“Why do you enjoy being so cruel? You don’t care for anything or anyone and fear is the only emotion you seem to understand. Then you ask why I’m fearful of my future and why I refuse to accept my fate. Is it any wonder, the way you look at me as I speak?”
For the briefest of moments, I saw something flicker in Fionn's eyes, something like sorrow, but it was gone so quickly I might have imagined it.
Whatever it was, it didn’t belong to the man standing before me.
The creature shifted, and only then did I notice her piercing green eyes open again and focus on me. Those emerald eyes glared at me with a hunger that made my blood run cold.
My hands started to shake uncontrollably, and my legs began to wobble.
Seraphina looked toward the door. I could see she was trying to conjure a spell to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. She turned to the others.
“The Elorium is channelling another spell to trap us! The door won't open”
Fionn’s expression shifted, though I had no idea if my words had affected him or not. He turned away and approached the dying Elorium.
She flapped her wings and snarled at Fionn.
I felt weak, my hands going numb.
“Tilly, the Elorium is keeping us here so she can drain your energy. This isn't any creature you know from your world, she’s powerful. Don't underestimate her power. Now open the door and go before she drains your life.” Fionn said.
My body tingled unpleasantly. I pressed myself against the door, exhausted beyond words and terrified of what would happen once the door opened. Would I be punished for my interference, or something even worse?
That was a chance I had to take. I lifted my hand to unlatch the door, but my trembling hands wouldn't cooperate. My vision blurred as I peered through the spyhole.
“I can’t,” I mumbled.
“Tilly, she’s draining your energy!” Seraphina cried. “Focus!”
“I’m…not strong enough…”
Fionn pulled a small blade from his pocket and seized the Elorium by her wings. She shrieked as he forced her still, the blade settling coldly against her throat.
He didn’t hesitate. “There's no choice now! Open the door, or she dies!”
The Elorium frantically flapped her wings in an attempt to get away, but that only incited Fionn’s rage. He nicked her neck with the blade, eliciting a trickle of purplish blood. The Elorium squirmed and glared hatefully at him.
He held the blade with the ease of someone who had ended many lives before. I couldn’t help wonder how many people he had killed simply because he didn’t like them.
“The choice is yours, Tilly.” His gaze never left mine. He wasn’t bluffing.
I knew if I didn’t open the door, Fionn would kill her. I couldn't be responsible for her death. She’d been brought here against her will, just like me. Feeling weaker by the moment, I could barely move my hands to unlatch the door. Summoning every ounce of willpower left within me, I pulled the latch open.
Seraphina’s voice rose above the din as she chanted so rapidly that the words were nothing but a drone. The room began to reek of ozone, and my hair haloed from static electricity. Nauseated, I staggered away from the door as it exploded open with such violence that the wood cracked against the wall and splintered. My jellied legs collapsed beneath me. Though I tried to breathe, an intense pressure compressed my lungs, and I felt myself blacking out.
Beneath whatever command Seraphina chanted, the battling energies subsided but still flared and whirled around the room. Noticing me, Cillian broke away and hurried toward me. He gathered me in his arms and carried me away from the cursed room. Almost immediately, I could breathe again.
He sat me up against the wall, but everything was a blur. Gripping my hand, his healing energy coursed through my me. Trying to focus, I saw the concern in his eyes, though there was also a hint of admonishment.
“Tilly, you must start to accept the truth before it destroys us all. What happened just now could have been even more dangerous than it already was.” “Foolish human Fionn muttered somewhere behind me.”
Cillian’s grip tightened around my hand.
Lights flashed before my eyes. Before I could utter a word, everything went dark.
TWENTY FOUR
POWERLESS
