Page 39

As darkness swept over her vision, two golden brown eyes stared back at her, and Kallie fell into them.

Chapter13

KALLIE

The ground trembled beneath Kallie.A roar, guttural and earth-shattering, pierced her ears.

She fell to her knees as the ground vibrated, ripping apart. A crack split across the pavement, dozens of tiny cracks splintering off it. Large chunks of concrete fell away into the chasm, the ground around Kallie quickly deteriorating.

A shout sounded from the other side, and Kallie dragged her gaze off the ground.

Frightened golden brown eyes stared back at her. A boy sat on an island of broken concrete, tears filling his eyes as pebbles tumbled down the sides of the island.

Kallie hurried forward, her nails scraping against the ground. She peered over the edge. Nothing but blackness greeted her. The chasm between her and the boy was growing and fast.

She gnawed on her lip.

The ground shook again, and Kallie fell onto her stomach as she gripped the edge of the concrete, hoping that it wouldn’t collapse beneath her.

“Kalisandre!”

Kallie jerked up and fell back onto her palms. Her heart thumping in her chest.

She couldn’t move.

She couldn’t speak.

The boy previously seen sitting on the island had changed, aged. Her breath lodged in her throat as she stared at the man before her.

“F-Fynn?”

Her brother gave her a small smile. The cockiness long gone. “Kalisandre, you have to fight it,” Fynn said.

“Fight what?” Kallie asked.

Fynn opened his mouth to speak, but his attention was dragged to his right as a large chunk of pavement plummeted into the black void.

Dust plumed and filled Kallie’s lungs. She keeled over, coughing. Her eyes burned, dust and water blinding her.

“Find it, Kalisandre,” Fynn shouted.

The island rocked, a rumble loud and deafening.

“Fynn!” Kallie threw out a hand. But she was too late, too slow. Her fingers brushed Fynn’s, and she couldn’t find her grip on his hand before the pavement collapsed beneath him.

As Fynn fell, his shout echoed down the black void, “Fight it, Kallie!”

* * *

Kallie awoke,suffocating as her heart thundered in her chest. Sweat caked her skin as a warm liquid spread across her forehead. Red laced her vision.

She tried to inhale, but the air was a ball in her lungs as she tried to figure out whose blood it was.

Had she blacked out? She tried to recall what had happened, but her memory was hazy. In the back of her mind, she heard the echo of a scream and the flash of brown eyes.

She tried to count, to hold her breath. She tried to steady her racing heart, but she couldn’t. None of her strategies worked to alleviate her panic. It wrapped around her throat, strangling her.

When she opened her eyes, darkness engulfed her.