Page 144 of The Lands Defying
A heavy breath leaves me as they gather around us, hovering just inside the water’s flowing edges of the pool. I turn slowly, making sure Rhea is safe in my arms as they line up next to each other.
I watch them all, their green-blue glow bright, and then I feel their subtle warmth, even though they are not too close to us.
But then they start moving closer, almost as if they are one.
I stop, watching as their own circle becomes tighter around us and I wonder if they know she is gone too. Their warmth becomes greater, but not hot, like a soft caress from Rhea when she touches me. The wisps become a circular wall around us, and I’m only able to see the water below me and the night sky above.
I start to wonder what they are doing, if I should just walk through them, but Rhea loved the wisps. Her face would light up, she would always have time for them when they were near.
Maybe they are saying goodbye in their own way.
The small one breaks off from the wall, coming closer to Rhea. It floats down until it touches her hand that rests against her chest. It sits there, gently rocking back and forth when another one comes to sit on her arm, then another on her leg, chest, head, feet.
More and more break off and touch her where they can, making sure no part of her is uncovered apart from her face.
I watch with fascination and sadness. They loved her just as much as she loved them.
I swallow roughly, rubbing my chin on her head softly.
There are still wisps that are surrounding us, unable to touch her, but now they move, all connecting with the other wisp, resting next to them. Their warmth sinks into my body, and Ishiver from the difference between hot and cold, but then the water begins to heat up.
I look down, and it’s like a sea of wisps. I can’t even see the water I’m standing in anymore. Suddenly, they begin to glow beneath the surface, ripples rushing out from them as they all seem to rush for Rhea.
Her body jolting has my head snapping to her, wondering what caused it. My grip tightens on her, making sure she’s safe as I ready my own power to get rid of the wisps in case they hurt her.
But one of them floats down and touches her forehead.
It was barely a touch, but it did something.
The green-blue glow of all the wisps dims a little, all of them in sync and then, from the center of Rhea’s chest, ice-blue, the color of her power, starts to come through.
My heart beats painfully as one single, flowy strand comes first, then another, and another, and another, like a flower blooming. Hope fills my chest, and my eyes go from Rhea’s face then back to her power.
If she has power…she’s still in there, right?
It’s so thin that I can see through it, I can see the wisps beneath it as her power becomes a gentle sea of its own. It flows over her chest and down her middle, I slowly relax my hold on her and lower her into the water once more. I support her again, making sure she floats there, and the wisps retreat from her suddenly.
They fly up and hover above us as I watch Rhea’s power bleed into the water.
The pool slowly turns blue, glittering like stars as my eyes constantly move back and forth from her face, to her chest, to the water surrounding us.
Draxton is silent within me, watching carefully. My markings appear on my neck and shoulders, I feel them appearing downmy back as I move my magic to my palms. Slowly, as gently as I can, I release my power into Rhea, mixing it with hers. I tilt my head, praying for any sound from her.
A breath, a heartbeat, a twitch from her fingers.
I watch as the last strand of her power leaves her body, the color almost blinding as we are surrounded by it. My heart rate kicks up, wondering what the fuck just happened. Does she not have any left within her now?
I look up to the wisps as they hover above us like fireflies, for any sign of something wrong, but they hover there content, their glow slowly getting stronger.
Ba-bump.
I still.
Ba-bump
I don’t breathe.
Ba-bump.
