“Would you be kinder to me if I had magic like yours?” I ask.
“I’m not—Taylan, that’s not…” he sighs. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to be around you anymore.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t.” I turn before he can see the tears, but I only get two steps before the floor gives way, and I’m falling.
“Taylan!”
I reach out for anything I can grab, but there’s nothing. I land hard, rocks shift and crack under me, some of them rolling onto me.
“Taylan?” Brevan calls.
“I’m here!” I answer.
She’s here.
She came.
“Who’s there?” I ask.
She shouldn’t be here. She’ll figure everything out.
She can save us.
Nobody can save us.
My heart thunders, and I wrap my hand around one of the rocks next to me. It’s long and narrow. The texture is wrong.
It’s not rocks.
I’m sitting on a pile of bones.
Can she hear us?
Should we tell her?
More voices join in, suddenly talking over each other, arguing. Then more, some of them wailing or screaming. Some begging.
My mind feels like it might explode from the cacophony.
I get up, but slide on the pile, falling every time I try to stand. So, I crawl until I feel stone under my fingertips.
Something runs across my hand and I pull it away, the sensation almost too much while all the voices fill my mind.
Light draws my attention and suddenly I can see the space. It’s a tomb. Not a catacomb like I was used to. A chamber full of bones. None of them separated, organized, or left with belongings or gifts for the afterlife.
Just bones.
Everywhere.
And they’re all crying out to me, warring with each other or releasing the sounds of their misery.
Someone grabs me and I spin, eyes wide. Brevan grips my shoulders. He’s speaking, but I can’t hear him over the voices. I wince, then cover my ears. He touches my face, his eyes searching me as if looking for an injury. His mouth moves, but all I can hear is the dead.
I squeeze my eyes closed, trying to silence them. Brevan grabs my wrists and when he pulls my arms down, the sound reaches a crescendo that makes me want to tear off my own skin. I scream, then start shouting at them, “Stop talking, all of you! Stop it!”
The voices rise, matching my intensity, and I yell as loud as I can, the sound echoing around us, creating a chorus of my cries. It sends an explosion vibrating through my bones, reaching the place where my magic resides. When I feel it, I tie it off, forcing the dead to quiet. It’s taking everything I have to maintain the hold, but the voices are gone.
Brevan is staring at me like he’s never seen me before, but I don’t have anything left. My limbs are heavy and my head throbs. It feels like I’ve been training for three days straight. It’s a kind of tired I’ve never felt. I just want out of here and crawl into bed.
