My breathing kicks up as my hands slam against the wall, chasing the wood as it literally fades into vapor.
“No. Shit. That shouldn’t have happened. Right?” I ask, but no one responds. I fall to my knees, trying pointlessly to grip what’s remaining of the door.
Multiple gasps echo behind me as the vapor soars through the air, crashing straight through the door at the very end of the hall.
We all gawk as it subtly glows for a moment, then dulls once again.
“I believe that’s exactly what’s supposed to happen,Mysenta,” Amick says as he holds his hand out toward me without taking his eyes off that door.
“Go try another one, Thayla,” Creed commands and my gaze bounces between him and the flat, doorless wall in front of me.
“What if the disappearing doors is a bad thing?”
“I think if it were, we’d know by now,” Yemi says. “This feels like something that would instantly get attention.”
Her wide stare drifts down to me, and she tightens her lips. The nod she gives me is full of so much more confidence than what I feel.
I finally take Amick’s hand and use his body as leverage as I force myself to stand. My knees wobble as I stumble my way to the next door.
It was just a fluke.
This one is going to just open like a normal fucking door does.
That wishful thought goes flying through the air right along with the ball of vapor that the second door turns into.
I swallow as the back of the hall lights a touch brighter than it did the first time.
Riven races down there, chuckling as he gets a sense of whatever he’s getting a sense of.
“That’s definitely what’s supposed to happen. The power’s getting stronger.”
Well, shit.
“Okay then,” I mumble, glancing at everyone. “Two down.”
The third and fourth doors welcome the key in with ease just as the two others did but require my power to push against their restraint a little more.
The fifth…a small touch of panic races across my chest as it doesn’t let me pull back. It latches onto my power and the key. Only once the door has disappeared past the handle does it release me.
I huff out a nervous laugh as everyone stares in confusion.
“It’s getting a little tougher now,” I warn them.
My men straighten their shoulders like they’re preparing to hold on to me as if I may get snatched through a door.
The sixth door poses the same issue, but it grips me even longer and draws out more power from me.
I wipe the sweat that’s dotting my forehead on my shirt and take a deep breath. The energy around us is thicker. With power and everyone’s tension.
“Fuck,” I mutter when the seventh door does, in fact, snatch me forward.
I crash against the solid wall, and my power literally bleeds through the spots where my skin touches. Its vapor crashes into the last door with so much force that the ground shakes beneath our feet and I jerk free from the wall.
Four sets of hands catch me as I gasp for air.
“Each door is taking a little more out of you,” Amick says as he observes my face.
“I know. I’m not drained or anything like that, though.”
