Page 32 of Heir of Broken Souls (HOBF #3)

Chapter 32

Delilah

I ’m tumbling.

Falling through an endless vast of nothingness.

I’m no longer in my body, in my mind. I’m within Elysia’s. I can’t touch or move, can only watch. Her mind is such a stark contrast to my golden one. I’ve hidden my pain, buried it so deep into the darkness of my subconscious it isn’t visible along the surface. Elysia’s, however, is on full display.

Her consciousness is teeming with despair.

Such immeasurable pain, it’s stifling, overwhelming, suffocating to be within her mind. Within the chamber of thoughts and memories and visions of all those she has lost.

All she has suffered.

This is what it would look like if I opened the box of my pain.

It would consume me.

It’s consuming her. I’m surprised she’s still standing upright and not crushed by the guilt and horror of it all.

A hand clamps down on my wrist within her mind, startling me. Elysia kicks the turmoil of her mind away, creating a path to a window at the far end. “Hurry! We don’t have much time to watch,” she says.

“Are your visions forgotten after?” I ask, perplexed.

“No, but the accuracy of it will change for you. I can see it perfectly well but those who visit will—look!”

She pulls me to a halt before the dark window, and at first, I’m not sure what I’m looking at, until it moves.

I’m staring at clouds.

Tumultuous clouds full of destruction as waves below rise so high the ship tips, water spilling onto the top deck. Those on the ship are forced to cling to a post as the ship nearly capsizes.

It rights itself, but another wave slaps it again.

Screams and shouts ensue, rising as high as the tide. Lightning strikes, sending two bodies flying. A sob of shock flies from my lips.

“We have to stop this,” I find myself saying, even knowing it’s no use.

You can fight against dark magic, against enemies and armies, but you cannot fight nature.

Suddenly, I’m shaking, my name drifting on an echo in the distance. I blink rapidly.

“Delilah, can you hear me?” my favorite voice asks.

“I had to show her,” I hearElysia say, her voice less manic.

Sitting up, I find I’m sprawled on the floor of Axel and Elysia’s room, Knox kneeling beside me. Lenox and Harlow stand behind him with mirrored expressions of concern.

“We need to prepare,” I say. I grab Knox’s arm, purely for the comfort of his touch and the warmth of his skin, but I also send the memory of what I saw down the bridge, watching as his eyes widen and his jaw grinds.

Knox lifts his head to Elysia. “Was there more?”

Elysia slowly nods. “Destruction like you’ve never seen before.”