Page 59 of A Soul’s Awakening

I forced a few bites down my throat, but when the coughing fit erupted, I dropped the spoon and clutched my chest.

“It’s okay, Theo.” She took the bowl from me then rubbed my back, but when I winced at the pain she stopped. “Maybe just drink the juice. Then we should go. They’re waiting for you.” She tilted the glass of juice to my lips, and I was only able to swallow a few sips before I felt like I was going to vomit. She put the glass down, then wrapped her arm around my waist and hoisted me up.

“I can walk by myself,” I snapped at her, and she let go. I lost my balance, smacking my shoulder against the wall as pain flared, but she let me be as I stumbled down the hallway toward the research room. I didn’t bother resisting. I knew by now there was no point, especially with her mind control magic. But when I turned right to head toward the activation array, the one that monitored all the experiments they conducted, Mandy stopped me.

“Actually, we’re going this way today.” She was moving to her left. That was where they were building Caspian’s array. Had they finally completed it?

We passed rows of pressure chambers, towers of stacked crates, and glowing command stations manned by no one. The deeper we went, the quieter it became. There was no clatter of tools. No shouted orders. No distant screams from other phantoms or humans being tested.

The space abruptly opened up into a wide stretch of cleared concrete, stripped of equipment. Carved directly into the floor were three concentric circles, massive and deliberate. The runes and sigils pulsed with a faint red glow, the light moving through the symbols like blood through veins.

I could feel the unsettling magic twisting inside me. They had constructed Caspian’s array, directly from the memory they had pulled from me. It might not have been as large as the one overtaking the city, but the engravings were more precise and clear.

“Oh good, you’re here.” Alistair appeared from the shadows. He kept his distance from me, as if my ragged clothes and bloodied bandages would dirty his tailored gray suit. “Today is a big day for you, Theo.”

I look into those cold gray eyes. “Am I finally going to die?”

Alistair pressed a hand to his chest and feigned astonishment. “And here I thought you had control over your death magic. Perhaps I was wrong and it’s corrupting you more than I thought.”

I scoffed. He had driven me toward the brink of death many times over the past two weeks. How could he have the audacity to even joke about it?

“Your fate is not death, Theo, but something far greater.” Alistair clasped his hands behind his back and paced toward me. “We’ve gathered a lot of information about your death magic. We’ve studied its limitations and abilities, and now you’re ready for the final test.” His hand gestured to the magic array behind him.

“Which is?” I asked.

Alistair chuckled. “This array here is a one of a kind masterpiece built by Caspian himself, extracted from your memories of the magic he passed onto you and what we know of his original work. To be honest, the Boston Strangler went digging through your memories to learn more about your connection to Alex. What a lovely surprise that he was able to retrieve one of his memories. Caspian was a clever one. If we had enough time, I’d have the Boston Strangler himself come back here and see what else he could dig up in your brain.”

“What do you plan to do with it? With me?” My eyelids were heavy when I blinked. “I’m not Caspian. I have no knowledge of runes and arrays.”

“That’s not entirely true.” He tapped a finger to his head. “You have his memories, even if they’re buried deep inside you. There was evidence of that when you overtook the array we set up around the city. We realized you, the anchor, could manipulate it how you saw fit. Caspian wanted to breach the barrier between the living and the dead to bring his family back to him. You, however, are going to bring someone else to us.”

My chest tightened, my heart hammering against my ribs. With the array and the fractured veil working together, they could force me to bring back almost anyone.

The realization sent a chill down my spine. There were countless powerful people throughout history. Witches, fae, demons, even former Syndicate leaders. Any one of them could shift the balance of power. Who was so important that they were willing to gamble the entire city just to bring them back?

I stared at the empty circle in the center, knowing that was where my fate lay. Was this the kind of torture Alex had endured every day of his life when he was kept prisoner by the Syndicate? He was such a gentle soul. It was a miracle they hadn’t shattered that kind heart of his with their corrupted magic. It had been two weeks, but it felt like an eternity I’d been trapped here. I worried about him … about Stella and Ivy as well. But most of all, I desperately missed Ren. He was probably going out of his mind searching for me, but now his time was up. I had to accept the fact that they weren’t going to make it, and I couldn’t delay this any longer.

“Get in the middle circle and kneel,” Mandy ordered. There was no power behind her command, but I listened anyway. The second I stepped inside the ring, those familiar silver chains bound me.

Alistair stood well beyond the carved boundary, careful and composed. “I suggest you take this seriously, Theo, or the consequences will be devastating.”

“Let go of me!” a defiant voice called out.

A broad-shouldered rift warden hauled a thin teenage boy from behind a pressure tank. His dark hair was wind-tousled, his skin still too pale from the underworld, but his eyes … his eyes were the same, bright blue and stubbornly alive.

“Theo!” he cried out.

My stomach dropped so hard it felt like I’d fallen through the floor. I fought against the chains on instinct, metal biting into my wrists as they snapped taut.

“Alex!”

“We found him wandering nearby,” Mandy said lightly. “He looked like he was searching for you. We thought we’d save him the trouble.”

Silver light unfurled from Alistair’s outstretched hand. Chains lashed outward, coiling around Alex’s torso and arms, pinning his wrists to his sides. He struggled, jaw clenched, but he was still recovering from years of being kept hidden in the underworld, not to mention recovering from his magic being drained two weeks ago. He didn’t have the strength to endure this.

“Let’s begin,” Alistair said. “Activate the first circle.”

I didn’t move. The chains around Alex tightened sharply. One of his hands bent back in an unnatural direction as he sucked in a breath and clenched his teeth.