Beyond the black spots now dancing in front of my eyes, Ryker’s head breached the surface.
The blue light danced across his face.
His eyes sparked in that same dangerous hue, as if answering its call.
A cry of relief burned up my throat.
With a grunt, Ryker heaved his right shoulder and pulled Dax’s head to the surface.
His eyes were closed.
He wasn’t breathing.
A shudder raced through me and right into the orb, which began to tremble.
Ryker’s left hand erupted from the water, digging into the ice shelf.
It screeched and broke, just like it had with Dax.
My heart fell near my soaking ankles.
The ice breaking for Dax was an anomaly.
But the crater had now betrayed its master.
Terror rushed through me. If Ryker couldn’t command it, then who could?
From deep within me, I scraped all of my remaining energy and called upon my power once more, despite its burning protests.
“I call upon the wind,” I chanted, cold and unrelenting. “Harden the ice, bind the fractures. Hold, until they climb.”
The blue orb disintegrated, falling into shards along the ice.
My hands trembled with the blaze coursing through my veins. The black spots dancing in my vision burned away, leaving behind only a milky haze I could barely see through.
Still, I didn’t relent.
If I had to burn myself alive to save them, I would.
The shards of light shimmered on the surface, clustering in a makeshift bridge that barely grazed the ice.
In the next breath, the purple pulses flared toward the icy crust, rippling and tearing the blue lines.
“No!” I yelled. The rip vibrated in me, threatening to tear me as well. “Hold!”
Ryker gripped at the ice again.
It fractured.
“Hold!” I cried.
The purple light pierced the bridge.
A hum resounded in the distance, mocking me.
The world around me turned a murky shade of silver. My body was now a shiver, no longer under my control.
I felt my powers slipping just like Ryker and Dax were back into the water.
