The light vanished for a moment as Heinrich complied without question. Lance had joined them a moment later, realizing immediately that he was attempting the same thing that he and Browning had tried to save Sullivan's life.
Sullivan had been meticulous as he'd cut perfectly straight lines into her abdomen. The design was perfect. The healing spell a copy of the one on his own chest, a proximity to the geometric thing that was the living Power, and then he'd burned the second triangle over it with the smoking oil from Heinrich's coat. Then they'd waited.
Nothing had happened.
Heinrich left to check on the others. Lance had a box of matches and struck one to replace the light. He burned it down until it hurt his fingers, and then he did another, and another. Finally they sat there in the shadows. It was there in the dark that her breathing had become weaker and weaker, until it sounded like a bare snore.
Now Sullivan was alone, holding Delilah tight against him. While his mark was burning, repairing his body, hers was as cold as the cooling space inside her chest. Why? Why didn't it work? He had done everything right, but his magic was weak. He was useless. He knew more about magic than almost anyone else in the world, but even then, he was blind, stupid, a helpless child playing a man's game.
He'd actually seen the Power, not as some nebulous idea, but as a creature that lived and fed through them, but he didn't understand it, and his failure was going to end the life of the only woman he'd ever had feelings for.
'Please, baby, please hang on,' he whispered. 'If you can hear me, you need to touch the Power. I drew the spell for you. It'll start fixing you. Come on. Reach for it. Please. Please. You can do it.'
Not like this. I need you. I love you.
Delilah stopped breathing.
And just like that, it was over.
A dam of rage broke loose inside of him. Sullivan lifted his face and screamed at the darkness.
The sound that came out of Mr. Sullivan was so terrible that Faye cringed, half expecting the rest of the cave to collapse around them and she knew that Delilah was gone. His voice finally broke after what seemed like forever. The sound tapered off to a hoarse wheeze and then nothing.
Delilah had always liked the sunshine so much. It didn't seem fair to die in the dark, in a wet hole far underground. She crawled toward Mr. Sullivan, but a hand fell on her shoulder. 'Leave him be, Faye,' Lance said gently.
'You lied. You said she'd be fine,' Faye shouted.
'Yes, I did,' he responded sadly.
'What about Mr. Browning? Is he going to be fine too? And what's wrong with Mr. Garrett? Is he going to live like you said Delilah would?'
Lance sighed. 'Quiet down, girl. You want the truth? John hasn't long unless we get him to a Healer or a real hospital. Dan's hurt bad, but I don't think the bullet that went through him is the worst of it. You go over there to Sullivan and he'll take your head off right now.'
'How do you know that?' she spat.
'Because I been where he is before is why. That burned house, where we met? That was my house, Faye. The last time the Imperium found us I lost my wife and I lost my baby daughter.'
She thought back to the charred timbers and the feeling of sadness in those ruins. 'I didn't know.'
'How could you? Listen, Faye. That's the life of a knight of the Grimnoir. It's pain and loss and suffering, but we keep on going, no matter what. Your Grandpa understood that. We're a dying breed. There's fewer of us every day and nobody in control seems to care, and there's gonna be even fewer if we don't get John and Dan some help soon.'
She could hear Mr. Sullivan sobbing and it seemed extra sad to hear somebody that strong break. 'What are you going to do?' she asked.
'Francis seems to think he can make it. If he goes now he could maybe get a boat back here by the time the water goes down and we can get everyone out. Or I can send a young man to drown in a futile gesture to save an old man's life… John's got a few hours in him, but that's it. I hate being in charge, but I'm the senior man, so I get to make that call.'
Don't kill Francis. He's nice. 'Can't you get a bird or a fish or something?'
'Too much rock. My Power can't see through it.'
'Mine either,' Faye muttered. 'I could Travel up top in seconds. It isn't that far, but farther than I can feel, so I'd probably die… If only I was like Heinrich and could walk through walls, then I wouldn't have to worry about getting stuck.'
'Hmmm…' Lance said. 'That gives me an idea. Heinrich!'
He crouched next to them a second later. 'Jah? What do you need?'
'Can you Fade with another person? I mean, can you take another body through solid objects with you?'
He was quiet for a moment. 'I have done this before. It is very draining. I can only do it briefly, but it is just like taking the clothes on my back or a firearm, but the more mass I have to Fade, the faster it uses up my Power. If I run out while embedded in something… well, I've seen it happen to others. The matter becomes fused together. It is not pretty.'
She understood what Lance was thinking. 'I can Travel with more than one person!' Faye clapped her hands with glee. She wasn't exactly an expert at it, since she'd done it exactly once, and that had been in a moment of panic. 'If I was all… fadey… I wouldn't be worried about getting stuck in something when I Travel. I could go further than I could see, and not die!'
'What do you think?' Lance asked Heinrich.
'It makes sense,' he answered. 'What's the worst that could happen?'
Lance grunted. 'Besides getting stuck together into a big lump of meat or maybe somehow screwing up and getting embedded in solid rock? I don't know.' Lance said. 'So it's either drown Francis, let John suffocate in his own blood, or kill the two of you… I got to do the math here. It was a stupid idea. Forget it.'
There was a flicker as Heinrich thumbed his lighter. He held it close to her face. He was looking into her eyes, studying her. 'Can you do this thing, Faye?'
'You didn't trust me before. Do you trust me now?'
He shrugged. 'There are easier ways to betray someone than a suicide trip through a cliff.' He grinned. 'Poor Lance, trying to be responsible with such impulsive young people under his command. How much time will you need?'
'No,' Lance interrupted. 'John wouldn't want you to do this.'
'I can go super fast. I can probably do it in two, maybe three hops. So, figure five or six seconds.'
'I am good for double that,' Heinrich said. 'You do not appear to weigh much.' He closed the lighter and then took her hands in his. 'Please try not to kill us and do not let go.'
'No way. Too dangerous. That's an order, damn it.'
'Lance, don't be such a wet blanket.' She would have to push extra hard. When she'd Traveled with Francis, she'd gone a much shorter distance than she'd expected for the amount of push she'd given it. It was terrifying to think about Traveling into the unknown. 'Ready?' Faye asked, but there was no need, as her body suddenly felt very tingly. It was like she was made out of fog. With a shock she realized she was sinking into the floor. It tickled.
Faye grabbed her Power, more than she ever had before, and was surprised how much there seemed to be there, just waiting for her to use.
'Sto-' Lance had begun to bellow but then everything around her and Heinrich was solid, like being buried in the ground, only they weren't in the ground, the ground was in them. It was like her body was made of little tiny bits and Heinrich had spread those bits out wider, and the tiny bits that made up the ground were passing in between her bits. There was no air, no light. They were stuck in the cliff! Panic hit her like a club and she nearly let go of Heinrich and killed them both.
Go! Her head map was useless, and she grabbed all that extra Power that she'd always been afraid to mess with and hurled them both straight up.
Too far! She shrieked as they appeared in the sky, tumbling through the air, suddenly falling. The light was blinding and she blinked as they spun. Heinrich released his Power and she could feel that he was holding onto her
