I choke on a half-breath as a faint ringing fills my ears. Delving deep into my chest, I search for the bond with Reva. But I can’t sense the connection tying the two of us together.
Reva said it wasn’t right, and that it didn’t feel the same as the ones she had with the other two. But I was sure that after last night it must have strengthened and settled.
And now it’s gone.
Inside my chest, a hollow pit opens.
My tether is gone.
Gone.
Dread curdles my gut as I’m struck with the possibilities of what might have happened for our bond to disappear.
“Reva,” I rasp. “We need to find her.”
Finch freezes with one tentacle raised, about to tear another building into dust. He must hear something in my voice as a snarl builds in my chest. My bear howls, slicing and hammering at the boundary between us.
I can’t hold him back any longer.
Chapter 33
Jack
There’s a chance I made a mistake by charging ahead.
There’s also a chance I’m lost in the Deadwood Cove labs.
“Reva? Witch boy? Are either of you there?”
No answer.
It seems I'm alone.
How is that possible? I was with the other two right until a moment ago, then I turned a corner and found myself here. Wherever that is.
It’s impossible to tell, considering I can’t see a pissing thing. I’m stuck in the pitch darkness, standing still while I wait for the other two to catch up. I must still be inside the abandoned shop that the two creepy doll people were guarding, but this hallway or wherever I am seems to be going on forever.
“Reva?”
I turn on my heel and listen hard for any signs of life, but I can’t hear a thing. My senses are too dull in this form. Pulling my magic into myself like a giant silk cloak, I transform into my raven form and take to the air. I’m going to have to leave my clothes here until I can come back and fetch them, but I can’t see another option at this moment. Not when I’m wandering around blindly.
I try to focus my raven’s eyes in the darkness, but it turns out I’m just as blind in this form as I am on two legs.
I am quicker, though. Flitting through the air in the direction I came from, following my heightened navigation skills to find the way.
... although I should be back at the shop by now.
Yet I’m still trapped in the same never-ending darkness.
I fly on. And on. And on. Until it feels like I must have travelled half the length of the kingdom and found absolutely nothing. No change in light. No feature that shows I’m progressing at all.
It almost feels like I’m trapped inside a nightmare. Bound here to fly endlessly through the night and into the day, not knowing how much time has passed since the only thing I’m aware of is the feeling of my wings hitting the air and the endless dark.
Maybe the golems killed me earlier, and I didn’t notice. I’m now trapped here in limbo or whatever place comes after.
If it’s designed to make me lose my mind, it’s doing a good job.
I’ve never been a fan of being trapped with my own thoughts. One of the many reasons I like to keep myself busy. But stuck here like this, it feels like there isn’t anything other than the millions of inane thoughts rolling around my head.
