Page 123 of The Freedom You Seek

I was still laughing when a high-pitched noise rang through the clearing we’d spent the night in. As I whipped my head around to search for the source, everything happened all at once. A few paces to my left, reality tore apart, as I’d seen twice before when we’d encountered the Wild Rifts. Only at a second glance did I spot some differences. The opening between the worlds was perfectly round, without a single jagged edge, the air around it shimmered in rainbow colors, and it felt more—intentional.

Antas cursed loudly, and I could spot several vague shapes I tried hard to fully make out. I heard the clanging of multiple feet marching on the ground, and on instinct, I backed away.

After two steps, I collided with something solid. Arms wrapped around my waist like steel, pulling me closer to the edge of the clearing across from the tear, which slowly stabilized into some sort of archway, revealing five men and a woman in armor with their weapons raised.

“That’s our cue.”

“Dion?What are you doing? We have to help!”

Of course, it’d been Dion who caught me in a death grip and pulled me further away. The telltale warmth that spread through my chest whenever he pulled from my Potential surged through me more suddenly than ever before. However, instead of Dion charging toward the clearing, the world around us turned pitch-black.

This darkness was different. It didn’t appear around me, instead I was sinking into it, becoming it. My being unraveled, sounds and smells disappeared, and the whole world—the whole existence—was a void.Iwas a void. Even Dion’s never-faltering grip felt strange, but I clung to it with body and soul because it was the only sensation—apart from the warmth that told me my Potential was still being used—that I could ground myself in. Every so often, a flash of light appeared, nearly blinding me, and in the blink of an eye, I was pulled out of the darkness before I was instantly hauled back into it again.

My perception of time faltered, and when the oblivion released me for good, I couldn’t say if it had been seconds or days I’d spent in—and as—the void.

My head spun, and sickness clouded my mind. Bile was rising in my throat, and before I could put up any struggle, I bent over while Dion still held me tight. Heaving and gagging, I threw up my entire breakfast. Even when my stomach was empty, I couldn’t stop.

“Shh, it’ll get better soon,” Dion said, supporting my body with one hand and keeping my hair out of harm’s way with the other. “Shadowwalking is something that needs some getting used to. I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you.”

When I was sure the heaving had stopped, I slowly straightened. “Shadowwalking.”

“Yes, traveling from shadow to shadow.” Dion sounded tired, and there were bags under his eyes as if this magical journey had cost him a lot.

I wanted to ask him more questions when the last moments in the clearing jumped back to my mind. “We have to go back and help the others! Dion, you can’t just take me away from a potential threat!”

I gritted my teeth, absolutely ready to fight him so he would return us to the others. Because of his stupid, overprotective streak, he’d left them behind, and I wouldn’t accept that.

“They’ll be fine, Nayana.”

“You abandoned them!”

A muscle in Dion’s jaw twitched. “Can’t you trust me for once? That I have a plan?”

“Well, it looks to me like you took me away because I hadn’t promised to stand back while you’d fight.”

Dion sighed deeply. “If you think I’d abandon my comrades without a better reason, you don’t know me at all, Nayana. We left because I had to give my word to Antas to leave with you at the moment I sensed that the time had come. And it felt like the right moment, for fuck’s sake. Also, we can’t even be sure if there was a fight coming.”

Dion’s revelations were like a bucket of cold water dumped on me, and my upset stomach complained again. I took a few deep, grounding breaths, and it was safe to say that shadowwalking was by far my least favorite method of transportation. “Couldn’t you have taken the others too?And what in the gods’ good names wasthatdistortion in reality? It didn’t look like a Wild Rift at all.”

“We’ve traveled a three-day distance just now, Naya. I never even shadowwalked this far alone—let alone while transporting someone else. I’m spent. Besides, put into consideration that no one without a darkness predisposition can travel through the shadows anyway.”

Dion’s jaw worked, and I glared at him, waiting for him to answer my second question.

“And it was a portal. Like a Wild Rift, but intentionally built. So yes, on top of all the shit we’re currently dealing with, we’ve also attracted the attention of Galanta, but it was only a matter of time anyway. Fucking shit.”

“You mean, those people were—”

“Fae. Yes.”

I was stunned. For the first time, I’d seen the inhabitants of the other world, and I hadn’t even known. “I had no idea. Maybe they just came to talk?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. What I’m sure of, though, is that the others will be fine. Even if there is a skirmish, it wouldn’t be the first time that at least Fig and Antas have to fight against fae.” Dion’s voice sounded softer, and he finally released me from his hold. “They’ll be fine, Nayana. I promise.”

“I’m worried.”

“I know you are.”

Both of us fell silent for a moment.