The Keeper's Flame (A Pandoran Novel, #2) (36 page)

Alex focused as his energy drained from him. More energy pulsed behind me as Vera and Ehren positioned themselves to help, creating a light barrier against the unseen, straining to push them back.

And it was working.

We started moving forward again, farther along the bridge, their combined power flowing through me. The strain was weighing on them, though, and I knew they couldn’t keep this up much longer. There were simply too many unseen.

If only I could help. If only I could access my magic and add my strength to theirs.

But I couldn’t.

The air shuddered violently, and the wall burst into a million fragments of light.

The unseen pressed forward again.

The others gasped behind me as their fear turned my blood cold.

The unseen swept in like the wind, fast and furious, filling our ears with their horrible keening.

Agony ripped through my body.

One of the unseen had fallen upon Vera. She screamed as she fought to push it back, but another came, and another. The unseen descended upon us in a cloud until I could see nothing else.

Alex yelled something, but I couldn’t understand. The alien voices engulfed every other sound and feeling, and I couldn’t move. It was as though something had taken possession of my body—my soul.

The torture of the others tore through me like a bolt of electricity, and then I felt Alex’s. I felt his soul like an inferno inside of me, furious and strong. I felt his struggle and torment, his agony as though he were being ripped apart from the inside. I felt the pulse of blood through his heart as though it were my own.

And it was slowly dying.

No.

This couldn’t be happening.

But it was, and I was powerless against it. Powerless. Always powerless, relying on those around me for protection.

I had brought them into this place. Alex wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for me, and there was nothing I could do to help him. There was never anything I could do to help.

And now the unseen were going to take his life.

Fury boiled deep in my gut and exploded inside of me. It ripped through invisible walls, burning my insides as it burst through my body with a sharp jolt, reaching beyond so that I was overwhelmed with power and…feeling.

And all I could feel was pain.

So.

Much.

Pain.

It surrounded me, consumed me, and I wanted to die. I wanted to die so that the pain would end and I would not feel anything ever again.

With an agonizing heave I collapsed, and I didn’t stop falling.

Chapter 23

Hell’s Peak

T
he first thing I was aware of was that I was alive.

The second thing I was aware of made me regret the first.

I hurt everywhere. Each breath felt like I was expanding my lungs against an iron brace, and my blood felt like streams of liquid fire, slowly melting away my insides.

But I shouldn’t have been able to feel. I should be dead.

I remembered the pain and torment as vividly as if it were still happening. I saw their anguish, felt their agony—Alex’s agony.

Maybe this was my punishment. Maybe this was my consequence for always leading everyone I cared about straight into death’s unshakeable grip. Maybe I would suffer my agony throughout eternity.

Something warm touched my cheek, soft and gentle.

That didn’t seem right. If I was supposed to suffer for all I’d done, no one should be comforting me.

I heard voices, low and murmuring. What were they saying? Why were they here? Shouldn’t I be alone?

Fingers laced through mine and gripped tightly.

Touch.

Real, human touch.

I set my mind on the feel of it; it was like a bright spot in the darkness, something warm and safe, and I was too afraid to let go. Like if I did, I might fade away into darkness and never return.

The bright spot grew brighter and brighter until suddenly, I jerked to a sitting position, heaving. Air couldn’t fill my lungs fast enough, and the air was freezing. Was air supposed to be this cold?

A deep voice said something in my ear as fingers squeezed mine, holding tight.

I wheezed as I inhaled, each breath burning.

“…wrong with her?” a voice asked.

“…was too much…” said another.

I struggled against my heavy lids to open them. They fought me with everything they had until at last they snapped open and I could see…straight into a pair of rich green eyes.

Alex. He was alive.

I swallowed, and the pain inside of me suddenly became bearable.

Alex rested a palm on my cheek, searching my face. “Daria, can you hear me?” he asked in the softest whisper.

I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t. Somehow I’d forgotten what needed to happen in order to respond. I blinked at him and bit my lip as pain pulsed through my body, pain mixed with an overwhelming amount of concern.

