Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
And then, just like that, it all disappears. The circles stop spinning, and the light dissipates in the blink of an eye, the ground returning to normal as if it wasn’t just shaking underneath our feet like an earthquake.
Sabra starts jumping up and down. “Did you see that?”
“We all saw that, Sabra,” I say furiously, letting go of Layden and trying to step up to her as she dances around the circle. Only problem is, Layden hasn’t let me go. His arms are still firmly locked around my waist.
“Are you all right?” he whispers in my ear.
I turn around in his arms, my belly flipping over at how near his face is to mine. How near his lips are and the concern in his eyes by the time I’m facing him.
“Y-y-yes,” I stutter out. “You can let me go now.”
Reluctantly, his eyes search mine for another long moment, and then his arms slide away from around my waist. I struggle not to reach for him the moment I lose contact. But then I remember I’m pissed at Sabra and spin on her where she stands, still looking absolutely delighted with herself.
“What the hell, Sab?”
“Oh, it was marvelous, did you see?”
“Yeah, Sabra, I saw. And so did Vlad and everyone else in the compound. It felt like you were about to blast us to kingdom come. What was that?”
“He’s supercharged,” she says, eyes so bright. “His runes finetuned my arcane symbols to breach the in-between. We’ll be able to discover and make contact with so many new realms together; I can feel it!”
“Are you high?” I grab her and shake her a little.
She seems to come back down to earth, but not much, the grin still stretching her face so wide. “I’m not going to let you ruin this for me, Phoenix,” she says fiercely. “Not this time.”
I let go of her and step back. “What does that mean? What even was this? I thought we were trying to fix Layden’s curse.”
“We were!” She seems a little more grounded as she looks back at me.
“Then what happened?”
“We made contact with the other side!” She can’t help herself. She starts bouncing up and down again. “Real contact!”
“The other side?” Layden asks.
Sabra waves a hand. “One of the other sides, anyway. Your runes are powerful.”
“Wait,” Layden says. “Are you saying you made contact with where I—” He breaks off. “With where the person who cursed me came from? And what does contact mean?”
“Contact means access. And access means powerful magic.”
“How?” I ask, frustrated with how vague she’s being.
“It’s hard to explain to a non-mage.” She shakes her head.
“Try,” I demand, glowering at her. “Considering you’re using my blood to power your engine and his runes as navigation.”
Sabra just barrels ahead. “And once we get there, we can gaze into what’s on the other plane. Even dip into their resources and gain special knowledge.” She smiles at Layden. “Like how to break your curse.”
“How?” Layden asks, sounding just as confused as me.
“By asking,” Sabra says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
I feel my eyebrows hit my hairline. “Asking? As in, asking the spirits who exist in that plane? Holy shit, Sab, have you gone insane?”
All her happy vibes disappear at my question, and I immediately want to eat my words.
“I’m sorry, Sab, I didn’t mean to say it that way.”
“I’m not crazy,” she bites out.
I wince. “I know you’re not. It’s just… What you’re talking about sounds really dangerous. All the spellwork and circles we’ve done in the past… I thought we always agreed we’d never take it as far as talking to spirits from other realms.”
She glares at me. “As if you’re one to talk.”
Ouch. Shots fired. Still, I’m not ready to back down on this.
“You know what happened to your mom.”
“I’m not going to accidentally get myself possessed. We’ve learned so much more since then. She taught me better. She taught me how to be safe.”
I just stare at her. Then why did she end up in the insane asylum? I want to ask but don’t. Yes, Vlad had her locked away there, but Sabra visited her every week. She saw what her mother’s attempts to push the limits of the arcane had done to her. She barely even recognized Sabra most weeks.
“Look, if this isn’t safe, we don’t have to try again,” Layden says, hands up as if wanting to temper the sudden tension between Sabra and me. “After all, there’s the Internet. I can be happy here.”
“It’s fine,” Sabra says at the same time I say, “Maybe that’s a good idea.”
Sabra glares at me. “Why would you say that? You can’t just keep him here as a toy. People aren’t supposed to be trapped here for you to play with because you’re lonely and bored.”
My mouth drops open. Is that why she thought Vlad kept her here with me all those years? Then I look to the ground. Was it why Vlad kept her here? I always assumed it was because of her magic. Because he enslaved everyone in her family. But he’d never made any of the others live in his compound. They’d had lives outside.