A plan flickers at the back of my mind—fragile, uncertain, probably impossible…but at least it’s something.
I can’t just let him go without even trying to get him back–Iwon’tdo that!Grizalyn’spower might be a hundred times greater than mine, butIhave something she doesn’t–a connection to something even greater than her evil magic.
Slowly,Ibegin to speak, the words of theTimeWeavingspell spilling from my lips.
“Thread of time, unwind the seam,
Carry me through memory’s dream,
Back before the fault was cast,
Let me mend the broken past.”
The air in the huge court shifts and a hum fills the space around me, low and resonant, as the magic answers.Abovemy head, the four crystal globes appear—one by one—hovering in a slow, deliberate circle.
The feather…the vial of water…the gleaming purple jewel…and the living coal, glowing faintly with its own inner fire all rotate above me.
Grizalyn watches me, her lips curling into a sneer.
“Go on, little priestess,” she says, laughing.“Goback to your safe, quiet life.Goback to your pure, innocent blue eyes.Goback and serve yourGoddessand never know a man’s touch…never know love.”Hergaze sharpens, certain of her victory.“Goback to the life youdeserve.”
I meet her eyes calmly.
“Oh,Iintend to,”Isay.
ThenIspeak again.
“Guide my step to the fated hour,
Where wrong was forged and fed by power,
Turn the tide and break the chain,
Let me choose the path again.”
The world tilts around me.TheCourtbegins to blur–colors smearing together as though the very fabric of reality is unraveling.Thefloor seems to drop out from under my feet, the air rushing past as something pulls me backward—downward—through time itself.
I cling to the image in my mind–the moment before she appeared–the time before she killed him.
My power might not be as strong as hers, butIwill go back–Iwill find a way to stop her!
The world spins faster, the sound rising to a deafening roar, and then…
Everything disappears.
74
ELOWEN
I don’t know ifI’mbreathing…Idon’t know ifIhave a body.IfIdo,Ifeel strangely disconnected from it.
There is only the pull—the terrible, wrenching pull of magic ripping me backward through time, through memory, through everythingIwas just forced to lose.
TheCourtdissolves around me in streaks of gold and shadow, the sound of my own heartbeat echoing in my ears like a drum.Iclutch at theTimeWeavingspell as though it might tear out of my hands and leave me stranded between tics of the clock forever.
Hold steady.Holdthe image.Theright moment… the right moment…Ichant to myself.Don’tlet go–hold on until just the right time!
The swirl slows and finally, the world begins to take shape again.
