Well, as okay as someone can be after being trapped in the vacuum of space.
“What happened?” he asks when I’m finally able to think again.
“I missed,” I say simply.
“Missed?” His brow furrows. “What do you mean?”
“I was in space. Just... floating. There was nothing around me. No air, no ground, no—” I break off, unable to articulate the sheer terror of that void.
“Maybe we should try something else,” he says carefully. “Find another way to?—”
“No.” The word surprises me as it leaves my lips. “I was in space, Riven. Actually in space. And I survived. I’m not physically hurt. I’m not dead. I just...” I glance up at the Midnight Star, sizing it up. “I aimed wrong.”
“Sapphire—”
“I can do this,” I say, and this time, I believe it. “I just need to try again.”
The owls shift on their perches, their eyes reflecting the starlight as they watch us. Waiting.
Riven’s mouth opens like he wants to argue, but then he stops, studying me.
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“Yes,” I tell him. “I’m sure.”
“All right.” He gives me a half-smile and cups my face, and right now, I think I’m more confident about this than he is. “Then let’s do this.”
He cradles me against him again, and I inhale deeply, focusing on the Midnight Star.
My magic comes faster this time, flooding my veins with so much power that it feels like I might burst from it.
Again, I let go.
I’m surrounded by blinding, radiant, all-encompassing light. I can’t see, can’t think, can’t?—
I snap back into my body with a gasp, my heart pounding as I re-orient myself.
Riven’s hands are on my face instantly, his eyes scanning me with a mix of worry and relief. “What happened?” he asks after determining I’m okay.
“I missed again,” I say simply. “It was bright.”
He frowns, his jaw tightening. “We can stop?—”
“No.” I cut him off. “I’m trying again.”
“Then try again,” he says, apparently knowing better than to argue with me by this point, and he holds me tighter, as if he can help me find my way.
This time, when I call on my magic, it sears through me like liquid starlight, filling every inch of me until there’s nothing left but the glow overhead.
Again, I let go.
And then, miraculously, I’m there.
On the Midnight Star.
