Page 24 of Boundless

“Let her try it. Let’s see if it works this time—just let her try it.”

My stomach fell all the way to my heels.

“Do it, Nil,” Betty said, pushing me toward the trees gently. “Let’s see if it lets you through.”

The fear became so heavy so suddenly I felt like it crushed my ribcage. Even so, I was moving, going closer to the trees, trying to better feel the magic of the Aetherway, to test it.

And I did.

Someone spoke but I couldn’t even tell whose voice it was. The warmth of the Aetherway was against my skin, and my magic reacted like it was being invited out. I stopped between the trees, two feet away from the sheer veil of shimmer I could barely make out extending from one trunk to the other, and I thought of Verenthia. I thought of the Neutral Lands. I thought of colorful leaves and a bright blue sky, of buildings made of stone and wood, of all kinds of magical creatures going about their business in an ordinary day.

My eyes close and I saw it all in detail, saw the first town of the Neutral Lands as I had that night with Rune. My magic slipped out of my fingers, cold but steady, ice magic instead of frostfire. With it, I intended toaskthe Aetherway to let me through, to get me to the other side.

I could have been alone in the entire world, eyes closed and breath held—until my magic touched that of the portal.

The pain was instant.

Not sure if I screamed or not, but my legs could have cut off from under me, and I hit the ground on my knees hard. The inkon my skin burned so much I imagined I had a blade on fire cutting my entire fucking shoulder off my body.

My God, it was rejecting me again. The Aetherway was not going to let me through.

No.

The memory of Rune’s face had become so blurry so quickly. The lines of his face, the feel of his hair, of his body—it was all fading away from me, and quickly, but not the colors of his eyes. Those were perfectly vivid in my mind, the deep indigo and the silver circles around his pupils. My maps that would always lead me to him, I thought.

My focus didn’t waver when I clung to that memory, to those colors, and let out the magic inside me that hurt on its way down my veins. It hurt because it was frostfire, and while I might not have understood how the hell to use it for anything specific, I had my imagination. I pictured it as a key to a big lock, as a large hammer crashing down a door, fucking dynamite blowing up an entire building to let me through.

And I imagined it simply as energy that was going to transport me from this world and to another. To Verenthia.

It worked. I could feel that it was connecting with the Aetherway, and I couldfeelVerenthia’smagic against my tongue like I was already breathing its air. For a moment, I convinced myself to stand up and walk ahead, straight into the shimmery veil and out of Earth. I thought I would be able to, that nothing was going to stop me. It all felt sonatural.All I had to do was walk through.

Until the ink responded.

The weight of it crushed me under. The shadows that made it were so powerful, theyconsumedall the silver light of my magic, and the warmth of the Aetherway within seconds. They stripped us both bare, and it was impossible to push through it.

I tried.

I tried harder than I ever had before, and this time I did scream. My own voice filled my head as I pushed with all of me against the shadows, but they didn’t yield. They remained as thick as concrete, and eventually, they wrapped me into a cocoon and pulled me under. Dragged me down all the way to fucking hell.

My mind and body and magic gave up.

eight

I waited.

The whole day I waited there, sitting on the ground, back against a tree, eyes on the Aetherway.

When I tried to break through that first time in the morning, I passed out. Dad tried to hide his joy when I woke up seconds after. He tried to hide how happy he was that the Aetherway hadn’t let me through, but the gleaming in his eyes was there.

I didn’t blame him, though. He had no idea what was at stake, what any of it meant. He had no idea—and I was going to keep it that way.

He decided to go to work that day, and he was confident that he would find me home when he got back, and Fiona and Betty stayed with me for half the day.

Then they each went back to the house to get food when they got hungry, Fiona first, and then Betty, and I stayed there still, waiting.

For the Aetherway to recognize me.

For the ink on my skin to disappear somehow.