Page 19 of Claim the Light
A cold smile touches his lips before he crooks his finger at them and they both glide toward me.
I reach for Micah first, since he was most badly affected, pushing my hands across his body in large sweeps, starting with his torso. Then I hurry to clean his face, shoulders, arms, neck, and finally his legs.
The last crystals of ash lift off him.
I was hoping he would wake up, but although color returns to his cheeks, his eyes don’t open.
I swallow my despair and quickly reach for Beatrix, brushing at the ash on her hands and arms, searching for every patch where it covers her skin. As I scrub at the last crystal, her eyelids flutter and my heart leaps—but it falls again when she, too, remains unconscious.
The final stream of dust floats to the keeper’s body, thickening the coating that already lies across his arms and legs until he glistens with power.
“You got what you wanted,” I say, struggling to turn toward him. “Now, let us go.”
He leans toward me as if he’s going to say something more, but then, suddenly, he stiffens and twists to the side.
His shoulders are tense, his lips pressing into a sharp line. “I must go,” he says, although his voice is low and soft once more and doesn’t betray any sort of worry on his part. “Whether or not you escape this place is up to you. But do not worry. If you die, I will claim your magic, too.”
Don’t worry?
My eyes widen when the darkness begins to swallow his retreating form. “No. Wait! You have to help us. We don’t belong here!”
With a cold smile, he stops and snarls back at me, “I know better than most the strength in a dragon’s heart. You, of all dragons, do not need my help.”
With that, his body appears to disperse into the darkness, melding with the nothingness around us.
His crown disappears last, light glinting off its metallic surface and sparkling before it, too, is gone.
CHAPTERSEVEN
Inever thought I’d wish for the return of such a malevolent being, but I’d give anything for the keeper of dark magic to reappear.
Fear and panic rise within me, a horrible force.
I take another deep breath, but it does nothing to steady me. Probably because it’s not real air I’m breathing. Not a real breath I’m taking.
ButI’mreal.
And so are Micah and Beatrix.
The keeper left them floating next to me.
With a grunt of effort, I reach out as far as I can, managing to hook one arm around Micah’s waist and my other arm around Beatrix to pull them closer to my sides. Micah’s wings ripple in the air and it makes it difficult to hang on to him, but I’m determined not to let go.
Swimming seems impossible, but I haven’t tried flying and right now I’m not going to ignore any options. Especially after the dust came off our bodies by scraping it—an action that was impossible in the outside world but worked in this place.
All of the laws of gravity and nature seem different here.
I release my wings with athumpthat doesn’t so much as make a sound as it vibrates through me. Somehow, the sensation gives me hope.
Beating my wings as hard as I can, I focus on the darkness above us, praying that I’m headed in the right direction.
Please.
I try to push through the nothingness with every muscle in my body, fighting the increasing pull that attempts to drag me right back down, tugging at me and breaking my hope.
Still, I fight to rise, beating my wings savagely, over and over until I’m silently screaming within my mind.
I can’t die in this place. Not when I had a glimpse of a future where true happiness is at my fingertips. Not when I fought for my survival for so long.
