21. Paige
Paige
I manage to yank free of Oliver’s grasp but not before I stumble backward through a portal to a foreign world. With a wash of colors swirling in my vision, my foot catches on something, and I stumble hard, grunting as the ground comes up to meet me and knocks the air from my lungs.
Disoriented, I suck in oxygen with rasping gasps, clawing at the dirt beneath my hands as I hurry to shove to my feet. Before I can get far, the portal I just came through winks out, and fear slams into me in a way I’ve never known before.
I’m trapped—with the two men I hate most—in a world I have no understanding or knowledge about. And no way to get home now that my tattoo is gone. My heart pounds with the cold reality of my situation, and my breath comes in short gasps that have nothing to do with how hard I fell.
I’ve never felt more alone and exposed in my life.
Bracing for the worst, I eye the two men warily from where I stand. Oliver and Constantine stand back, though, clearly content to take things slow now that they have me isolated.
Assholes.
They will pay for taking me from my friends—from Aries—if it’s the last thing I do.
“I will kill you for this,” I say, drawing on the well of magic inside me that I know now has nothing to do with the library’s bond and everything to do with whoever—or whatever—I really am.
It responds instantly. Powerfully. And I jump a little as thunder cracks overhead, followed quickly by a burst of lightning that illuminates the cloudy sky.
“Many will die, little mage,” Constantine says, his words confusing me enough to give me pause. “But it won’t be me. Not here, not in this memory world.”
“What are you talking about?” I demand. “What’s a memory world?”
He flashes his teeth in a smile that looks more like a snarl. “One of my newer talents, thanks to you.”
“What—”
“Your portals only lead to other worlds,” he says. “Mine now lead to moments in time. And it’s all thanks to the delicious meal I’ve made of your magic.”
My mind reels at what he’s suggesting. Delicious meal? Has he been using my magic against my will and without me knowing—even after I’ve been so careful to keep it locked up tight? How? And what the hell is a memory world?
“I don’t know why you’ve brought me here, but there’s nothing I want to see,” I tell him. “Take me back. Now.” My heart hammers at how helpless I am in this moment. If I can’t conjure a portal, it’s up to him to get me back to my friends. To Aries.
I don’t like those odds.
Even Oliver looks content and smug as he watches me process the reality of my situation while Constantine continues to play his game.
A sound from overhead distracts me, and I look up to see a large flock of birds sweeping out of the darkening sky. Their wings beat furiously as they seem to race ahead of the black clouds creeping toward us from the horizon.
“You don’t remember this place?” Constantine asks.
I jerk my gaze back to his, and his expression sends a shiver of unease down my spine. Even though I don’t want to let on that he’s getting to me, I can’t help glancing around at the scenery in sudden suspicion.
We’re standing on a hillside beneath a large tree with branches as thick as my thighs. The ground slopes away toward a small village nestled in a beautiful valley. The air smells vaguely familiar though I can’t quite place why. In fact, the whole view feels like a dream I’ve had many times before.
Familiarity seeps in, making my breath catch.
“What world is this?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
“It was called Eldevain.”
Eldevain . The word rings in my ears, and my memory strains to place it.
“ Whose world is this?” I ask.
“Ours,” he says simply.
I whirl on him. “Ours? What does that mean?” Fear claws its way up the inside of my throat.
Without responding, he gestures toward a village. “See for yourself, little mage.”
Even though I want to demand he press on, I turn. It’s the animals I notice first. Horses, cows, goats—even sheep—all running at full speed up the hillside toward where I stand. Behind them, the village is still and quiet.
I squint, confused, trying to understand what has spooked the livestock so badly.
Then I see it. And my stomach plummets.
Darkening clouds have descended, coating the ground as they creep toward the village. The air booms again. More thunder. Then lightning.
A figure emerges from the darkness.
I gasp as recognition slams into me.
Constantine.
He looks a bit younger than the version of him standing beside me now. But it’s obviously him. And the power rolling off him seems to command the darkness that rides at his heels.
He strolls into the village, and people emerge from their homes, panicked and fleeing.
He lifts his hand, and they stop in their tracks, their bodies suddenly pulled taut as some invisible force traps them where they stand.
