“Xandra! Goddamnit, Xandra, where are you?”
I wake up completely disoriented. I feel like I’m missing something, like I’m forgetting something important, but I can’t figure out what it is. Instead, all I can focus on is the sound of Declan calling my name. Or to be more accurate, screaming my name. He sounds completely frantic, though I can’t figure out why. The last thing I remember is telling him that I love him.
He calls my name again and this time I try to answer, but nothing comes out. It’s as though my throat has forgotten how to work. Which doesn’t make sense—weren’t we just talking? I know I was talking to someone. I open my mouth, try again, and abruptly become aware that my lungs hurt, too.
What the hell is going on? I cough a little, attempt to draw air into my lungs, but nothing happens. My chest doesn’t move; my lungs don’t inflate. Declan isn’t the only one panicking now. Something is sitting on my diaphragm, slowly, painfully squeezing the last remaining drops of air from my lungs.
“Xandra!” Declan roars my name this time. “Come on, baby. Give me something. Move something. Where are you?”
Move something? He’s not making any sense. What am I supposed to move? And why? The only thing I’m really concerned about moving right now is whatever’s sitting on top of me, keeping me from breathing.
There’s a strange scrabbling sound above me, like someone is tossing things around. Then, suddenly, an electric charge rips through me. My whole body sizzles—something new to go with the aches—but at least I know what this is. It’s Declan’s magic, searching me out, though I still don’t know why he’s looking, or what happened to rip me out of his arms in the first place.
I can’t help responding to his power—it clears my head, makes it impossible for me not to respond to the desperation I hear in his voice. Though it hurts, and every nerve ending I have is screaming at me not to move, I force my eyes open. Then really wish I hadn’t. Because whatever is sitting on my chest is also covering my face. I’m buried alive in . . . I don’t know what.
Panic finally sets in as I try to figure out how I got here—and how I’m supposed to get out. Though it threatens to overwhelm me, I beat it back. Right now, Declan is doing enough panicking for both of us. Besides, freaking out isn’t exactly going to help my present circumstances. Not that I have any idea what will help at this point, but I know losing my head certainly won’t. Especially when the dark is threatening again, my lack of oxygen making it harder and harder to think.
Knowing I have only one shot at this, I press my head farther into whatever I’m resting on and rock it back and forth a little. There’s not much give, but I don’t need much. Just enough to turn my head so I can try to take a breath.
For long, desperate seconds, I rock and turn, rock and turn, as my fingers start to claw at the rubble above me.
“Xandra!” Declan’s voice sounds directly above me. “I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you.”
Another shot of electricity rips through me and I finally manage to turn my head, to gasp in precious gulps of air. “Dec—”
I don’t even finish saying his name before the rubble is gone, lifted off my face with one flick of Declan’s powerful magic. A little while longer and the rest of me is free as well.
For long seconds, I just lie there gasping for air. Then Declan is kneeling next to me, his face dark and dangerous and more livid than I have ever seen it. He looks ready to kill something—or someone—but the hands he runs over my body are gentle in the extreme.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Can you move?”
Though my body aches all over, none of the pain is worse than the rest. Which I’m going to tell myself is a good sign. “I’m okay,” I gasp. I’m still sucking oxygen in like I’ve never seen the stuff before.
I reach out and grab onto his arm, use it to pull myself up.
“You shouldn’t move,” he tells me severely, but in the end he supports me instead of fighting me. I think he’s as desperate to hold me as I am to be held.
As his arms wrap around me, I ask, “What happened?”
“There was an explosion.”
“An explosion?” I know I’m looking at him like he’s lost his mind, but his words just aren’t making sense. “What exploded?”
He glances around the room. “If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the whole damn house.”
This time when panic hits, there’s no holding it back. My parents, my sisters, Donovan, my aunt Tsura—I try to scramble to my feet, but my legs feel like rubber. It doesn’t help that Declan’s grip has gone rock solid and immovable on me.