60. Chapter 60
60
Nelle
I stumbled into the murkiness, lurching forward, one foot in front of the other while that bottled power inside surged with me, yowling and hissing and growling as it snaked around my bones.
And I broke into a run.
Hurtling through the woodland, I followed trails I’d carved through the years, not caring where I headed, only that it was deeper, as far away from the Horned Gods as I could manage.
It thrummed—snarling— Let me go. Let me go. Let. Me. Go. LET ME GO!
It was relentless, and I couldn’t hold it back. I couldn’t keep it contained.
I unleashed it—
It blew outward like a shock wave that could bring down the stars.
A deafening, yawning noise—
Trees bowed and bent and broke, splintering like matchsticks. Living, growing things shriveled in my wake, turning to ash, scattered by the wicked currents as that raw, untamed power swept alongside me like a cruel wind.
As far as I knew, there was nothing special about my family, only our placement as the Great House.
But me…well, I was different.
Inside, the raw power of magic bunched itself like taut muscles, quivering, waiting for my demand.
All I had to do was ask.
I rounded a bend in the trail and then I swifted.
In a blink, I disappeared—sucked into a swirl of gray-coated wind and beating feathers.