Page 88 of The Stone Survival
A beam of light shoots up from the tower, slicing through the night and into the sky. A moment later, thunder shakes the world.
“No…” Ivor takes a step forward his chest heaving. “No…”
Lightning cuts the sky in the distance, again and again, and ice shoots through my veins. “Ivor, what is it? What’s happening?” I know the answer, but I want him to deny it. To tell me differently.
“It’s the rift. It’s opening. We’re too late.”
“I have to get to Cameron.” Derek winks out.
Around me, the forces mobilize, heading toward the building. Toward the light.
I have to get to my daughter. “I’m going too.”
“Wait.” Ivor pulls something from his pocket.
It’s the ring. The only item that now holds the power to shut down the rift. The plan we hoped to avoid, but now…
“No. No, Ivor. I can’t do it. What if it’s too late?”
A pained look crosses his feral features. “You have to. Otherwise, this world is doomed, her along with it. Go quickly while we have time.”
I take the ring that holds the essence of the shedim queen along with the essence of every fallen shedim since. Enough power to close the rift, but it can only be wielded by a female shedim of royal blood, something that Ivor didn’t realize was possible until he discovered Cameron’s existence and something he’d hoped that he’d never have to use.
Only Cameron can wear the ring and release the power, and if the rift has only just begun to open, then she’ll be fine. But if the gray has begun to seep through, then…No. I can’t. I won’t think about that.
CHAPTER 43
CAMERON
The power holding me against the wall slackened, and I slipped free and fell to the floor. Around me, the energy streaming from the graynites dimmed. I summoned my beast, urging her to rise and loan me her strength, then ran at Ubron and shoved him with all my might.
He fell to the side, snapping free of the connection.
“It’s too late!” Yarrow called. “It’s done.” He continued to stand there, head tipped up, power streaming from his body.
If it was done, then why was he still channeling? No, there had to be time.
“Ubron? Serath?” I slapped his cheeks. “Wake up!”
He blinked, his gaze sharpening. “Cameron…”
“Ubron?”
“Yes. What happened?”
“He’s opening the rift. We have to stop him.”
Conflict chased across his features, and it hit me: the rift was his way home, and despite what he’d said about not wanting ourworld to be decimated, now that the rift was open, he had the option of leaving.
“Ubron…please help me save my people.”
He pulled himself to his feet and rolled his powerful shoulders. “His voice is weakening. I believe the more he channels, the less he can control us. Let’s wake up my brothers, and we will end him now, while he is weakest.”
He charged the nearest graynite, and I beelined for the other one. We snapped them out of the arcane circle one by one while Yarrow merely laughed, unconcerned.
“You’re wasting your time,” he said. “You can’t hurt me. No one can. Not anymore.” Dark tendrils of power snaked into the chamber from above and wrapped around him before seeping onto his skin to create a network of inky veins. “I’m ascending just as promised.”
The graynites, free from his spell, gathered. “No…” Ubron said. “This can’t be. Not here. Not again.”
