“House, you must go. Go now!”
I love you too,I whisper.
The Magic Hunter hovers above the front garden, eyes blazing white. He is airborne—monstrous power radiating from him—and I know I cannot withstand him. Fred stands no chance.
“Leave her alone! Leave her alone!” she shouts, reckless and brave. She snatches a fallen roof tile and hurls it. The tile strikes Lander square in the chest, and Baylor sinks his teeth into the leg of his trousers.
Please do not hurt them.
Lander Kane’s focus snaps; his gaze lands on me, his power falters, and the pentagram flickers.
Fred throws herself at him. Chimney bricks thunder into the garden. I am falling apart.
If you cease to exist, Fred will never forgive herself,Beryl snarls.Fold!
With a violent snap of power, I seize Beryl and a bag of Fred’s essentials and shove both outside, then, in one final desperate act, and with pure panic…
I fold.
I try to cling to the last fragments of myself, yet I no longer have the strength to stay whole. A year of recovery has not been long enough. Within minutes—without conscious thought—I reform.
Please, let no one be beneath me.
I do not hit solid earth but tumble through open air above dense forest. I feel like the house inThe Wizard of Oz, spinning through the canopy until I collide with the trees. I slam into the ground and the main ley line that feeds the Magic Sector.
Raw power, as ancient as the stars, spears through me,tearing the remnants of my being apart. It overwhelms, consumes and, shamefully, I yield. The magic bites. It claws at me; the world detonates in a flash of white light.
The woods are silent; the blast has driven every creature away. Embers drift onto damp earth, but they sputter and die, the flames contained to the smouldering trees that ring the impact site.
I am no more.
Bricks, tiles, plaster—everything I am—have vaporised. Perhaps a few shards were flung sky-high before I struck, yet the house itself is gone.
I try to move, expecting to glide on filaments as I have a thousand times before, but pain detonates through me.
My nerves shriek; my whole body howls, skin stretched too tight. Too raw, too present. With every nerve firing, the sensations overwhelm me. Hair brushes my neck and shoulders, maddening.
I raise trembling hands. Pale, bluish skin, pink nails. Human. Not a ghost, but solid,real.
This strange body, this unfamiliar skin, torments me. I feel crammed into a tiny box, yet the flesh that cages me seems boundless. My soul is penned in, stripped of magic. Empty.
I must be mad.
I cannot be human.
The magic has shattered my mind.
The ley line judders beneath me; sparks flicker along my arms, grazing my flesh with raw power.
I lie at its very heart. Alive, impossibly.
I could not crash land even five feet aside. What capricious fate is this that hurls me straight into the line?
If I crawl clear, will I vanish?
I cannot remain.
Gasping, I gather my courage and drag myself across the scorched ground. Gritting my teeth, I haul free of the shimmering current. As soon as my toes clear, I roll onto my back and stare at the canopy.
