My stomach drops. “What is it?”
I turn, following his stare. River stiffens beside me.
My jaw falls open.
The sun is falling.
The massive golden orb sinks toward the earth, inch by deliberate inch. Each movement sends out a pulse—waves of scorching energy rippling through the sky like shockwaves. It isn’t plummeting. It’sdescending. Purposeful. Unstoppable.
And if we don’t move—if we don’t act—
It will fall straight into the Siphon’s hands.
Ryder’s face twists as he clutches his head, fingers digging into his temples. River winces at the exact same moment, mirroring the pain.
“Shit,” I mutter.
Another one of his headaches.
Ryder’s breath turns ragged. He pinches the bridge of his nose with clenched teeth.
“This is it,” I say softly, stepping toward him. “I can heal you. I know I can.”
He exhales sharply, then nods. “Okay. Do it.”
I steady myself—and reallylookat him.
Something inside me shifts.
The world sharpens, peels back. Ryder’s body doesn’t become translucent, not literally—but my perception slides beneath his skin. I see veins like glowing pathways, blood rushing, systems humming quietly beneath flesh and bone, like a living X-ray.
I place my hand on his arm.
Heat pulses beneath my palm.
Colour floods my vision—red everywhere, strong and alive. And threading through his right arm is black, thick and stubborn, as if fused to him, but tangled within the red is something else.
Lilac.
Faint. Sickly. Curling into the healthy flow like invasive vines.
I don’t hesitate.
I reach.
The lilac light shivers, reacting to my touch. It loosens, then pulls free in soft, wispy strands, rising from Ryder’s skin as if drawn by breath or gravity reversed. It gathers above my palm, coalescing into a hovering pool of shimmering violet.
Ryder gasps.
Then exhales.
River straightens sharply. “—Oh.” He blinks. “Oh, wow. The pain’s gone.”
Ryder stares at his hands, flexing his fingers like he expects answers to appear there. Then his gaze locks onto the lilac serum swirling above my palm.
It isn’t much. Barely enough to fill a vial.
Hard to believe something so small could have rewritten his entire mind.
