Page 58 of Evil Eyed
Land Beneath the Waves.
My stomach pitched again. My teeth jarred together at an abrupt stop. The guys gripped me harder, pressing in on me. I couldn’t see anything. Couldn’t think. My head throbbed, dozens of icepicks stabbing through my temples and eyes.
:We’ve fallen through another dimension,:Warwick yelled in my head.:Take us to the next layer before your eardrums explode.:
I wasn’t sure if it was me doing it or just the eye sucking us under. Dry, hot air blasted my face. I tried to open my eyes, but it was so fucking bright. Light everywhere, a punishing burning ceaseless sun that made my skin burn.
:Riannnnnnn!:Warwick’s voice seemed to come from eons away, even though I felt him right beside me.:Again!:
I staggered, bones aching. Crushing weight closed in, smashing us together. It moved around us, coiling tighter.
“We’ve got to shut the eye!” Doran rasped, his voice strained as if he heaved against an impossible weight, trying to lift the crushing coil off of me so I could breathe.
Again. Blistering cold, blowing snow, blue and white everywhere I looked.
Again. Darkness so black that I couldn’t see anything at all, but something like rough bark dug into my cheek.
Again.
“Close the eye!” Doran roared louder. “Riann, love, you’ve got to close it!”
:All the dimensions of space and time are yours to command,:Boss Man’s voice echoed in my head.
That had to be a lie. I wasn’t doing anything to flicker through these dimensions other than struggle to breathe and keep my feet. I certainly wasn’t commanding anything.
:All worlds, all magic, flow through the eye,:Boss Man said.:Myeye.:
Lights flashed and flickered, worlds coming and disappearing in rapid succession. Distant planets and stars. Places of mythology and folklore. Pyramids and towers, massive world trees and secret pools, deep seas and barren wasteland.
:They all fall to me eventually.:
The flickering images finally stopped. Panting, I tried to calm my pounding heart. My bones hurt and I tasted blood. I couldn’t feel the guys around me. I couldn’t feel anything outside of my body at all. No injury. No wounds. Nothing.
Am I dead?
:Don’t even fucking think such a thing.:Aidan’s voice cut through the fog around me. But why did he sound so far away? :You’re not dead. I forbid it. Do you fucking understand me?:
“See my eye in all its terrible glory,” Boss Man said, this time aloud.
The words echoed as if we were in a deep chamber or cave. Light slowly grew around me, illuminating a silvery floor that stretched in all directions. I couldn’t see any walls or ceiling above, but it felt deep like a well. An endless well that went on forever at the lowest foundations of the earth.
I stood alone on a round, flat medallion set in the silvery floor. I turned, frantic, looking for the guys. A way out. But there was nothing to see. No walls to climb. No doors to break open. No locks.
My heart tried to burst through my ribcage.:I can’t get out. I’m trapped. Doran!:
:You’re not alone,:Doran rumbled through me, settling some of my panic.:We still hold you in Dún Bhalair.:
I couldn’t feel them, though. I couldn’t feel their arms around me, their bodies against me.
:Come back to us.:Keane’s voice curled through me, stirring my hunger. Reminding me of his gift.
:We shine for you alone,:Ivarr added.
:What does it look like?:Warwick asked.:Is Evil Eye with you?:
:Yes and no.:I wasn’t cold, but my teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.:I hear him but I don’t see him.:
:It’s an illusion,:Warwick replied.:It’s one of his tricks. You still stand with us in Dún Bhalair. Do you still have the hag stone?:
