Page 53 of Loving Amari

“I can’t even get out of limbo.”

Aya meets my eyes. “You aren’t supposed to.”

“What? Why?”

She stops floating, her form solidifying slightly. “I’m supposed to make a choice. If I couldn’t succeed in helping you defeat Nathaniel, then I should call on her one last time. And I would have to make a decision. Send you to her for help, or simply join her and let Wintermoon fall.”

I gasp, my mouth falling open.

Aya looks at the souls starting to burst through the shielded web. Cracks form in my barrier, spreading like fractured glass. White magic suddenly appears in her hands, bright and pure and terrifying.

“I only have enough for one call,” she says softly. “That’s all she gave me.”

“Please, I beg you,” I whisper.

Aya meets my eyes. “What I’m about to do is for the better, and you’ll hate me for it now, but one day, you’ll understand why I did what I did.”

I step back. “What are you doing?”

I look to Verto. “Help me!”

But Verto moves in front of the shield, leaving me alone with Aya. He’s not even going to help me.

“I wish I could say I’m sorry, but I’m not,” Aya says.

She sends the magic from her fingers. It slams into me. White magic covers my body completely, and I start to scream not from pain but from fear. The magic is overpowering, a power I’ve never felt before. It’s absolute. It starts to cover me like a cocoon, wrapping around me in layers.

“Stop! Aya, please stop!” I beg, thrashing against the magic.

But Aya drops to her knees as the last of the magic leaves her body. I’m being covered fully, losing sight of the void of limbo completely. Everything goes white.

Suddenly, I’m in a white cloudy void, but I don’t understand. My leg is fully healed. No pain. No blood. Nothing. I try to use my magic but nothing comes out. My hands remain empty, powerless.

“Hello?” I call out, looking around. There’s nothing, not even an echo of my voice.

I start to walk, confusion and fear filling me like never before. Am I dead? I can feel the power of this realm and it’s terrifying. It presses against me from all sides, enormous and infinite.

I keep walking. This void seems just as endless as the dark void I’ve known. Always in darkness, always in shadows, but now, I stand in light. Blinding, absolute light.

I just keep walking, trying to keep hope that I’ll find a way out of this. Knowing that Amari is stuck dealing with Nathaniel is so wrong. He needs me. Our children need me. Wintermoon needs me.

“Hello!” I shout this time. Still nothing. Just endless white light. No sound. My feet feel light as if I’m walking on nothing.

“Are you done yelling?” someone asks.

I spin around when I hear a familiar voice. “Tabatha?”

I recognize it immediately.

A chuckle echoes around me, but I can’t find where it’s coming from. “You should have called on me when you were inthe forest, but you let Aya distract you. But then again, Aya’s always been very good at distractions. It’s her specialty.”

“Please... please help me. I have to help Amari. I have to help my children. I have to help Wintermoon,” I plead.

Tabatha suddenly appears out of the white light. She looks ethereal, her form glowing with inner radiance. Her deep brown skin seems to shimmer, her vivid blue eyes almost blinding in their intensity.

My eyes widen. “Where am I?”

“You are home, with Mother Fate,” Tabatha says simply.