Page 135 of Somnium

“Cadi!” Sera cried, shoving her way between bodies to find her. She gasped when her eyes landed on Cadi’s hand, her features hardening with determination.

“Move!” she said, pulling her toward the doors. A violent crack reverberated through the hall, and Cadi looked back over her shoulder just as the high priest was sent crashing to the ground, his black resin mask skidding across the red stone. Oneirios towered over him, his perfect face twisted with fury. With a snap of his fingers, the acolytes lifted the high priest from the dais and started to drag him down the steps, into the blackness of the corridor.

She couldn’t think about what would happen to him. What punishment awaited the high priest who had openly attacked his god. Right now, she had to get out.

As the doors drew closer, her heart pounded with the strain of fighting through the crowd and the throbbing pain in her hand. Sera got there first, slamming all her weight into the metal bar across the door to throw it open.

Cadi surged forward, inches away from the threshold, from safety. Her fingers caught the door jamb, pulling herself through. A desperate sob broke from her throat, relief seeping into her bones as the exit came into view⁠—

A ringing clap cut the silence.

Everything went still.

Suspended.

Frozen.

Then, blinding pain tore through her chest. The sound of her own scream filled her ears at the sickening feeling of a hook embedding itself into her heart. With a violent lurch, the force of the binding pulled her forward, sending her knees crashing into the stone floor.

Someone was shouting her name, but she couldn’t tell who; the voice was clouded and distant. Like they were shouting to her from the edge of a canyon. Strong hands gripped her arms, shaking her, and Sera’s face swam into focus.

“We have to go, come on!” she urged, but every ounce of strength drained from Cadi’s body in an instant. Her muscles went slack, and she slumped to the side, barely able to lift her head as her eyes caught on the trail of red that had soaked into the stone floor. The trail that led right to where she sat.

“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “No. No. Nonono …”

Someone gripped her beneath her armpits, and then she was standing. Time didn’t make sense anymore. Everything came through in flashes and waves.

Fresh air hit her face. The temple steps. Strangers teemed around her. She stumbled.

The smell of rain-soaked asphalt. A parking lot. A yellow four by four.

Soft leather pressed into the backs of her arms. Buildings sped by.

Her reflection in Sera’s window. Blood saturated her clothing.

She didn’t care. It didn’t matter anymore.

He had taken her.

Just like he said he would.

41

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

ELIAS

Apalm slammed into Elias’s back, sending him pitching forward across the threshold of the office. His stomach collided with the back of a chair, and a strangled gasp tore from his throat as the impact ripped the air from his lungs.

He couldn’t breathe, but it didn’t matter. He had to move.

Scrambling to his feet, Elias pushed off the chair and launched himself at the door just as the acolytes pulled it shut. A muted beep sounded from the hallway.

Locked. They’d locked him in.

He pounded his fists against the thick wood and tugged at the useless handle. No, no, no. Cadi was out there. She needed him. He had to get to her.

“Open the fucking door!”