Page 55 of Snow

“You want me to open the door?” I close the gap between us and put my hand on his shoulder. Snow leans into me a little.

A knot forms in my throat. Dread nestles into the spaces between my ribs.

But I open the door.

Clumsily, Snow manages to descend the stairs. I stay a couple of paces behind him until we reach the pitch-dark archive, then move beside him.

He doesn’t move. Just breathes slowly in and out.

“You need a light?”

The huffing noise again.

I whisper an illumination spell, and Lucien’s lights spring to life, casting eerie shadows around the room.

In the center, suspended in midair behind the forcefield we made, is the scepter. Back where it came from.

Snow fixes his eyes on it and walks slowly forward. When he reaches the forcefield, he presses his nose to it. Sparks of electricity make him jump and he shakes his head, groaning loudly. Then he turns to me. Still staring.

As I meet his eyes, my own go dark. A sharp, blinding pain grips my skull.

Please, let me in.

A voice that isn’t a voice fills my entire body. I can hardly breathe. The pain has subsided, replaced with a heartbeat that isn’t mine and a soul that seems to nestle into my body to sit beside my own.

Save Rhone. Let me in.

Snow blinks at me. A visceral, choked sob parts my lips. “Snow?”

He blinks again.

Save Rhone. Let me in.

I drop to my knees. I scrape my fingers through my hair and shake my head. I didn’t even know this was possible. How is this possible?

Save Rhone. Let me in.

The voice grows louder. The power of it rattles through my bones. My entire body is shaking.

“Why?” I look up at him.

He doesn’t answer me, just releases a long heavy breath, and shudders as if he is only just managing to keep himself from falling.

The voice is gone. The power is gone. The shaking subsides.

“All right.” I drag myself to my feet. “I’ll let you in, Snow.”

24

NOVA

Ending.

It’s all ending.

I wake up shivering. I’m never cold. But something is missing. Something is wrong.

I blink into the starry darkness. Above us, the sky looks the same. Mack is sleeping soundly, but as I turn to look at him, his body twitches with pain and his handsome face is haunted, his lips moving as he mumbles quietly in his dreams.