Her consciousness surfaced, pushing against the corruption, still trapped and poisoned, but there.
She’s reachable, I gasped. She gave the phrase…
Corruption spiked violently. The master knew what I was doing.
Marigold! Elio’s warning came sharp. He’s manifesting…
Reality warped. The silver-haired witch materialized in the corridor outside, the same one we’d seen in Wickem’s auditorium, her hands already raised.
One minute, Keane said, portal edges flickering wildly now. That’s all I can hold.
I grabbed onto Raven’s consciousness through the necromantic link. Not pulling—that would fracture her. Just anchoring. Giving her something solid to hold on to while my magic worked through the corruption.
Death returned to the cycle instead of staying stagnant.
The chains shattered, and Raven collapsed. Cyrus caught her before she hit the ground, his fire burning away corruption trying to cling to her skin.
Go! Keane’s portal ripped wider. Now!
Shadow magic flooded the corridor as corrupted vampires appeared from nowhere. The silver-haired witch’s power was warping reality itself.
Elio grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the portal. Cyrus had Raven. Keane was already moving.
The portal shuddered and collapsed halfway.
Shit… Keane’s hands moved frantically, rebuilding the dimensional framework even as the wards crushed down on it. Blood dripped from his nose. Go, go, go…
I dove through first, pulling Elio with me. Cyrus came through with Raven, his fire blazing behind him to hold off pursuit.
Keane tumbled through last.
The portal sealed behind us with a sound like breaking glass.
For a moment, everything was silver edges and impossible geometry as the dimensional space collapsed.
Then… Wickem medical center—the predesignated extraction point where medical staff waited on standby, just as we’d planned.
I hit the floor hard, gasping, and Scout tumbled from my shoulder.
Raven wasn’t moving.
Medical staff swarmed immediately. Dr. Phillips took charge, her diagnostic spells lighting up around Raven’s unconscious form.
She’s alive, Phillips said after a tense moment. But barely. Corruption is still embedded. We can stabilize her, but full recovery… She shook her head. Unknown.
I looked at the others.
Keane was leaning against the wall, blood still trickling from his nose and his hands shaking from portal strain. Wisp pressed against his leg.
Cyrus had a burn across his forearm—corruption backlash from containing so much poisoned magic. His fire had burned it, but not before it lashed back at him. He wasn’t looking at it, just standing there with Ember flickering weakly on his shoulder.
Elio’s illusions had gone completely transparent. Echo’s scales were dull gray. Magic exhaustion was written across both of them.
And Raven was unconscious on the medical bed, corruption still threaded through her aura like poison we couldn’t fully extract.
We’d gotten her out.
But the cost was real.
