There was no time to lose. Allyra readied herself to run and cast one quick glance around the room.
The worst day of her life. It was strange how she could remember every moment of that day. As if the horror of those memories gave them greater power, sinking their tentacles deeper into her mind, creating a dark webbed mass that she would never truly escape. It had been an ordinary day, a warm one with the promise of summer in the air. It had been utterly unremarkable up until that moment she arrived home after a day at school. She’d walked up the gravel path toward their house, up the gentle slope, chatting easily with Emma and Jamie. As they crested the rise, she’d seen Juliette Thiessen standing at her front door.
It was the look on Juliette’s face that stopped Allyra dead. Juliette’s normally warm features were frozen, pain carved into every inch. Allyra hadn’t needed words to know that something was terribly wrong. Her feet had become as frozen as Juliette’s face, rooted to the ground. And slowly, like a crack spreading across glass, her heart had shattered—sharp, broken pieces of it seemingly floating through her veins, carving into her until she felt nothing but pain.
In that moment, she’d known her father was dead.
She felt the same spreading pain and horror now. Her feet felt leaden, but she forced them into action.
Alex was slumped on the ground, his back against the wall but his head hanging forward. He was wearing the same linen shirt he’d been wearing the last time she saw him. She remembered its faded color, more gray now than its original blue. The sleeves were rolled up, showing the dragons tattooed on his right forearm. But her attention was drawn to the unbelievable whiteness of his skin. Marble white. Deathly white.
She pushed her fingers feverishly into the crook of his neck, over his icy skin, searching for a pulse. It was slow and weak, but at the feel of it, Allyra let out a shaky breath. She moved her hand gently under his chin and lifted his head. “Alex?”
His eyelashes fluttered, dark against the pale canvas of his skin. It took a little time for his eyes to open, and when they did, the blueness of them was no less startling. But the crystal sharpness was missing, replaced instead by a cloud of confusion. He looked up at her and smiled slowly, the sad poignancy of it making her heart freeze in her chest.
“Allyra,” he said softly. “I’d hoped to see you one more time.”
Alex reached up toward her face but grimaced as his side stretched. He let out a how hiss of pain but continued to move his fingers toward her face. He stopped short a hair’s breadth from touching her skin, tracing a line in the air over her face.
“I missed you,” he said. “I don’t suppose I’ll ever know if I did the right thing.”
“Then come back with me and find out,” she said, taking hold of his hand and pressing it to the side of her face.
He snatched his hand back violently, almost as if touching her skin had somehow burned his. He shrank away from her, horror dawning over his elegant features. “You’re real,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.
Pain deeper than any physical kind lined his face, but clarity started to return to his eyes. “Please no,” he begged. “You can’t be here. You shouldn’t have come back.”
Confused and alarmed at his reaction, she tried to reassure him. “I did what you asked,” she said. “I know who you are. I know you didn’t betray your position as the Elemental High Master. The Betrayal wasn’t your fault. You saved me for a reason, now come back with me and finish what you started.”
A veil fell over his features once more. “Mandla’s gone,” he said, choking over the words. “My part in this is over, I’m fading, I can’t protect you anymore.”
“No,” she said firmly. “You need to come back. An Ancient has made it past the protection of the Veil, and the corruption is starting to spread. Whatever future destruction you’ve seen is starting. I—”
She stopped abruptly, and she flinched at the sudden bolt of electricity jolting up her right hand. It was Jamie’s first warning—five minutes down, five more to go.
“You still don’t understand,” Alex said weakly. “It’s better, it’s safer if I die—here.”
Another jolt of electricity shot up her arm. The second warning. She frowned in confusion. It was too soon. Somehow, she only had two more minutes.
“We need to hurry,” she said before flinching yet again. The third and final warning—one minute left. Time was passing faster than she’d expected, or worse, something was desperately wrong. “Please, Alex,” she begged urgently. “You need to come back. I need you.”
He smiled wryly but shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.” He brushed his hand along the side of her face, lightly touching her lips with his thumb. The tigers throbbed in her wrist, sending a weakness flooding through her veins. She gasped.
“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I never meant for you to share my pain.”
“Please,” she begged.
“I’m sorry—”
“I don’t need your apologies. I need you,” she insisted. The weakness was spreading, chilling her blood.
He pulled her toward him, and for a lingering moment, he brushed his lips against hers.
Moonlight and forgotten dreams.
Then he pushed her away with more strength than she’d expected. “Go!”
Allyra stumbled toward the Gate, ice building upon itself until she could barely move. The Gate wavered. She was losing her grasp over it. She lurched and fell into it.
And returned to her body.
She opened her
