22 #3
“It’s okay. I’m fine.” I risked a glance at Ren, who was struggling to keep a protective barrier around me. I knew he couldn’t hold these for long, and that I had to hurry before his power gave out.
Stella and Ivy flanked either side of me. Stella created a garden of writhing vines to prevent anyone from disrupting me, while Ivy and Talis took care of stragglers who nearly snuck through.
They could only defend against the phantoms. I was the only one who could send them back.
Thankfully, the rift wardens were too engrossed in stopping the phantoms that they paid us no mind. That, or the Syndicate warned them not to intervene. So I forced myself to continue.
My vision blurred. The world tilted. For a horrifying moment, I wasn't Theo anymore. I was every phantom. Every loss, every regret, every unfinished goodbye. I felt icy tears spill down my cheeks.
The pressure built behind my eyes until I thought my skull might crack apart. "Please, stop suffering," I gasped.
The magic surged. The array answered, and I felt my body react to the other pieces together throughout the city as the connection deepened.
A scream tore from my throat. It felt like my nerves had been replaced with exposed wires.
Magic raced through my body faster than I could contain it.
My muscles locked. Every joint burned. My heart hammered so violently I thought it might stop altogether.
The brick under me began to crack, not from force but from the sheer amount of magic pouring out of me.
My hands trembled uncontrollably, and a warm trickle of blood dripped from my nose.
I barely noticed because the phantoms kept coming, drawn toward me and my magic.
Some were angry, some sad. Others just wanted to go home.
Each one demanded to be heard. I wanted to push them out of my head, to shut them out and make the pain stop.
When my emotions wavered, so did my control.
Their fear latched onto me, and I let out a terrifying scream as I clutched my head.
It’s okay, I pleaded with myself as much as I had the phantoms. “It’s okay. I’m here. Please, let me guide you home.”
The pressure eased slightly. Not because I had gained control, but because I had stopped fighting. The lesson Alex had kept drilling into my head finally clicked. Magic wasn't something you dominated. It wasn't something you forced into obedience. You worked with it as one.
I drew a shaky breath. The pain remained, but I let it exist. I let the sorrow wash through me.
I let the anger consume me. The fear, the grief, I didn’t carry it all, but just enough to guide them, to understand them.
And one by one, the phantoms stopped fighting and let go. They were moving on, going home.
The final phantom disappeared into the rift, its form dissolving into a shower of silver light as it crossed back into the underworld.
For the first time since activating the array, the endless chorus of voices filling my mind began to fade.
The grief, the anger, the fear that had threatened to drown me moments ago slowly receded, leaving behind an almost painful silence.
A shaky breath escaped me. “We did it!”
Ren’s protective barrier vanished. He braced his hands on his knees, exhaling heavily from exhaustion.
Nearby, a circle of magic flashed a bright yellow. Inside was Markus, beside him Alex and Jordan as his own transportation array brought us together.
“Theo, you did it!” Alex rushed over, pummeling me with a hug.
Around me, onlookers didn’t know what to make of the situation as they stared at me in confusion and disbelief.
They had seen me activate the array, but they weren’t quite sure what to make of the phantoms disappearing.
They seemed to gravitate toward the rift wardens, assuming they had something to do with it.
There were no words of gratitude, but I didn’t need them.
A shaky breath escaped me. “We’re not done yet,” I spoke in a harsh whisper. I still had to repair the veil.
While the rift wardens continued to tend to the injured, I reached for the magic left behind by the departing phantoms. I could feel it lingering throughout the city like thousands of strands of glowing thread woven through the streets, buildings, and people below.
Each phantom had left behind a trace of itself, a residue of power that still resonated with the array.
If I could gather that energy and redirect it into the wound between realms, it should stitch the veil back together.
At least, that had been the plan.
The moment I began pulling the magic toward me, a knot of unease formed in my stomach. The energy responded too quickly.
Instead of flowing gently toward the tear in the veil, it surged through the array with violent force. Every rune carved throughout Salem ignited at once, flooding the city with blinding white light. The sheer volume of power slammed into me like a tidal wave.
Pain exploded through my body. I cried out as the magic tore through me, burning along every nerve, lighting up my veins with silver.
It felt as though my blood had been replaced with molten metal.
My muscles locked. My vision blurred. For a terrifying moment, I thought the array was going to rip me apart.
My emotions surged all at once, crashing over me faster than I could contain them.
“Theo, sever the connection!” I heard Alex scream. “Your magic … it’s rebounding. I can’t stabilize it!”
I looked up at the sky, stars twinkling in the night sky. The veil might not have been visible, but I could feel it ripping further apart, not mending together.
Panic clawed at my chest. I tried redirecting the energy. The array resisted. I pushed harder. The magic pushed back.
The connection I'd created with the phantoms wasn't closing. It was feeding the spell, amplifying it far beyond anything I'd anticipated. Every trace of power left behind was being absorbed into the array itself. And the array wanted more. What was worse was that my magic wanted it.
“Theo!” Alex screamed. His barriers were collapsing. He could no longer stabilize the array. Blood dripped from his nose as he fell to his knees. “You have to sever the connection. I’m losing control!”
He might not have realized it, but Alex had always been the one holding everything together.
Even after everything the Syndicate had done to him, even after years of abuse and conditioning, he had found the courage to stand up against them.
Seeing him like this—frightened, overwhelmed, watching his own magic come apart around him—sent a fresh wave of panic crashing through me.
“I … I can’t!” I cried back. The phantoms were gone, but their magic remained intertwined with mine, woven into the array and stretched across the city.
If I cut it now, I had no idea what would happen.
The energy could tear itself apart. The veil could collapse completely.
The damage could become worse than anything we'd seen tonight.
The array pulsed. A shockwave erupted from its center, from me.
The blast tore through the street with enough force to rip loose chunks of asphalt.
Ren was thrown backwards, his body slamming into the side of a building hard enough to crack the brick.
Stella's shield shattered instantly. Markus barely managed to throw up a ward before the force hurled him and Jordan across the pavement.
Ivy's summoned creatures vanished as she was knocked off her feet.
My stomach dropped. Everyone was down. Every single one of them unmoving and unconscious. There were bodies everywhere, the pedestrians caught in the crossfire sprayed across the brick.
What had I done?
I tried to step toward Ren, but the array anchored me in place. The connection running through my body had become too strong. I could feel it winding around my magic like chains.
The city trembled beneath my feet. I stared at the widening wound above Salem, completely invisible under a starry night sky, but I felt it there, my helplessness settling in my chest like a stone.
Every choice I made was making things worse. I had saved the phantoms, but at what cost?
Then, through the roar of the magic, I heard a voice.
I can end this, the female voice said softly. Her presence coiled around my thoughts like a hand around my throat. The pain. The chaos. All of it. You don’t have to watch them die.
“Please … end this,” I spoke out loud, tears slipping down my cheeks. My heart was frantically hammering inside my chest, my breathing erratic. “They’re not a part of this! They don’t deserve to suffer!”
A malicious giggle echoed in my thoughts. You tried so hard, always putting yourself above others. It’s time you put yourself first.
The thought didn’t feel foreign, it felt reasonable.
You’re exhausted, came the soft realization, warm and intimate. Yes, I was exhausted. You’ve done more than enough. Won’t you come with me and rest?
I swallowed, my hands trembling against the pavement. Something about the calm voice felt like it didn’t belong. But my body leaned into it anyway, desperate to make this right.
Come, now. Follow my voice. Your work here is done.
Somehow, I stood up and started stumbling as I followed the melodic sound of my salvation, but where I was going I had no idea.