Page 50

I sent my coils of deep sapphire shadows out again, finding the opening of the Cidris Facility and teleported before its entrance.

It was a large mound of interlaced tree roots that was pried apart, forming a yawning maw that led deep into a towering cliffside.

All around were root knolls, a tangled weave of gnarled and twisting appendages, as if every tree of the ?lden Lands began and ended here .

My ankles rocked to find balance on the particularly uneven roots beneath my feet where I had landed.

With my electricity crackling at my fingertips, I strolled into the cavern with a jovial hum. The air was thick and musty, and the echoing darkness swallowed me whole. My buzzing electricity provided a steady source of illumination amidst the inky shadows.

Soon, the well-traveled tunnel sloped into a decline.

I began my short descent until the rest of the path was closed off by glass doors.

A pang of frustration rattled through my chest, and with a determined grunt, I unleashed a burst of lighting.

It shot forward with force, but the glass absorbed the energy, leaving it pristine and untouched.

Magic proof just like their cages.

I sent my hands outward. Two of my shadow tendrils drilled holes into the walls on either side of me, traveled around the glass.

When I saw the tip of my split poking through, dirt spilling to the carpeted floor behind the glass, I broke apart and steered the wind through the tunnel I had just created.

Upon an abrupt right turn, the walls were reinforced with concrete, and a wave of stale air that held a tinge of an irony smell made me cough.

I could hear the sound of the machinery in the distance.

The concrete corridor branched out into four, each with flickering fluorescent lights.

I followed the drone of electricity, sensing it was my best shot at finding the cages.

A deep shout barreled toward me, so I guided my smoke around a corner until I found who it was. I lassoed the guard, hauling him straight to me.

I smiled and let my electricity play. It dug its way into his skull until his eyes flitted out.

I stepped over the man and rounded the corner to come face to face with another guard. My other hand lifted to let my split take over. I laughed. I felt so good. So alive. So me . This was what I wanted. To take down the Cidris. And I would kill every last one of them.

Coils of shadows retracted from my fingertips and reemerged from my sides like extra limbs. They pitched forward, assessing, and shrank back, burrowing into me one at a time to relay what it had found. More life. I sensed life. I sensed my Elizians.

As I turned the corner into another corridor, two more guards were running toward me, but before I got a clear look at their features, they were charred meat .

When all was quiet again, I rode my split down the hall while my skin ignited in cobalt flames that emitted white-hot embers.

Then, I recognized the acrid smell, the palpable solemness that flowed through the air and the permeating sadness.

The cages.

My eyes fell upon four men who were busy collecting blood from different women. When a domino of prisoners lifted their heads and widened their eyes at me, the four men spun in my direction.

By the time they began grappling with their guns, my flames ignited higher, exhilarated.

A rush of electricity dashed from one spark to the next around my hands and arms. With a soft laugh, amused at the absurdity of their belief that they could outmatch me, I sent my lighting hurtling toward the first man.

I had it all planned out. The three men on the right first, and the short, stalky one on the left last.

But, I faltered when my eyes caught sight of a tall man with a gaze akin to lethal venom charging through the hallway. Aqua raced down his arms in harsh lines, shooting out of his fingertips into all three of the men at once and sending them to their knees then their faces .

The dangerous aura of this man made even my split run scared, eliciting some type of instinctual response from the deepest recesses of my being.

Up came Fletcher’s lilac magic, powerful and all-consuming.

It zipped and thrashed, keeping my split submerged in its oppressive energy that extinguished my flames and retracted my electric shadows.

The recoil of using magic raced up the male’s arms in a galaxy of stars.

I recognized that magic, that pattern of twinkles. It was mine. This was Fletcher.

My eyes flitted up to meet his fiery cinnamon ones.

His shoulders swayed as he stormed toward me, his lilac magic inflaming, trying to seek him out.

Before my split could reclaim me, I watched as Fletcher fell into a sprint, his shoulder ramming into my torso.

The air in my lungs got knocked out of me just as my split yanked his magic down to the depths of my soul then reinfiltrated my body.

As we fell back, we splintered apart, and I was at the mercy of Fletcher’s wind.