Alex’s concern. I could sense him again.

He said something over his shoulder as he squeezed my hand. More murmuring ensued.

I parted my lips. “Alex.” My voice scratched.

He whipped his head around to face me and brushed the hair back from my face. “I’m not leaving your side,” he said.

Everything inside of me hurt. “What—”
breathe
“—happened?”

“Stop talking,” he whispered, and kissed my lips softly. He pulled back and said something to someone, and a young man with purple eyes appeared.

I knew those eyes. I could never forget such strange eyes, but I couldn’t place them.

“I told you she was an idiot,” said a sultry female voice.

Alex searched my eyes. “Ehren’s going to give you something that should help, all right?”

Ehren. That was his name. I nodded.

Alex moved to my side, sliding his hand behind my back, holding me up, while Ehren crouched before me. There was a little glass vial in his hands.

Ehren unstoppered the vial and held it before me. “You need to drink all of it,” he said, his purple eyes piercing. “It may burn a little, but it’ll help.”

Alex squeezed my hand as Ehren held the vial to my lips and poured. The liquid was cold at first, like ice water and without flavor, running down my throat. Then the burning came.

My eyes widened as I cried out in pain. This was worse than before; this felt like my insides were dissolving.

Alex held my hand tight as I clutched my stomach, curling forward. The heat moved down my torso, spreading into my arms and legs.

“Just a moment more,” I heard Ehren say to Alex.

And it was gone. Sweat beaded down my forehead, and Alex wiped away my hair. I looked up at Ehren. “A little?” I gasped.

Alex grinned and someone snorted behind him.

Vera. Her arms were folded over her chest, her dark eyes were fixed on me, and her lips were pursed in amusement.

I looked back at Alex, who was still crouched at my side, studying me. “What happened?” I asked.

He held his palm against my cheek as a grin twitched at his lips. “You have your magic back.”

I looked quizzically at him.

“You broke down the barrier on your magic,” Ehren said, watching me with those curious eyes.

I broke down the barrier? “How?” I whispered.

“I’m uncertain,” Ehren continued, “but the force required to break such a bond—it should have killed you, princess.”

Killed me? I hadn’t even been aware that I’d been trying to break it.

“Lucky for us,” Vera said, “it didn’t and took out the unseen instead.” There were traces of a smile on her lips, which lit up her entire face.

“The unseen…” I started. “What happened to them?”

Alex rubbed his thumb along my cheek. “I’m not sure
what
happened to them.” He studied me, thoughtful. “A bright light shot out of you, pressing all of them back into the wall, and they were gone.”

A light had appeared…from me? “Are you sure it was me?” I asked.

“It wasn’t any of us,” Alex said.

Had my magic really returned? Had I really broken down the barrier?

There was only one way to find out.

I shut my eyes and focused. A point of heat flickered inside of me like a tiny flame, but it didn’t push me away. Not like before. Not like when I’d tried a thousand times and it would fade away like smoke.

This time, I could wrap my mind around it, grasp a hold of it and bend it and…

Pain ripped through me and I cried out, bending forward.

Alex wrapped an arm around me, holding me against him. “Your body needs to heal. What you did—Ehren’s right. It should’ve killed you.” He squeezed my waist, and I sighed as the pain slowly faded away.

“I don’t know about you,” Vera said, fixing her dark eyes on me, “but I’d like to get out of this mountain, unless the princess would like to stay…?”

I shook my head and pushed myself to a stand, with a little help from Alex. “I’m okay,” I said, despite the dull aching inside of me. “Which way?”

Vera’s brow peaked. “There’s only one way to go, princess. You collapsed the other.”

I realized we were standing inside a cave of ice, much like the cave we’d walked through before entering that cavern, only this cave was completely blocked on one end.

I took a deep breath and looked ahead; the cavern angled up and faded to darkness. “Does it lead out of the mountain?”

Alex and Ehren exchanged a glance. “We hope so,” Alex said.

