He shifted, rolling his shoulders as if to dislodge it, but the sensation clung like mist.Beside him, Syndra went still in that sharp, instinctive way only she could.
“Tamsin,” she murmured.“There it is again.”
“Yes,” he said quietly.“I’ve felt something like it before.”That was true.But not enough.He could not rememberwhereorwhen,only that some part of him, deep, ancient, recoiled from the familiarity.
Oakley’s eyes scanned the forest beyond them.“You two look like you smelled a corpse.I can feel some sort of pressure, like oxygen being sucked from my lungs.But, other than that, I got nothing.What am I missing?”
Before Tamsin could answer, the trees leaned inward.Not from wind, but of their own accord.A low thrum rippled through the soil, vibrating up through Tamsin’s palms.His magic reacted instantly, light flickering over his skin like static.Syndra jerked beside him, her breath catching as dark sparks crawled along her fingers.
“Tamsin—” she gasped, “something’s?—”
The pressure sharpened.The air thickened.Something invisible hooked into his mind and pulled.
He bit back a cry as pain shot through his temples, piercing deep into his mind.Something ancient stirred, and then it was like a locked door being pushed from both sides, as if part of him were attempting to keep the door closed, while something else wanted it wide open.
Syndra clutched his arm, fingers digging in.“Make it stop, please.”
“I can’t,” he ground out.“This magic is more powerful than ours.Something that has been building for a long time.”
Oakley stumbled backward.“You’re glowing.Both of you.Like, a lit fuse about to blow.What is happening?”
Tamsin could hardly hear him.A battle waged inside his skull.Something was pushing them away.The forest was pulling them forward.He didn’t knowwhy.He didn’t knowwhat.Only that the pressure was unbearable.Light seared behind his eyes.A flash.A sigil he couldn’t place.A door of stone he did not remember ever seeing.But it felt familiar.Terrifyingly familiar.
Syndra cried out, shaking, her forehead pressed to his shoulder.“Tamsin, what is this, what are we supposed to?—”
“I don’t know, ” he choked.Pain, harder, like a fist closing around his mind.Then—a snap.
Air rushed back into his lungs.The pressure vanished as abruptly as it had come, leaving a cold, ringing silence in its wake.Tamsin collapsed to his knees, sweat dripping down his temples.Syndra gasped beside him, trembling.Oakley stood frozen several feet away, pale as moonlight.
“What the hell was that?”Oakley whispered.
Tamsin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.“A memory trying to surface.”
“Something you forgot?”Oakley asked.
Tamsin closed his eyes.The truth chilled him.“Appears that way,” he said softly.“It felt ...old.”
And then came the answer.Spoken, just as they had been before, “Not the former king.Not the former queen.Not the carefully trained almost-warrior.The daughters.Elora.Cassie.One of dark and one of light.They will set us free.”
Tamsin felt the blood drain from his face.Syndra clutched his arm.
Oakley staggered back.“Elora,” he whispered.
Tamsin’s heart plummeted.
“And Cassie,” Syndra breathed.
* * *
Cassie was already awake.The forest had made sure of that.She lay still beneath the canopy, staring up through the interlaced branches where pale morning light filtered through in thin, watery ribbons.The air was damp, cool against her skin, and far too quiet.No birds.No insects.Just the slow, patient breath of the woods pressing in around them.
Her chest felt tight.Not from fear, exactly.More from a sense of inevitability and curiosity.She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.After all, curiosity liked to kill things.She reached for Trik without thinking, seeking that familiar, anchoring presence that had always answered her, even at a distance.And hit something solid.The impact wasn’t physical, but it was sharp enough to steal her breath.Like slamming full force into a wall she hadn’t seen coming.Cassie sucked in a startled gasp and pushed herself upright, one hand braced against the ground as she tried again.
Nothing.No warmth.No answering pull.No sense of him at all.Just smooth, absolute silence.“Elora,” she said hoarsely.
Beside her, Elora was already sitting up, elbows on her knees, gaze fixed somewhere deep in the trees.At Cassie’s voice, she turned, and the look on her face made Cassie’s stomach drop.
“You, too,” Elora said quietly.