The confusion of my magic switching from Fletcher’s to my split didn’t clear my mind enough to let me steer back to the facility.

It wouldn’t let me focus enough to do anything even when we merged back together in Aldris’s bedroom on the second story .

Fletcher grabbed my wrists with his strong hands. His mouth was set in a straight line and his brows pulled down. A flare of blue pulsed beneath his skin as shackles rounded my wrists. “You have gone too far, Ripley! You’re off the fucking rails.”

I clawed at the bands that were squeezing tighter by the second, limiting the circulation in my hands—limiting my magic. “Fuck off, Fletcher!”

He let out a swift exhale and combed his dark hair to the side with his fingers. “Is this your split talking? I felt it. I’ve seen it. It’s toxic.”

“Oh? You’ve seen it?” I plopped to the bed, crossing my legs and tilting my head to my shoulder.

Despite wanting to get back to the facility, and despite Fletcher ruining my excellent plans, I still found him deliciously alluring.

Tall, dark, handsome with that sexy twist. The way he looked at me called to my split magic.

Everything about me was wildly attracted to him.

How would it feel to make love under the influence of my split?

Make love to him… It was a flash of a memory—of me sprawled across the table as he licked me.

I felt a small bubble of aqua magic floating up through the depths of the darkness that harbored my body. It held me in place, breaking some of the black cobwebs.

He stepped forward, pointing at my face. “Yes. It’s a certain look you have. It’s dark. It’s nasty. It was the same one you had when you killed the man in the forest for almost shooting Cuddles.”

I smiled. “Well, I don’t know what to say, Fletchy. It’s all me.”

He narrowed his eyes, took another step closer before his hands glittered with curving magic. I didn’t know what he was going to do to me, but I could feel the significance of his overwhelm race through me.

I roared, standing up, “Fletch—”

Something tickled in my throat, cutting off his name. A vicious numbness spread through my vocal cords. I tried. I tried fervently to scream, but nothing except the quiet escape of air would release from my mouth.

“You want to go back to the facility? Fine.” Fletcher’s hand came down on my upper arm and we were broken into tiny slivers of ourselves, swaying our pieces into a formidable wind.

We came together in a tidal wave, crashing into an unfamiliar, tiny box of a room.

I yanked my arm out of his grip, fuming .

He sent a thought into my mind. Look around.

My brows pulled forward ready to chew him out, but the desperate look in his rich brown eyes drew my own magic up, glittering through me briefly, separating the split magic that filled my body. And that slice of my magic turned my head to look around.

Four discolored, beige walls surrounded us. A forest green cot with no mattress or pillow, a few built-in drawers, and a wooden door were the only things in the room. Dirt gathered in the corners, and golden gossamer webs hung off the ceiling. The air was stale with a bitter aftertaste.

This is my home.

At the words, Fletcher’s magic rose in me, running alongside mine and working together to overpower the split magic.

My lips parted as the stagnant air entered my lungs.

My hand flattened over my heart, thinking about my Fletcher living in such awful conditions.

This was tremendously depressing. No windows.

An overwhelming sense of being back in my tower crushed me and my split magic.

An aqua light filtered through my vision as my sense of self began to restabilize .

His hand waved over my shackles and they dissipated. This is where I am when I’m not with you at Aldris’s.

My fingers wrapped around his forearms as my eyes continued to observe the claustrophobic space. Fletcher, this is awful.

I know.

I stepped closer to him, our magic tangling together. Why would you risk bringing me to the facility?

I never wanted you to be here. But I knew how it would make you feel. And I hoped that your split might release you.

I turned away from him, tracing my fingers over the drawers that were built-in, level with the wall. To touch it, I merely had to lean and extend my arm. Circular knobs stuck out. I pulled on one to see a few folded clothes. And then another that was empty.

I thought that house you took me to after the tower was your home.

No, that was just a checkpoint. I thought it was a good idea to have you wake up in a place that would be most familiar. He sighed and rubbed his hands up and down the length of my arms. I didn’t know Carreek was going to be there. It was supposed to be a long-abandoned post .

Calm enveloped me. Fletcher had been considerate to my feelings even before he knew me. Even when the last thing he knew of me was that I had stolen his magic.