Page 152 of Balance

I swallowed down my fear as I moved to my feet. It was hurting him—but why would Kathleen give him something that’d hurt him?

What could I even do?

“Go to him.” I was already moving before Mu’s instructions could echo through my thoughts. The diseased shadow rippled past me as I stepped over the circle, rushing to Miles’s side.

But now that I was here, I wasn’t certain what to do. “Miles?” I touched his shoulder, shaking lightly. “Hey?”

My legs gave out as he suddenly broke form, moving to his hands and knees. I fell to the ground, unable to catch myself in time. I was pushed to my back and he loomed over me.

“Miles!” Black dots swam in the edges of my vision, and small, sharp stones dug into my back. My chest constricted as, when I moved to push at him, my wrists remained securely above my head, locked to the ground in his firm, unmovable grip.

“Stay back.” His voice was a growl.

“What are you doing?” I breathed, doing my utmost to stay calm. This wasMiles—he would never get violent with me. Although, at the moment, the maniacal glint to his eyes really didn’t offer much reassurance.

“Leave me alone,” he said, setting his right hand to my chest. The full weight of him pressed into my thighs, and my hands were still immobile above my head by the firm grip of his left hand.

Iwould. At the moment, my skin was crawling with the need to flee. And as my heartbeat echoed in my ears, I wondered, how could he expect me to listen if I was beingpinned to the ground?

“Let go!” I tried to buck him off, but it was as if my attempts to escape didn’t register to him at all. The lines on his face were taught, and there wasn’t even an ounce of recognition in his darkening gaze.

My chest felt heavy, and I stopped fighting as a lethargy turned mylimbsto lead. Something was happening, a roaring seemed to echo through my ears, but it was hard to string together a coherent thought.

There was a rather large and pointy rock pressing into the back of my shoulder, and a shadow passed over my vision as the pressure against my chest threatened to crush me.

I wasn’t sure what was happening, but the crazed, distant look hadn’t faded from Miles’s expression.

He didn’t know who I was, so at least there was that. It would definitely be worse for him to knowingly hurt me.

But that didn’t make the situation any better.

Where were the others? Miles said we were getting closer—maybe the roaring was from Titus.

Miles,stop.

The words only sounded in my thoughts—unable to break past the lump in my throat.

My vision tunneled until the only thing I could see were his expressionless eyes—blank and darkened as he looked through me. There was a ringing in my ears, and a darkness seemed to consume him. While he made no further move to hurt me, the Miles I knew seemed to grow more distant with every passing second.

It was as those long moments passed, and my hope grew more and more distant, that the delusions started.

A dark shadow was moving over Miles, snuffing out the light that made him,him. His features blurred now, until he’d become only a shape—impenetrable and menacing—above me, and the roar in my ears drowned out all other sound. The light was gone, the ground faded, and the feeling of his body on mine was forgotten. The only thing I could focus on was the pressure against my chest.

I was suffocating, losing myself, as it seemed like I’d never escape this burying force.

And there was nothing I could do to stop it.

“He’s using his abilities against you,” a voice rang in my head. “Fight back.”

What was Mu going on about now? I stared into the darkness—sight and sound leaving me behind completely—unable to summon the energy to even respond.

Fight back?

But this was Miles; he was exceptionally bigger and stronger than me. I’d never win against him.

“You’re theonlyone who can beat him.”

No, I really couldn’t. I gasped for breath, freezing air ripping through my painful chest. His hands were cold, and I was turning to ice from the inside out.