, pushing harder against the weight on my back.
It’s her.
Always her.
Always cutting, demanding, pushing. Always hurting. Trying to break me.
The trumpet blares again and the weight changes to push down on my head. I flatten against the stones and hold tight, the world turning.
Two streaks of color zip past me through the door to nowhere. I cling to the edge, just above the precipice. I look up at my gnarled fingers. They beg me to let go. I demand that they hold tight.
Just before the horizon I see it: a seam of colors that look like the battlefield I’m supposed to be on. I must make it there.
The world drops and I don’t waste time with pain or fear. I push and pull, crawling on my hands and knees.
Trumpets blast and I reach for the next stone. Pain splits the back of my head and I’m compressed before the axis shifts. Greens and blues plummet past me from the seam overhead until finally the inversion rights itself.
I dig my hands into the stone and pull hard, getting my feet under me for the first time. I take three stumbling steps before I’m slammed to the ground. My nails break as I scratch the stones for a hold. I slip back what I gained, standing on the protruding stone and balancing precariously.
More color streaks by. I pray for the lost souls, though none of the gods would do anything with those pleas. The ground slams into me and I jump to my feet. I’m fighting through thickened air, battling the world’s desire to swallow me whole.
Each inch I get from the portal infuses me with more strength. I grin, striding forward faster. The seam is getting closer. I can see the battlefield, the Spiders…running from me.
Trumpets smash me down and I crack my head.
I gasp for that too-thick air and hold onto the ground as I tilt. I’m sick to my stomach, watching as Spiders slip in through the seam and transform into beings of light that tumble down the darkness. I reach out for one as they go by, but his hand goes through mine.
His lavender magic lingers on my skin, soaking into my body. I feel his strength infusing my body, urging me to keep going.
The trumpets sound, slamming my guts and tilting the world farther upside down. My feet are slipping, my stomach clenching. The filth of the stones is too slippery to hold. My hand gives out and the world falls.
“You can’t keep me down,” I say, my voice warbling incoherence as I crawl forward.
Her voice comes from all around me. “I never wanted to keep you down.”
It sounds like my mother, the woman I used to know before the monster took her.
I grunt, balling my fists as I slither through the muck toward the exit.
“I’ve always wanted you to get back up.”
I gasp at the sound of Walt’s voice behind me. I look over my shoulder and he’s there, the white outline of the man who pickedme up from the streets. Who plucked me out of the air moments ago.
But this isn’t Walt…
“I’ve always wanted to see you become the strongest you could be.”
“So you can take me.Puppetme,” I snarl.
He shakes his head. “So you can learn tofightme. And you did. You all did.”
He reaches down, his hand flickering between white mist and weathered skin.
