Why was I imagining it, constructing it like pieces of a puzzle, stacking and crafting and forming and building? Building and building...
I sensed Rowin stepping towards me. Could he feel it too? Could he feel the energy that was trapped in my palms? It tingled up my arms and prickled down my spine. And when he stepped towards me again, I swore I felt another jolt of that energy rush at me, adding to the jittering bundle in my palms until italmostbroke free.
Behind me, I heard the crowd hush.
The hair on the back of my neck rose and my eyes lifted to the fog. It hovered there. Lingering.
Leave,I thought.If only for a little while.
Then with gritted teeth, I hurtled that little ball of energy forwards. Outwards. Expanding it exponentially. I wanted to see the Dead Mountain. I wanted to see how far I could stretch myself. I wanted to see what my limits were, if there were any.
A prick behind my eye had me gasping but I was determined. I wouldn’t stop until I saw it.
The barrier I’d created was like a wave. A rippling wave. And I heard, rather than saw, the barrier hitting the fog because behind me, I heard the sharp, bewildered cries of the Dakkari horde. I heard their shocked gasps and the murmuring that rose, the shuffle of their feet as they drew closer, or perhaps drew away.
The wave crashed against the fog almost violently. Immediately, it pushed it back. The fog was thrown out of the way, so thick and red against the barrier that it appeared like a solid thing, trying to beat its way back in.
My head throbbed. My templepoundedbut I didn’t stop. I wanted to see the Dead Mountain. As if I would be able to see Tess there. I pushed and pushed and pushed as the chatter behind me grew even louder. The land was revealed quickly. Land I’d never seen clearly before. The earth was dark. The fog looked like a shadow under the sliver of the moon.
“Mina,” came Rowin’s rough voice. “Enough.”
But I couldn’t stop. I wassoclose! The Dead Mountain was only just there.Right there.
It wasn’t until I saw it—until Iactuallysaw that dark mountain kingdom—that I realized what I’d done.
Before us, the entirety of the Dead Valley was presented, offered up. Cleared of all traces of the fog. Though it wasn’t entirely gone. It was furious, banging at the barrier angrily,needingto get back in.
I was crying, my breath ragged. When I felt a sharp jolt—like a dagger stabbing at the base of my neck—I cried out and I saw the barrier ripple.
I can’t hold it, I realized.Too much, too much.
“Mina,” Rowin growled. Then I felt his hand on my arm. I felt that energy spark into him and I felt him flinch. I figured it would hurt but his grip only tightened, as if he was fighting through the pain. Or as if he was no stranger to pain, as if he could endure it. “Let go,kalles. You have done so well already. Just let go.”
Fear infused me for the first time. Potent fear that made tears stream down my cheeks.
“I can’t,” I gritted out. “Rowin!”
I couldn’t drop the barrier. Before, it had given way so easily. With a wave of my hand.
Now, I’d played with something I didn’t truly understand. And I was going to pay the price.
I felt something running from my nostrils. Blood?
“Vok,” he cursed, seeing it too. My vision wavered. I swayed underneath the press of the pain but he held me. He came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my front. Those hands slid to my palms, which were open, my fingers spread. The little bones there felt like they were pulledtight. Stretched.
He closed my palms, wrapping his fingers between mine and pressing hard. His scent drifted to my nostrils. I focused on that scent, following it. I thought of the forests of the north. I thought of the frost.
“Kalles,” came his ragged voice, though it sounded distant. Distorted and hushed, like I was hearing it under water, the tones of it shifting and changing. “That’s it. It’s closing.”
It was?
It was!
I closed my eyes, squeezing them shut. I inhaled, breathing through the pain. Pain so fierce it felt like I’d been kicked in the head a hundred times over.
Forests, I thought, urging myself to focus, to control the panic.Cold, icy forests.
He smelled like a comforting fire burning in that forest. Keeping me warm.
