Chapter 42

CHAPTER 42

MELANIE

T ime is ticking. My daughter is trapped behind an illusion that I can't breach no matter how hard I try.

"It will be fine," Ivor says with a confidence that I don't feel. "They're setting up the machine now. We'll be through in a moment."

But he's just as nervous as I am. I know him well enough to read him even while he's in his graynite form. He thought I'd be frightened. Disgusted, but I'm in awe of him. Of the power he exudes and the strength he commands. But right now, he's just as afraid as I am. Afraid of losing the daughter we've only just found.

A small group of guardian technicians are gathered on a path several feet below us fiddling with a boxy machine that they say will bring down the illusion and allow us all in.

I should be able to pass through, and the fact I can't makes no sense. "If the wards are like those around your camp, then I should be able to get through."

"They're saying a friend of theirs, a witch, is working with the faction. He must be aware of your existence."

"Yarrow? No…Oh god. Yes, he knows about me. You think he deliberately added something to the barrier to keep me out?"

"He had the foresight to disable Cameron's shield, so it stands to reason he'd consider you also. But it won't be long. We'll storm their base and crush them all."

The mountain range that stretches as far as the eye can see to my left and right is littered with gargoyles, graynites, and halfbloods ready to fight the faction, but the sense of foreboding inside me won't shift.

Something is wrong. Terribly wrong.

Derek materializes to my left. "Any luck?" he asks me.

"No. I can't get through."

"Neither can I," he says. "But I think I can feel her."

My heart leaps. "That's good. It means she's alive."

"Yes, it does, and we're going to keep it that way."

Someone bellows a warning far below, and then all sound is sucked from the world. Ivor exhales suddenly, hand going to his chest. The world shimmers like the wavering of the air in a heatwave, then buildings materialize on the barren land. Tiny, whitewashed structures gleam in the starlight, but it's the central, larger building that catches my eye. It's bathed in moonlight, the tip of the tower glowing brighter and brighter.

"What—"

A beam of light shoots up from the tower, slicing through the night and into the sky. A moment later, thunder shakes the world.

"No…" Ivor takes a step forward his chest heaving. "No…"

Lightning cuts the sky in the distance, again and again, and ice shoots through my veins. "Ivor, what is it? What's happening?" I know the answer, but I want him to deny it. To tell me differently.

"It's the rift. It's opening. We're too late."

"I have to get to Cameron." Derek winks out.

Around me, the forces mobilize, heading toward the building. Toward the light.

I have to get to my daughter. "I'm going too."

"Wait." Ivor pulls something from his pocket.

It's the ring. The only item that now holds the power to shut down the rift. The plan we hoped to avoid, but now…

"No. No, Ivor. I can't do it. What if it's too late?"

A pained look crosses his feral features. "You have to. Otherwise, this world is doomed, her along with it. Go quickly while we have time."

I take the ring that holds the essence of the shedim queen along with the essence of every fallen shedim since. Enough power to close the rift, but it can only be wielded by a female shedim of royal blood, something that Ivor didn't realize was possible until he discovered Cameron's existence and something he'd hoped that he'd never have to use.

Only Cameron can wear the ring and release the power, and if the rift has only just begun to open, then she'll be fine. But if the gray has begun to seep through, then…No. I can't. I won't think about that.