Page 263 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
“Hallie, you can return the souls,” Skibs shouted. “Reverse time on them!”
True. She could do that, but what were the consequences? All she’d been doing was sending power through her hands at them, unsure of if she healed them or simply destroyed them, though with everything going on, she hadn’t considered the consequences.
“But that might only make them regenerate!”
And even if it didn’t, could she control her power enough to do it individually without hitting Kase or Skibs in her strikes?
“We’ll figure it out!” Kase shouted, still fighting. He screamed as a soul grabbed his wrist, yanking him forward.
Blast the consequences.
“Anora van esque vral!” She whipped her hand out, her fingers glowing and sparkling gold like the sunset.
The soul, a man, unraveled and vanished into golden mist. Almost like the Cerl soldier in the Stoneset cavern.Holy stars.
It worked—for ill or not, she didn’t care. They fought closer to where Navara had disappeared.
Ben pressed against her back. “Try again, Hallie! Addmaxima!”
She did, and the entire room exploded into golden sunlight.
The souls glittered into nothing around them. She collapsed.
So tired. Too much power.
But not enough to knock her out. Her ring glowed brighter. Kase dropped beside her, his free arm coming around her.
“No!Kase!” Ben yelled above them.
The sword of darkness arced toward them, toward her. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream, but then Kase was there, his shining sword blocking the blow. Strong arms dragged her backward, as she scrambled to her knees, to her feet.
“Yrea va na tari!” Blazing golden flames shot from her fingers and blasted into Mr. Gray’s side, knocking him sideways.
Kase’s sword flew from his hands. Mr. Gray turned, his hands coming up and pushing crackling dark energy out of his palms.
No.
But then she glimpsed his eyes as he turned toward Kase’s shout. They were no longer bottomless pits. Her stomach dropped out.
What?
Kase dropped, grabbing his sword and spinning. The Xera sword glowed like the sun as it swung in a graceful arc. In a flash, Mr. Gray’s head tumbled from his body, his brown eyes wide in death, a silent, shocked gasp on his lips.
The body fell forward. Tripping backward, Hallie brought a shaking hand to her mouth. Kase stood behind him, chest heaving—but something was wrong.
He dropped the sword he’d used to kill Mr. Gray, a horrible scream erupting from his throat as he clawed at his arms and his legs and chest—anywhere Jagamot’s black, glittering blood had landed. He collapsed, his face in his hands, screaming louder as he dragged his nails down his face, cutting bloody furrows into his skin.
Her heart pounded frantically in her chest. He needed her. Forget the Gate. Forget anything else. She slipped on the blood but kept her feet, skirting around Mr. Gray’s legs. She fell beside Kase, grabbing his hands and tearing them from his eyes. She flung the sword away from her.
Those eyes were no longer the deep sapphire blue she loved. They were black. Solid black. Like Mr. Gray’s.
“No, no, please no.” Hallie grabbed Kase’s face. “Kase!”
But he only stared sightlessly at her, his features suddenly slackening. Unnervingly blank.
“Kase!”
It couldn’t be. Kase was strong. Kase had overcome so much. He couldn’t…she needed to do something. She needed to stop him from…from whatever was happening. Jagamot. It was Jagamot. Killing Mr. Gray had caused this. Jagamot needed another host. Kase was becoming Jagamot.
