Page 74 of Claim the Light
“But?” Isaac waits for me to continue and I wish I had more to tell him.
“It’s a temporary fix,” I say. “Not a cure.”
His jaw is tight, but the light around his hands glows more brightly. “Then I’ll do what I can.”
Lowering his hands, one hovering above Beatrix’s face and the other above her chest, he takes a deep breath and the light around his palms grows steadily brighter.
“Sophia, you should move back,” Micah warns me. “You shouldn’t be exposed to soul light when you don’t need to be.”
I’m not afraid of Isaac’s light. Despite my experiences with Sentinels in the past, I trust him. But Micah has a point. I don’t know what repeated unnecessary exposure could do.
Just as I slip my palm away from Beatrix’s heart, she gasps.
Her deeply indrawn breath is like a scream as she lurches upward, knocking the blankets off her chest and nearly colliding with Isaac’s hand.
“What the fuck?” Beatrix shouts before she gasps again.
Her hand flies to her chest, her focus moving rapidly from me to Isaac. “What happened to me?”
Isaac drops into a sitting position on the side of the bed before his arms wrap tightly around her. “You’re alive. That’s what matters.”
“I… um…” Her voice is muffled against his chest, but then a sigh sounds and her body visibly relaxes. “Okay, then.”
Relief surges through me and I watch them with a growing smile. My happiness is tinged with the knowledge that, as it is for Micah, Beatrix’s revival is unlikely to be permanent.
Isaac slowly pulls away from Beatrix but remains at her side as he turns to us. “We need answers. Tell me everything that’s happened with Micah.”
We describe Micah’s blackouts, lightheadedness, and gray pallor. I add the way Beatrix’s heart was faltering just now—similar to how Micah had described his symptoms to me. Micah speaks about the feeling of ice in his chest and how he’s experienced lost time.
“But you, Sophia, haven’t felt any of these symptoms?” Isaac asks me.
“I was affected by the ash when it was on my body,” I say. “But not since it was taken away by the keeper of dark magic.” I glance up at Micah. “I thought it was only Micah who remained affected. He was exposed to more ash, and for a longer time, than either Beatrix or me. But now it’s clear that Beatrix is unwell too, and I’m…”
I’ve kept it together until this moment, but my voice shakes.
Somehow, I force myself to continue. “I thought everything would be fine after the keeper took the ash from us.”
Isaac appears to chew his words. “There seem to be two possibilities here. Either the keeper did something differently when he took the ash from you, Sophia, although I’m not sure why he would.”
“Or?” I ask.
“Or your power is somehow protecting you from the long-term effects.” Isaac’s expression is increasingly stormy. “Did the keeper say anything to you about the nature of the ash?”
My forehead creases as I recall the interaction. “He said that the ash carries destruction and that it was his burden to tether it.”
Isaac is nodding. “That matches with my knowledge of the four keepers. They were created in the oldest times, hundreds of years before the era of the Twilight Queen, when magic was causing chaos.”
I nod. “But it was strange because he accused me of wanting to keep the ash. He seemed surprised that I would willingly give it to him. In fact, he asked me why I would relinquish it without a fight.”
Isaac eyes me warily. So do Beatrix and Micah.
Micah is the first to speak. “That makes it sound as if retaining the ash, keeping it on your body, would be somehow beneficial.”
“The kind of power worth fighting over,” Beatrix says.
Isaac’s eyes have widened a little, his expression unsettled. “For a creature like the keeper of dark magic to speak about the ash in that way, such a benefit could only relate to dark magic.”
“It would have to be some evil, fucked-up power,” Micah says.
