Relinquish(109)

I nod and a scream rises from deep within me as I push, leaning into the rippling curtain. It feels cold to the touch, like the burn of ice. My hands are numb, my legs muscles screaming in agony as I brace myself for another push.

“Tell me when, Kyan. I don’t know how much longer I can hold this.”

“I only need a few more seconds…” he says in a distant voice.

A great rumbling roar fills my ears, drowning out my screams, like standing at the base of a giant waterfall. I can feel Eamon’s presence beside me, but I can’t hear or see him. I am lost to the temporal abyss.

Just as I feel my knees buckle, I feel strong arms wrap about my waist. “I’ve got you,” Eamon shouts. He leans over my back, pushing for me. “Just keep your hands out. I’ll do the rest.”

“You’ll have to time this perfectly.” I grunt at Kyan. “I have to release you from my shield so you can be in sync with Bastien. You’ll be trapped in time for a second, and then I will conceal you again.”

“If you lose control, he won’t make it,” Kyan warns.

Colors burst before my eyes as I nod, feeling Eamon’s arms tighten about my waist as he pushes forward. “Illyria, now!”

It all happens in the blink of an eye. Amazing when you think about it, considering I have time within my grasp. I draw the shield back just as Kyan’s glowing hands press down upon Bastien’s chest. A second later, I wrap the shield around both of them.

“I’ve got him, Illyria. You can let go now,” Kyan calls to me.

My arms shake so badly that my teeth are chattering. Eamon tugs on me. “Illyria, let go. It’s time.”

“I… I can’t!” Terror rises up in me as I begin to feel the gravitational pull of a vortex before me, unseen but very real. “Kyan, help!” Eamon roars beside me.

“I can’t. I’ll lose Bastien if I let go!”

I can feel myself being drawn forward, out of Eamon’s arms. He grabs at my waist, fighting to lock his arms in place to anchor me down. “I can’t lose you,” he cries. “I’m sorry!”

Blinding pain rips through my head and I cry out as we’re thrown backward. Eamon grunts as I land atop him, rolling end over end. My head strikes the far wall and darkness closes in on me.

“Illyria? Kyan, she’s hurt!”

His face swims before my eyes in the fading iridescent glow. The curtain billows and crests behind him and then vanishes from sight. I groan and close my eyes, praying I held on long enough. My head lolls to the side as a cool void envelops me.





Twenty-Five



A blanket of warmth covers my body, calling me forth from the darkness. I don’t want to go back. I’m at peace here. There’s no pain. No sorrow or misery. Only infinite serenity.

A voice calls to me. Illyria.

I become aware of my eyelids and attempt to open them. They slowly flutter, and as my vision begins to clear, I see a man kneeling over me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I grunt, raising a hand to touch the bump rising on the back of my head. I grimace and lower my hand. “Never better. What happened?”

Kyan reaches down and presses his hands to my head and a blissful warmth steals away the pain drilling through my eye. “What happened?”

“You passed out… for nearly an hour. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to wake you. You seemed lost somewhere else.”

“I was,” I say, remembering the void. Time… I was lost in time, I think silently.

“I worked on you for quite a while. Apart from your head, you had nothing physically wrong with you. I was worried you sapped your powers again.” He places a hand beneath my head and slowly eases me to a sitting position. I raise my knees and hang my head, willing the room to stop spinning.

“How do you feel now?” His gaze sweeps across my face.

“Fuzzy. I…” I scrunch up my nose as I try to remember what happened. “I don’t really remember much.”

He nods, as if he expected this. “When you lost control, your shield slipped. Somehow you managed to conceal us, but you were left unprotected.” He fixes me with a grim stare. “I won’t pretend to understand how you controlled time. Your powers are stronger than I even imagined, so I can’t predict what effect this may have on you.”

“I’ll be fine. Just a little woozy is all.”

“Too woozy to see a friend?” I look up at him, confused. As I turn to look where he points, I gasp. Eamon kneels beside Bastien, his hand pressed against the rise and fall of his chest.

“Oh!” I crawl to his side, my hands trembling as I reach for him, but Eamon pulls me back.