Page 139

I placed both hands on the formation this time, pressing harder, as if force alone could make this work. The violet-blue light pulsed steadily, mockingly unchanged. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I tried to push essence through my palms, the way I'd learned to channel shadows. But essence wasn't darkness—it wasn't something I could see or grasp or control. It just existed within me, as natural and unreachable as my own heartbeat.

"I don't know how to do this," I whispered, more to myself than the others. The admission felt like failure, like letting down not just my companions but an entire realm. My realm, according to some accident of birth I still couldn't quite wrap my head around.

"Take your time," Rethlyn said from somewhere behind me. But we didn't have time.

I stepped back, running trembling fingers through my hair. How many people in Ravenfell were starving right now? How many children like Lael lay wounded because their realm's essence had been stolen? And here I stood, supposedly carrying the same power that could restore it within me, but unable to do anything with it.

I closed my eyes, trying to focus on that well of energy Talon had described— this endless essence that supposedly flowedthrough me. But it was like trying to catch rain with a sieve. Every time I thought I felt it, it slipped away.

Relax.

It didn't feel like my own thought, but I decided to go with it. I turned back to the formation, desperation clawing at my throat. There had to be a way. I'd felt power before—when my web braided itself up my spine, when it filled my skull with its iridescence.

Almost instinctively, I reached for that deeper part of myself. The web responded instantly, but instead of letting it climb to my head as it always had, I focused on drawing it down my arms.

The web resisted at first, like a river trying to flow uphill. My fingers trembled against the crystal as I fought to redirect that familiar power. Every instinct screamed at me to let it rise, to let it fill my skull as it always had. But something about this felt right.

My breath came in short gasps as I concentrated. The web pulsed through my veins, searching for its usual path, but I held firm, channeling it down, down, through my shoulders, my elbows, into my palms. The sensation was foreign, almost uncomfortable, like wearing a glove on the wrong hand.

"Fia?" Someone's voice seemed distant, concerned. I couldn't tell who had spoken. Everything had narrowed to this moment, to the feeling of power coursing through me.

Please, I thought, pressing my forehead against the cool crystal surface.Please work. We need this. They need this.I closed my eyes.

The web thrummed stronger now, no longer fighting its new direction but flowing freely. It felt different than when I wielded shadows or touched minds. More raw. Or Fundamental. Like I'd tapped into something that had always been there.

A gasp cut through my concentration and my eyes flew open.

White light blazed within the crystals, so bright I had to squint. It spread from where my hands touched, transforming the violet-blue into something impossibly pure. The glow pulsed outwardthrough the ridges like veins of starlight, each crystal refracting and magnifying the radiance until the entire structure seemed alive with its own blinding moon.

"Esprithe," Effie breathed behind me.

I stumbled back from the formation, my legs weak. The white light continued to pulse through the crystals, a stark contrast to their earlier violet-blue glow.

"Incredible," Tamir whispered, his eyes wide and glassy in the light. He reached toward the formation but stopped just short of touching it, as if afraid it might shatter under his fingers.

I felt Aether's presence before I saw him, that familiar warmth as he moved to stand beside me again. When I finally looked up at him, the white light from the arcanite reflected in his golden eyes, making them almost silver.

"You did it," he said quietly.

"Let's try and get these strapped to the Vördr," Rethlyn said, running his hand along one of the makeshift harnesses they'd been fashioning from the support beams. "Though crossing the rip might be tricky."

"We should get moving," Mira cut in, "It's already dark."

And so they began preparing the Vördr.

"Careful with that piece," Vexa called out as Theron and Rethlyn secured another section of arcanite to Draug's harness. The Vördr shifted, adjusting to the weight as Dannika moved to fasten the final straps.

“Talon should be able to tell—when you bring it back to Umbrathia,” I began, nerves setting in. “I can feel the essence flowing through it, but I don’t know how you will reform it.” Only Mira seemed to be paying attention. “Talon should be able to sense the direction in which it flows. He should be able to tell you how to place it in the ground so that it releases it into the land.”

Mira simply narrowed her eyes. “Why are you telling us this?”

I watched as Aether approached Tryggar with the lastfragment. My heart thundered against my ribs as I made the word form: "Wait."

It came out sharp and direct, making everyone pause. Their eyes found me, confusion evident in their expressions.

"I'm not going back to Umbrathia." The words felt like stones in my throat, but I forced them out. "Not yet."

"What?" Vexa's brow furrowed.