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Logan slid a hand into his pocket. His eyes went wide, and his face turned grim. “Uhh.”
“Logan!” I practically screamed. “You lost it?”
“What stone?” Neverra asked.
“Dianna had Camilla make a stone to transport her out. She gave it to me, so I had a way to get you out, but I guess it fell during battle.”
Neverra turned slowly and looked at me, her head tipped to the side. “You were going to save us?”
I rolled my eyes and pushed between them. “Let’s not make a big deal out of it. Without that stone, we’re stuck here with no way out. Not that it matters because we are also hopelessly lost!”
“There has to be another way,” Logan said, desperation filling his voice. He looked around as if there might be a secret door somewhere that would lead us back to Onuna.
I placed my hand on my head and turned in a slow circle, afraid to stop moving.
Neverra grabbed Logan’s arm. “What about a portal?”
“I don’t think Samkiel can hear us from here, Nev.”
The cries of the Irvikuva grew louder. Neverra lowered her voice and nodded at me. “Not him, her.”
“Me?” I looked at her in disbelief. “In case you all got hit on your heads very hard back there and forgot, I can’t open portals to other realms.”
Logan’s face lit up as if he heard whatever Neverra didn’t say out loud.
Neverra stood shoulder to shoulder with Logan, hope glowing in her eyes. “No, but you have Kaden’s power, and he can make them.”
I tried to ignore the way she said those words so casually. It burned my gut to know I carried pieces of his power and how they sought to make me like him. Worse was the suspicion that maybe I had always carried the seed of the bloodthirsty monster, and all his power had done was awaken it.
“You can do this, okay?” Neverra’s hand on my shoulder pulled me from my dark thoughts. “You are equal parts him and yourself, and from what your sister said, you are stubborn and determined when you have your mind set on something. So set it to this, and we won’t need some magic stone. We just need you. We need you, Dianna, just like Gabby did. So there’s no dying today. Not for you, not for us.”
“Well, I failed her, so—”
“No! No, you didn’t, and you won’t fail us either.”
Her words soothed the part of me that so desperately needed absolution.
“Even if I have the power, I don’t know how.”
Logan rubbed at his chin. “Samkiel always told us when training with his father that you have to picture where you want to go in your mind. Think of a door leading to a place you want to go. You open it not with your hands but with your power. Visualize it and want it more than anything.”
“That sounds stupid,” I scoffed. “I don’t even know where to take us.”
“Yes, you do.” Neverra met my gaze. “Think of the one place you would feel safe. Where we all would be safe.”
Logan nodded, and I got the impression they were having a secret conversation. “Think of home.”
“And quickly, please,” Neverra added.
The lines beneath her eyes shone brighter, but her gaze had focused past me. I realized just how quiet the cavern had fallen and turned to look. Several pairs of bright red eyes glared at us from the end of the tunnel, their mouths wide with large, gaping smiles. The Irvikuva screeched and clawed their way toward us.
“Run!” Logan commanded in the same voice I imagined he used on the battlefield.
We barreled down the corridor, every muscle I had screamed in protest as I pushed my body past its limits. Our feet barely touched the ground as we ran. Logan threw a ball of cobalt energy at the same time I launched a fireball. The tunnel shook as they collided, vaporizing the Irvikuva at the front of the horde and setting nearly a dozen more aflame. They screeched and fell, only to have the ones behind trample their corpses. It helped, but it wasn’t enough.
We rounded a corner and emerged into a large cavern. I skidded to a stop, Logan and Neverra flanking me. More red eyes emerged from the darkness. We stepped back, but the Irvikuva behind us rounded the corner. They gathered in the opening but didn’t attack. We were trapped.
“Damn,” I breathed, actually looking at where we were. Now I know why the ones behind us had stopped. They didn’t need to move us anymore. They had been herding us, and we were right where they wanted us.
