“No,” she cried, shaking her head. “No.”
“We practiced this,” Lucenna told her as she continued to fight back the creatures. “You need to get him out.”
“But I used all of my magic!”
“Don’t feed into the panic. Close your eyes and find his Essence. Feel it.”
Dyna searched inside and called on her magic, begging it to come forth. But it had faded like a snuffed candle melted to the wick.
She stared at her trembling hands. Her vision spun as her lungs struggled for air. “I don’t have enough power.”
“You can do this, Dyna,” Cassiel said, striking another grindylow. “You have to, or he dies!”
Zev’s Essence was there, a mere wisp against hers, and it was fading. She gritted her teeth, and her body shuddered with the power she tried to wrench out of herself. But her magic was locked behind an impenetrable wall.
“I can’t.” She gasped for air, hyperventilating. “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t!”
She wasn’t enough to save Zev.
Failure crushed her under its weight, stealing the icy air from her lungs. Dyna tumbled through the cracks of her mind as reality caved in. He would die here because of her. Lucenna shouted something, but it was lost to the ringing in her ears. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart hammered against her ribs, threatening to pitter out.
She wasn’t enough.
Hands came over her face, and she met Cassiel’s silver eyes.
“Ett haor sheli,”he said in the language of the Heavens, his voice so soft it was almost a whisper. Even in the raging chaos around her, the shrieks of the sea creatures, and the explosions of spells, she heard him loud and clear. “From the first day we met, you have proven to me time and again that you are capable of far more than I could ever have imagined. I believe you can do this. I know you can.”
The softest of smiles tugged at his lips, and the bond glowed. His presence filled her from the pit of her soul to the weavings of her heart. She was full of him, and only him.
His voice seemed to flutter across her mind.Now show me.
Without so much as a flinch, Cassiel yanked a handful of black feathers and shoved them in her hand. They blazed with gold light, and something shifted inside of her. The barrier that contained her power dropped. An abundance of Essence rushed to the surface and barreled through her veins. The feathers disintegrated to gold dust, absorbing into her palms.
Her body throbbed as power filled every crevice of her being. The Essence of everyone around her pulsed in Dyna’s mind, and including the one fading in the fjord’s pit. Anger and determination flushed out her terror. Zev may have wanted to give up, but she wouldn’t let him. She raised a hand and snatched his Essence with her own, ripping him out of the water with the grindylows clinging to his flesh. His body hurled through the sky, and she guided it to the island, where he landed in a bloody mess. Cassiel and Rawn quickly killed the creatures clinging to him, but Zev didn’t move—
Talons pierced her knee, and she screamed.Esh Zayincleaved through the creature, turning it to ash. She stumbled back and applied pressure to the wound. Blood gushed through her fingers. The grindylows were everywhere. Lucenna, Rawn, and Cassiel continued fighting, but they were exhausted. Soon, they would be overpowered. Endless grindylows crawled over the edge, surrounding them from all sides.
So many. Too many.
Death’s presence lurked in the chaos, waiting for them to die. And they would, right on this lump of rock. Their journey would end with such a foolish mistake. Choking on the metallic scent of blood and burned fish, Dyna couldn’t do more than close her eyes.
Her father had faced certain death, and he fought until the end.
So would she.
She pictured him on that snowy night, pictured his stance and the spells he formed to keep the Shadow at bay. None of those she knew except how to make her Essence burn like fire.
Dyna inhaled a deep breath, gathering all of her power, and aimed both hands at the raging grindylows. Her palms lit with a spiraling green light that raced up her arms. She opened all Essence Channels, and power shot through her veins, burning through her being in a way it never had before. Her magic flared brighter as it reached her shoulders, brighter as it crawled over her neck, and brighter until an effervescent glow lit her body. Her vision filled with blinding green light that faded all reality, even the solidity of the ground.
Her every nerve was on fire. It was too much. Trapped within her, and it had nowhere to go—but out.
The atmosphere pulsed. Dyna screamed as green fire exploded out of her into a blazing ring. The inferno bathed everything in a scorching wave. It crested over the entire swarm of creatures in a wave of green flame, continuing through the fjord with a roar. The earth shook, and the air shattered like glass. Cracks fractured through the cliffs, releasing massive segments that crashed to shore.
The burning faded and left behind the flimsy shell of her being. She had a moment to realize she was floating off the ground, then all the feeling left her. Her vision swayed and she dropped. She landed on something firm and arms adjusted around her as Cassiel’s startled face came into view.
“Bring me to him,” she said faintly, her skin buzzing.
Cassiel carried her to Zev’s side. Lucenna drew the water from his lungs, but he still didn’t rise. Blood soaked through his shredded clothing; dark red trails seeped from the deep lacerations all over his face and chest.