We wound through the cave made of snow and ice, always trudging higher and higher—our only light the little white-blue light Ehren had made. Sometimes a side of the cave was missing and we were forced to walk along a narrow ledge that fell away to infinite shadow.

The higher we climbed, the thinner the air became. I had to stop every so often to catch my breath, but everywhere, throughout everything, the mountain was quiet. Our shoes scraped along the ice, and once in a while little dustings of snow would flutter from the ceiling. Other than that, it was just the four of us, trapped inside a mountain of ice.

Yet despite the chill, despite the cold and snow and ice, something pulsed ahead. A sliver of life, a warm flicker amidst winter.

The unity stone.

The farther we walked, the stronger it pulsed. I didn’t know how I knew, exactly, that it was coming from the unity stone, but I did. I could feel it deep in my gut. I also couldn’t believe the headmaster would hide it all the way in here.

After what must have been hours, dim light shone up ahead—natural light. The others saw it, too, and everyone glanced at everyone else and walked a little faster, with hope.

It was an opening to the world beyond. One by one, we stepped outside. The cold winter air bit my skin and stung my eyes, and every breath was like breathing in hundreds of tiny needles.

We stood on a sort of terrace all covered in snow, situated in the side of the mountain. Right in the center of the terrace was a stone slab, like an altar, surrounded by snow-covered gargoyles. Some of the gargoyles were missing wings, some heads, and beyond them stood the remains of stone pillars, torn in half with only their base as proof that they’d existed.

I gazed beyond and started.

All along the mountainside were ruins, embedded in the snow. Half of a crumbling tower, part of a wall, the stone outline of what had at one time been an enormous room—much larger than the ones at Valdon. Large like the remains of a castle.

It sprawled out over the mountainside, and even in its state of decay it looked magnificent. Pieces of a bridge reached over a canyon, towards a cliff, and on that cliff was another stone structure, worn down to its bones from time and weather.

“Galahad’s castle?” I asked.

Alex’s eyes flickered to mine, and he nodded.

I wanted to see it as it had been, grand and magnificent and breathtaking. I wanted to see it in its glory, see the people that had passed here, the colors that had shone brightly.

I reached out and dusted the snow from a small gargoyle beside me. “What happened to it?”

Ehren stepped forward, the wind blowing his hair in a white cloud. “It crumbled when Galahad fell, and everyone inside of it died.”

So much wealth, so much power and promise, swept away.

Strange that the headmaster should hide the stone here.

I heard a thud and turned to see a gargoyle on its side with Vera standing over it, arms folded and frowning.

“There’s nothing here.” She scowled.

But I could feel it, the soft pulse of life. It was somewhere not far from where we were standing, but for some reason I couldn’t pinpoint it.

“No, it’s got to be here somewhere,” I said as the wind blew my hair in my face. “I can…just feel it.”

Vera threw her sword and it landed in the snow beside me. “Your
feelings
are what have us trapped on the side of a mountain.”

Alex’s anger flushed. “Vera, her
feelings
are what have kept you alive. Why don’t you direct your anger toward something useful, like helping us find the stone?”

Vera’s anger burned hot as she glared at him, then me, before trudging off through the snow.

Ehren observed the landscape, his face unreadable. “I’ll search and keep an eye on her.” He drew an arrow, leapt over the altar with the grace of a gazelle, and ran after Vera.

The wind blew hard and the mountain groaned. I didn’t like it here. The ground felt unstable.

Alex’s brow furrowed. “Any idea where?” He seemed as uncomfortable as I was.

I shook my head. “It feels like it’s coming from everywhere.” I surveyed the deteriorating landscape.

Although, it did feel a little stronger…

“How about you look over there”—I pointed to a spot of land where a broken tower stood—“and I’ll check that one.” I pointed toward a cluster of crumbling walls, just off to the side.

Alex regarded me a moment, hesitating. He didn’t like the idea of us splitting up, and I couldn’t say that I liked it either, but we could find it faster if we did.

“All right,” he said, looking warily at the mountain.

I started to walk when he said, “Daria, be careful.”

I held his gaze a moment before he drew his sword, and he walked toward the tower.