The dark clouds coalesce into a plume of smoke that the young Constantine shoves down their throats. Bodies jerk. Some scream, but the sounds are cut off as the smoke steals everything including their breath.
When the smoke slithers free, the villagers fall to the ground, limp and lifeless.
I watch in horror as the young Constantine strolls through the village, consuming life as he goes.
More villagers emerge, each one desperate to escape.
Then I see a man and a woman lurking behind a tower of barrels, an infant clutched in the arms of her mother.
I don’t even realize I’ve drifted so close to the chaos until a horse storms into my path. I shriek, trying to sidestep it, but there’s no time.
Bracing for impact, I suck in a breath—and then let it out again as the horse passes right through me.
“Nothing of this memory world can harm you,” Constantine says, though I don’t miss the threat lurking in his words. The creatures and people here are from this world, but he does not belong in a memory.
He is living, breathing, flesh and bone, and he can do whatever he wants.
I swallow hard and exhale, watching as the animal races off, leaving me a clear view of the family huddling out of sight of the evil threatening their lives.
The man and woman whisper to themselves, and I can feel their desperation in the heart-wrenching way they glance at the infant. Her own fear is palpable, and my heart squeezes as I watch them dart out from their hiding place and make a run for the edge of the village toward the forest behind me.
They don’t make it far before the young Constantine’s cloud finds them.
The woman screams and tosses the infant into a cart full of hay. The baby wails, her cries heartbreaking as the man and woman are sucked dry all while the infant watches from the cart. The pain and anguish on her young face is tragic, and my rage turns molten as I glare at the man responsible.
He stalks toward her, determination etched into his features. I rush to intercept him, hoping I can find a way to become solid enough to intervene.
“You won’t change what happens here,” Oliver says from close enough beside me that I jump.
“Watch me,” I growl, rushing forward.
But young Constantine has already come for the girl, his cloud swirling closer and closer. Just before it reaches her, she screams. Her tiny body goes rigid as power explodes from it.
Bright, white light erupts, shooting from her body like a star. I shut my eyes against the brightness, and when I open them again, I can only stare in amazement at the transformation.
The darkness is gone. So is the young Constantine. The villagers’ bodies are nowhere to be found, and there isn’t a home or structure in sight. All that remains of the village is a beautiful meadow full of wildflowers and a perfect, picturesque blue sky.
On the ground now that the cart, too, is gone, lies the little girl.
“What just happened? Where is everyone?” I ask.
“You’ve always been more powerful than you realize,” Constantine says, coming to stand beside me as he glares at the little girl.
“Me?” I look back at her, wanting to deny it, but the truth is there. In the shape of her face. The color of her hair and eyes. And in the familiarity I feel in my heart. “I did this?” I whisper.
This was my home. Until Constantine took it all away.
And then my magic did the rest.
I turn to Constantine, rage filling my veins. “You’re a monster.”
“You were the only thing powerful enough to stop me then,” Constantine growls. “But I’ve spent two decades consuming the magic you carelessly leave behind. And I will not be stopped anymore.”
“You destroyed my village,” I say, anger replacing disbelief. “You killed my parents.” I nearly choke on the word as memories flood through me of a family now lost. “Why bring me here? Just to torture me all over again?”
“You need to awaken to what you’ve forgotten, little mage. Awaken to your power. Use it,” he taunts. “So that I can consume it all.”
He takes a step toward me, a darkness slithering over the grass between us. I jump back as the ground itself begins to shake and shudder. Thunder booms again, this time ripping the sky right in two.
I’m thrown sideways as the ground lurches.
Oliver and Constantine stumble.
I’m ripped out of Eldevain and plunged back into the library. And for the first time in my life, there’s no portal bringing me through. Only a destruction of a world and an Extrication of anything remaining from the other side.
Back in the library, a rush of relief courses through me, and I look frantically around for Aries or the others.
When my eyes land on the infant Paige, I know I’m still stuck in this memory world instead.
My heart squeezes at the sight of her grief-stricken face, and I want desperately to go to her, to comfort her after all she’s just been through.