Page 473 of Commanding Scythe and Sky

One would think I knew fear.

But I hadn’t.

Not until I turned to find Magnolia, standing with her hand held out as though she’d never seen it before, examining the green glow of her fingertips, the shadowy mist pouring from her palm.

I tucked Bronwyn behind me, between me and the gate, eyes sweeping over Jason, Rika, and Brody, all unconscious on the floor or draped across the table.

“Mags?” I hedged as the world closed in on all sides—as I studied the dark blue and purple veining stretching across her temples, down her neck. “Mags?” I repeated, more urgent this time—a demand, not a request.

Her head jerked in an unnatural twitch, neck popping as she sucked down a breath that hissed back out of her.

“Dove?” I hedged, lunging for her as terror unlike any I’d ever known wrapped around my throat and squeezed. I cradled her face, forcing her to look up at me.

“I feel… odd,” Mags said, voice airy and otherworldly, snapping her gaze up to me—her eyes wholly black.

August

My shield held through Kade’s blast, but the others hadn’t—all thrown like shrapnel. And the earth was crumbling.

I hurtled past trees as their trunks groaned, branches turning to ash.

Abort, I ordered as the island shuddered—something deep within giving way. Get off the goddamn island.

I was flying. Or rather, falling. Plummeting toward the dark water below as great shards of earth sent the waves skyward in violent explosions.

We’re in, Alec said, even his mental voice a pant of exhaustion.

I tucked my arms in tight, jammed my eyes closed, pulled my energy inward⁠—

—and landed hard on the stone floor, ears ringing from the screams.

I blinked. Twice. Clearing the shock from my mind as I stepped into Grayshell.

Into the great hall. Home.

Where Ally was screaming in the fetal position, palms to her temples.

Screaming in a way that could only mean unspeakable agony.

“I’m sorry,” Alec rasped, hands splayed as he poured water over her curled form.

Soaked. They were both fucking soaked.

“We hit the water—I couldn’t stop it—the wards⁠—”

But I wasn’t listening to him.

My knees hit the ground with an audible crack. I reached for her, pressing my hand to her spine as I bellowed, “Healer! Get me a goddamned healer!” My shield flooded through her mind—a flash of torturous pain, of being split in half, slammed through me before my magic could ease her beyond Alec’s already desperate shield. “Healer!” I yelled again, snapping my eyes up to Aren⁠—

Who was frozen, pallor ashen, his eyes trained on us like he’d just seen a ghost.

“Aren!” When he blinked, I barked, “Mags! I need Mags! Where is she?”

Aren blinked twice more, palming his mouth. It was then that I saw the bodies.

The Grayshell Party lay crumpled around us, Aren at their center, speechless and immobile.

“Aren?” Winter-blue eyes lifted to me, his lips parting like he’d forgotten how to use them. “Mags—where is she?”