CHARLIE
Agony tore through my body, as if a powerful monster had emerged from the depths of hell and ripped my torso in half with its jagged jaws. The deafening sound of rubble crashing around me and burying me alive seemed miles off. The throb of pain in my leg disappeared. All I felt was the excruciating break in my soul as Ava-Marie was ripped away.
“AVA!!!” I screamed, so loud that it could be heard over the sound of the cave-in.
Dust entered my lungs, and I began hacking. All I wanted was for the stones to hit me, to crush me beneath their massive weight. It would hurt a hell of a lot less.
But they didn’t. Someone must’ve created a shield, because by the time the rumbling stopped, I was still alive. I didn’t know how. If the rocks hadn’t crushed me, the weight of losing one half of my soul should’ve.
And it just might.
That was how it worked in Hawkei culture. If your Familiar died— a piece of your soul— you weren’t far behind.
And hell, I wanted to follow Ava wherever she went. I couldn’t stand to live without her.
But I wanted to live. I wanted usbothto live. She was mywife, and I didn’t get enough time with her. We had prophecies to fulfill. This couldn’t be the end. It justcouldn’t.
I refused to believe Ava was gone. She had to live. Shehadto.
I began crawling across the ground frantically. Screw the pain pulsing in my leg and the blood pooling beneath me. I had to get to Ava.
My hands met stone. I pulled myself upright, balancing on one leg while I tried to move rocks out of the way. Screams came from nearby, and someone barked orders, but I couldn’t process what anyone said.
Charlie, she’s already made her choice,Oberi whimpered beside me.
No. Just no.
“Charlie!” I thought I heard Marcus call my name, but I couldn’t be sure. Hands landed on my shoulders, but I shoved them off.
“I have to get to her!” I yelled.
Marcus yanked me again. “Charlie, you can’t! We’re completely surrounded by rubble. We’re trapped.”
I lifted my hands. The Underground was built out of stone. My magic could handle it. “I’m getting through one way or another.”
Nothing happened. My guts sank in horror as I realized my magic was still bound by the ward inside of me.
I grabbed Marcus by the collar. “Get this ward out of me! Now! I have to find Ava— she— she’s—”
I choked up, and I couldn’t finish my sentence. I wouldn’t say it out loud. She wasn’t gone. She would live.
I wouldn’t accept any other reality.
“Ava’swhat?” Liam demanded. “What are you waiting for? Move these stones. You have Nivita magic!”
Liam didn’t wait for an answer. He moved past me, and stones began falling to the ground as he tried to dig through the rubble.
“Chief Mitoh, stop!” Kallie cried. “This could all come down on us.”
She sounded wiped out, like she was struggling to maintain her shield. The weight of holding the collapsed tunnel was draining all her energy.
Liam gasped, and I heard him stumble to the ground. He was ill and pumped full of noxite. Moving literal tons of rubble wasn’t exactly in the cards for him.
“Liam!” Ava’s mother scurried to his side.
Marcus yanked out of my grasp and turned to Sophia. “You have healing powers, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said frantically. “But Jaymin used noxite on us. Without a spell to get rid of it, I can’t—”
