Of course, I couldn’t do anything until I got out ofmy current predicament.
“The demon must’ve transferred its power to you, Reagan,” Callie said, her voice not as calm. Fear tinged every word. “Not the type of power—that is clearly already in you. But its actual power. The life force. You know what I mean.” I did, horrifyingly enough. “You have to fight it. If you fight it, and regain control, you can…regain control.”
“That’s how you’ll get yourself down,” Dizzy said. “You’ll probably fall down, but that’s good, too.”Hopefully she’ll also stop reading thoughts. Oh no, is she hearing this?Dizzy stared at me, as though expecting an answer.
A thought about calling Vlad for help echoed through Darius’s troubled mind.
“Don’t call Vlad.” I wiped my face. “Whatever you do, don’t call that guy. I don’t need any more turds in my litterbox.”
“That’s graphic,” Dizzy mumbled.
“She has a right to be graphic.” Callie backed away from the others. “She’s stuck in midair, floating in rocks and dirt, and jeopardized by a demon. I can’t believe every other word out of her mouth isn’t a curse word.” There was something in her hand, but I couldn’t get a good look at it.
“When you practiced your new power, what circumvented it?” Darius asked, pacing beside the invisiblebarrier that apparently I was keeping enacted.
Callie threw a casing. It flashed green before fizzling away. “Dang it,” she mumbled. “Her ability to unweave spells is still working.”
“I’ve never had to circumvent it.” I wiped my face again, getting rid of the moisture. My sudden sweating problem wasn’t from exerting this power. The demon had given me plenty. Too much. No, it was from the increasing difficulty of ignoring my fear. I was stalling. The hovering, the telekinesis, the wall—they were keeping me stagnant, but they were not stopping the icy, corrosive power from spreading. Its progress had slowed, but it kept soaking up my insides, turning me cold.
“Explain it to me,” Darius said in a confident, commanding voice. A thought trailed away, unvoiced.Mon ange.
My angel. That was sweet.
I took a deep breath. “Okay.” I walked him through the various phases, from stumbling upon the new well of power, to actively trying to use it, to the way the two powers had mixed like ink, and finally to the confrontation with the demon-mage and then the demon itself.
“The demon is calling forth this other side of your power,” Callie said. “Like when your mother worked to bring it out in you with your training, they are bringing it to the surface naturally. I did not realize there weretwo halves to the whole.”
“Surprise.” I moved my hands and feet like a puppet.
She is on a thin rope,Dizzy thought.
He had that right.
Callie dug into her bag. “Stand back, everyone. This spell might explode.”
“Wait.” Darius held his hand out, studying me. “Force the fire, Reagan,” he said in a soft, urgent voice. “Force the fire. Force it to take over. Get me through this barrier and I will help you.”
“How are you going to help her?” Callie asked.
“Blood,” Darius said, the possessiveness back ten-fold. “It helped after she killed the other demon. It has to help this time as well. I will not lose her to the underworld. She is bringing back my humanity—I will not let it take hers.”
“Well, that is unexpected,” Dizzy deadpanned. “But unless you can get her down first, you won’t be able to get blood into her.”
“Force the fire,” Darius urged me.
Yes, that was what I needed to do. Or just force this icy power down. But that meant dunking myself back into the sludge. I was afraid of it. Afraid of losing myself, like Darius had said.
Heat pricked behind my eyes, threatening tears. I’d never been this afraid in my whole life. This wasn’tdeath. It was a fate worse than death. Until now, I’d thought only prison qualified for that category. The prospect of losing my humanity was so much worse. Becoming a monster.
I stared directly at Darius. “Kill me if it takes over, okay? Don’t try to save me. Kill me.”
His thoughts were in French this time, and his hard face gave nothing away.
“Promise me,” I pushed.
“No. Force the fire,mon ange.Force the fire.”
“Can’t you do what I sayfor once?” I took a deep breath, struggling for control of my emotions. Then I reconnected with my power, feeling that dark, cold ice spreading within me. I had very little time.
