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He took the gauze from me and pressed it firmly to his wound. “On the bright side, we don’t care if Professor Leto gets hurt, so we can just toss him through to the Abyss.”
“A valid point,” I said. “Let’s see if I can buy him a one-way ticket. Don’t touch it this time.”
He held one hand up in surrender. “I promise I won’t!”
I lifted my hands, and sparks appeared in the air in front of me. I imagined the darkness of the Abyss. I’d seen it before—once when I’d fought a reaper trying to take Nadine’s spirit to the Abyss, and once when I witnessed the priestesses summon the demon. This should be easy.
But it wasn’t. I willed the portal to widen as I funneled my magic into it. I pictured the Abyss in my mind with such clarity, I almost believed it was right in front of me.
I got nothing but sparks.
My arms grew heavy, until it felt like they weighed a ton. My knees shook, and I nearly toppled over. Grant had to help me sit down on the log. I had no idea portal magic would tire me out this much.
“What’s going on?” he demanded.
“It feels like I’ve just benched a thousand pounds,” I told him.
“Maybe you should take a break,” Grant suggested.
“I need to figure this out,” I protested. “I’ve opened portals to Alora before. Those are effortless. I didn’t even know I was doing it. This shouldn’t be any different.”
“But it is different when you have a soul to guide through,” Grant said. “You’re in the middle of reaping when you’re doing it. It’s a different sort of magic.”
“But it’s close enough that I can still create portals,” I argued. I lifted my hands. Creating a portal to Alora should be simple.
Again, nothing but sparks.
My whole body swayed, and I had to stop before I passed out. I steadied myself on the log, my head spinning. “You’re right. Opening portals to other realms is definitely harder. I can’t even stabilize a portal to a place a mile away.”
“You’ll get it,” Grant encouraged.
I scoffed. “Yeah, but when?”
The longer Leto remained in Octavia Falls, the more people would die.
I wasn’t going to master portals tonight. That much was obvious. If I couldn’t use Mortimer’s star to open a portal to the Abyss, then I’d find another use for it.
Grant and I returned to our dorm room, and I got into bed early. I left the curtains open, so I could see Mortimer’s star from my bed. I focused on the star and fell into a deep meditation.
I’d only astral traveled twice, and Nadine had helped pull my spirit onto the astral plane both times. I wasn’t sure it would work.
A feeling of weightlessness overcame me, and I opened my eyes to see that even in the dark, the astral plane shimmered beautiful rainbow hues. I got out of bed and stood. My body remained motionless on the bed, but Oliver perked up his ears.
I closed my eyes and imagined myself in Leto’s classroom. When I opened them, I was standing beside my desk. The room was dark, but I heard the rustling of papers and followed the sound. Professor Leto sat in an office at the back of the room, marking papers with a red pen.
I crossed my arms. “So this is what you do during your free time? You grade papers? How positively… normal.”
Of course, he couldn’t hear me. Didn’t make it any less fun to taunt him.
To be honest, I was surprised he was doing it at all. I’d have thought he’d think he was too good to carry out menial human tasks.
Unless that was the point… He was playing the part, playing human. I bet he got off on it. I didn’t think Leto would do anything that didn’t please him in some way.
Leto checked the time on the wall, then placed his papers in a neat stack, straightened his tie, and left the room. I followed behind in my spirit form. He went to his car and slipped into the driver’s seat. I imagined myself in the back seat, then appeared there.
Leto turned on the music, and a classical tune played through the speakers.
“Huh, I would've taken you for a heavy metal guy,” I said. “This is weird. Actually, it’s almost painful.”
