I looked down at Darius. Pale. Bleeding. Dying.
I couldn’t lose him. Not like this.
I closed my eyes. Reached deep inside myself, searching for that ancient power—the thing that had cracked open when I’d screamed his name.
Nothing.
“I can’t find it.” Panic clawed at my throat.
“You’re trying too hard,” Caterpillar said. “Stop thinking. Start feeling.”
Feeling. What had I felt before?
Terror. Desperation. The absolute certainty that Darius was going to die.
I opened my eyes and looked at him. At the blood soaking his shirt. At the arrow jutting from his ribs. At the way his breath came in shallow, ragged gasps.
Horses emerged from the forest, and Ari was riding a tall black stallion. He cast a victory grin that froze my heart.
No. No. No. No.
Ari dismounted, his boots hitting the ground with a thud that echoed in my chest. Those red eyes—I remembered those eyes. The way they’d glowed when he’d commanded Marsha. The way he’d smiled while her vines tore into my flesh.
My whole body went cold. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
He was here. Right in front of me. The demon from my nightmares.
“Alice.” Caterpillar’s voice cut through my panic. “Focus.”
I couldn’t. All I could see was Ari walking toward us, slow and confident, savoring our fear like wine.
I looked down at Darius. His face was growing paler by the minute. He wasn’t dying on me.
Not today.
I don’t know why, but I felt connected to him—a thread I couldn’t explain, pulling tight in my chest.
Something stirred in my chest. Warm. Ancient. Waiting.
I thrust out my hand.
Stop. Please stop.
At first nothing happened. The soldiers on horseback surrounded us.
Ari chuckled. “You think your palm can stop us? You’re nothing without Tinker Bell.”
Tears burned my eyes. He was right. Tinker Bell had always been there to clean up my messes, to protect me, to make excuses for my failures. Without her, I was just a broken witch with magic she couldn’t control.
“Alice.” Caterpillar’s voice was soft but firm. “He wants you to believe that. Don’t.”
Ari laughed. “Listen to the smoking fool. It won’t change what you are—a disaster waiting to happen.”
Something snapped inside me.
No.
“Interesting,” Caterpillar murmured, serene as ever despite the swords pointed at us. “You’re thinking again.”
