Page 53 of Summertime Hexy
“What the HELL, Ashwin?” I shout, hands up, breath shallow. “Please tell me this is a weird phase and not a full-blown interdimensional crisis!”
“I—I was just trying to amplify a locator charm,” he stammers. “For a beetle. Avery rarebeetle?—”
“A beetle? You summoned the void over abeetle?!”
“I think I used too much ley pull,” he says, voice cracking.
“Noshit.”
The tear pulses again.
The air around it shifts—pulling in, like gravity’s been reversed. Like the world is sucking itself inward.
And then the worst thing happens.
My magic disappears.
One second, it’s there—alive and bright and buzzing in my fingertips—and the next, it’sgone.
Like someone unplugged me from the ley lines and tossed me into a blackout.
I stumble, grabbing a nearby tree for balance.
“Hazel?” Ashwin squeaks.
“I’m fine,” I lie. “Totally chill. Nothing like getting magically ghosted by the universe to spice up your Tuesday.”
The tear flares.
A tendril of black mist snakes out, lashing toward us like it’s searching for something toconsume.
I push Ashwin back.
“Run.”
“What about?—”
“RUN.”
He bolts.
The mist curls around my ankles.
And I feel it—deep in my bones—that empty, hollowpull.Like the tear is looking at me. Like itknows.
And then, I feel it again.
That old fear.
Not of death. Not of monsters.
But of beingpowerless.
Of beingabandoned.
Of being the girl no one comes back for.
I clutch my wand, heart racing, whispering a sigil I know won’t work but trying anyway.
