I reached out to stop him, but my fingers grasped air. Eleos flew to her side.
Another thud shook the road, and the dirt ripped apart. Seth grabbed me, pulling me back as a boulder crashed into the store behind us, splintering its roof before tumbling onto the road. I ripped from his grip, only to see a growing crevasse separating me from Eleos and the young mother.
No!Raising my hand, I stared down the approaching abyss, willing myself to do something. How had I stopped it before? How had I saved Percy and me from certain death?How?
Nothing happened. Nothing. Why? Beads of sweat ran down my forehead as the Empty closed in. All I could see were its endless shadows.
Ten paces away. Eight. Six.
“Aethra!” Eleos’ voice screamed in my head, at once with a noise beside me.
“Aethra!” Seth shouted.
Something slammed into my stomach, shaking me from my trance. Seth roughly threw me over his shoulder as he sprinted down a side road. A horrifying wall of darkness closed in on the spot we’d been standing, tearing asunder the building I’d leaned on but a few moments ago.
It would have consumed the spot Eleos had been standing, too.
“Eleos?” I shrieked in my mind, hoping he heard. Hoping he could answer.
But I heard only silence.
“Shit!” Seth cursed, glancing behind him as the Empty pursued us. “Shitshitshit.”
Gods, was it moving quicker? I hung uselessly over Seth’s shoulder, watching the abyss in despondent horror.
Seth slammed into something, crashing through wood. I was jarred loose from his grasp and rolled over tiled floors, landing on my back to see a statue of the Maiden looming above me.
Water trickled through her fingers into a basin at her feet—water meant to represent the Empty she could destroy.
Whisper leaped onto my chest, furiously nuzzling my face. Snapped out of my trance, I grabbed his neck to let him know I was alive.
Shooting to my feet, I dashed through the pews, catching up to Seth in time for the bounds of the void to crash through the far wall. Still cursing under his breath, Seth rammed through the other door, grabbing my wrist to haul me out with him. He paused, whistling urgently for Whisper, who shot between our feet.
From the top of this cliff, I could see the crowds of people and animals fleeing through every street in every direction. One beast broke from the throng and raced up the road towards us: A blonde horse with a flowing white mane.
Seth intercepted it, grabbed its reins, and reached for my hand. He threw me up first before mounting behind me, jerking the reins to turn my mare around as the church splintered into dust and fell away into the silent sea. Slapping the reins against the horse’s neck, he drove her into a frenzied gallop.
Spinning in the saddle, I stared at the Empty, trying again to stop it. My fingers trembled, my shoulders shook. Fear raced down my spine in sharp splinters, and worry pounded at my heart.
I couldn’t think. Couldn’t focus.
I couldn’t do a damn thing.
My head whipped violently around as the horse took a sharp turn, fleeing from the village down a steep road leading into the wilderness.
“What are you doing?” I shrieked.
“Getting us out of here!” Seth snarled.
“We can’t-” I stuttered. “We have to-”
“Go back?” He barked. “To what?”
A building high on the cliff crumbled as the landslide swept over it. I watched the debris rain down the mountainside, striking people and buildings in its path. Meaningless destruction and death. The Empty was upon them a moment later, turning their blood and rubble into nothing.
Raising my palms, I stared at them in horror.
I was supposed to wield the Maiden’s power.
