I’m not sure I can explain, but I attempt to as best as I can. “Evil cannot abide peace.”
Tanzanina’s hand drops from her mouth, and her lips set in a line of determination. “I will try.”
“Tansy—” Hunter begins, but Tanzanina shakes her head.
“I have to try!” She holds her hands out over Striker’s body, power glowing around her fingertips and then her palms.
It must be her instinctive power because she hasn’t reached for any carefully handwritten spells.
A moment later, my own power confirms for me that she’s reaching deep into her heart for this magic.
“I have to believe that nothing is impossible,” she cries. “I need to know that I can do this.”
Hunter withdraws a little, looking at Alexei, who very slowly steps forward and lowers himself into a kneeling position beside Tanzanina, his shoulder brushing hers.
He doesn’t speak, but I sense the connection between them; a bond deeper than either of them seems to be acknowledging, although Tanzanina’s power grows brighter the moment Alexei murmurs, “I believe you can do this, Solnyshka.”
I step away from them, and then I take more steps until my back connects with a tree, and I slide to the ground, drawing my knees to my chest and resting my head on them.
Tanzanina’s power glows ever more brightly with every passing second until it fills the air around me.
I tuck my head to my knees, knowing there’s nothing I can do to help, waiting for the quiet tap on my shoulder that will tell me there’s no hope.
A long time later, so long that my body has become stiff and I can’t feel my toes where they rest against the moss, I become aware that the light has faded.
Hunter’s quiet voice sounds from across the distance. “Will he wake up?”
Tanzanina’s reply is low, her voice filled with exhaustion. “I don’t…” Her exhalation is soft and defeated. “I don’t know.”
I force myself to my feet, gripping the tree in an effort to stand upright despite the weight that’s resting within my heart.
“Peyton?” Hunter is in front of me in a flash, her green eyes filled with concern. Her thoughts aren’t guarded from me, and her sadness is heavy.
“I need to go,” I say.
I haven’t heard my sisters’ voices since I emerged from the maze, but then, I haven’t reached out to them either. I’m not ready to do that because they will hear my thoughts, and my thoughts are tangled and filled with despair.
“I can help you get home,” Hunter says, reaching for me.
“No. Thank you.” I evade her hand before I pause. “But I would like it if you were to visit me more often.”
Her grief lifts, a moment of warmth, and she gives me a nod. “I would like that, too.”
I force myself to look at Striker before I turn away.
He appears peaceful, even if his dark hair is matted with blood. His body looks healed and whole on the surface, but his chest barely moves, and his heart is hardly beating.
Slow, labored beats.
Fragile beats.
I try to speak past the constriction in my throat. “If Striker wakes up… Will you ask him…”
My eyes burn, and I press my lips together, trying to quell the tears while Hunter waits patiently for me to continue.
“Will you ask him if I could come and see him?” I manage to say. “Will you ask him if that would be okay?”
She nods, her expression gentle. “I’ll ask him.”
