“Gray, no!” I heard distantly, but I couldn’t even turn my head toward the voice. Didn’t I know him?
“Now, we don’t have much time, do we, dear? But I believe we’re going to have so much fun together,” Celanea said, her tone brighter.
A blazing light blinded us. There was no way to tell where it came from and who was responsible, but even in my periphery, I had to squint to protect my eyes from the pain. Silver light washed over my body, and Celanea screamed, her back arching and chest jutting forward.
“Gray, let it go!” Chrome shouted. The control that Celanea had on my mind had vanished, but my body was still locked in place. “Slate will hold her!”
I let my anger fuel my power—power that felt ten times stronger than I ever could’ve imagined. I gathered the electromagnetic energy from the sky, the electricity sending small shockwaves down from my neck to my spine. I climbed to my feet, feeling vengeance for every horrible thing that had happened.
Celanea lay sprawled on the ground, looking at me as if I were truly a threat for the first time. My body fired off with power in every neuron, every skin cell, every synapse, and every blood vessel. When I spoke, my voice felt and sounded different, as if it was layered with dozens of other voices.
I couldn’t control the words coming from my mouth, as someone else spoke through me. “I am the True Queen of Arcadia. You deceived me into your bidding, Celanea. You will forever pay for what you’vedone.” My arms raised above my head, summoning the most powerful strike I could imagine, infusing something else I couldn’t quite place into it. My body shook from the rush and exhilaration of harnessing something beyond me. “It is time to bring my people back home. Begone.”
Celanea nearly became transparent with fear. I released the magic, an explosion of power wielded in one single, composed strike. With a hair-raising crack, a massive bolt struck the spot where Celanea lay. I felt her absence the moment it impacted the earth. The only sound in the aftermath was the sizzle of the stone. When the smoke cleared from the crater in the ground, her remains were nowhere to be found.
I spun around, searching for Chrome, but collapsed. All the warmth having fled my body, I began to shiver. Confusion clouded my brain from what had just happened. I didn’t know if I had been in control just then or if someone else had taken over. It didn’t feel like I’d been possessed. It was more like I’d shared space with someone I knew.
My hands caught me as I pitched forward, my body drained, my magic depleted. A wave of dizziness embraced me, but it was the urge to feed from someone’s aura that gave me life. I looked up, struggling through vision that blurred and warped out of focus. Two pairs of black combat boots ran toward me, crouching down.
They muttered things—things I wasn’t able to process in my debilitating state.
Hands touched my shoulders, grabbing under my arms. One pair lifted me from the ground. At first, I thought I was floating, but it was the fresh scent of cedar that rushed my senses.
“Where’s Onyx?” I heard, the man’s voice amplified in my ear. My head rested against a hard surface. “Sage and Cotton went through. But Onyx didn’t.”
Movement blurred around us. “Valik can’t hold the portal much longer. We gotta go,” someone else said. Another male voice. Slate?
“Not until we find Onyx. Where is he?” the voice in my ear said. Chrome.That was definitely Chrome.
“Chrome…it’s just us left. Onyx didn’t go through the portal,” Slate told him hesitantly.
“We have his father. We can’t leave without him.”
“He’s not here, Chrome.”
“Go. Take Gray with you. I’ll look for Onyx and come back when I find him.” Chrome shifted me as if he were about to hand me over to Slate.
“Your bond is broken. You don’t even know if you can fade anymore.”
An extended silence, then?—
“Fuck,” Chrome said, releasing a frustrated growl. “I’ll come back for him. I can’t leave him behind.”
“And I’ll come with you.”
I felt Chrome’s head nod. “Okay.” A pause. A momentary freeze in time. “Gray needs to sleep and replenish. And have mushweed ready for her immediately.” I felt him kiss the top of my head.
“Of course.”
And we were moving again. I jostled in Chrome’s arms as he walked. Through closed eyes, I couldn’t see, but the bright light that illuminated behind my eyelids grew brighter with each step Chrome took.
“You did great, Rainbow. I’m so fucking proud of you,” Chrome whispered into my hair.
Chapter Forty-Two
Chrome
Valik held my stare as we neared the portal. Thank the gods this was over, because judging by his weakened eyes, strained neck, and slumped shoulders, he would collapse the moment we crossed through. Gray, Slate, and I were the only ones left.
