Page 73 of To Crave Madly
“Holy shit,” I gasped as the rest of my arm vanished into shadow as well. It didn’t completely disappear. I could still see my limb, but it looked like a wisp of shadow.
“Oh my stars,” Elissa exclaimed. “Your arm has disappeared.”
“You mean you can’t see it at all?” I said, wonder lacing my voice.
“Nope. It’s completely gone. Well, I never…”
I laughed as I turned my shadow cloaked limb over and looked at it from all angles. We’d done it. We’d managed to get in touch with my magic side and I now knew I could actually do magic. The shadow crept along my arm and down my leg.
Wait. I didn’t want it to do that.
“Elissa, how do I stop it?” Panic started to run riot through me as I watched more of my body disappear. The buzzing in my ears intensified and I felt the electric current spark along my skin.
“Lori, you need to calm down. Just breathe.”
Easy for her to say. She wasn’t watching her body disappear. Oh my god.
I shook my arm, hoping that might get the shadow off me, but I realised I wasn’t wrapped in the shadow. I wasbecomingit.
Elissa pulled me out of the shadow and yelped when a fork of lightning jumped from me to her. Shit.
Static electricity crackled in the air. That ridiculous buzzing was pounding in my ears. Oh, god. It was so loud.
“You need to calm down, Lori.”
I couldn’t. My heart raced frantically. I looked at Elissa and fear wrapped its icy hand around my spine.
“Elissa, help me!”
I could feel something building in me. The crackles in the air grew louder.
Oh, no. the last time this happened, I—
“Get back!” I shouted, throwing my hand out to warn Elissa. But I was too late.
Magic exploded from me. Lightning burst from my fingertips and the force of the explosion threw my arms wide. Wind whirled around me, throwing Elissa from her feet and across the other side of the room where she collapsed in a heap, unmoving. All the light bulbs popped as my magic surged through the room, throwing it into darkness, and a scream was ripped from my throat as I felt more energy flood my system.
Shit. How was I supposed to stop it?
I couldn’t think… couldn’t…
Wait.
“Torsten!” I shouted. I just hoped the shadow mark was still working. I didn’t know how long it was supposed to last and Torsten said it needed reapplying every so often.
A swirl of shadow appeared in front of me and materialised into the shape of my Shadow Fiend.
Thank fuck.
“Lori!” I saw the fear cross his eyes as he took in the scene in front of him. I was unnaturally suspended on my tiptoes in the centre of an electrical storm. He’d said my name. My Shadow Fiend had finally used my given name and it was filled with fear and anguish. It was definitely not how I expected my name to ever cross his lips.
“Save me,” I whimpered. The pain running through me was immense. It felt like my magic was trying to rip me apart from the inside out. Every muscle was taut, stretched to breaking point as my magic sought to destroy it.
There was so much pain. Tears fell silently down my cheek. I didn’t want to die. I wasn’t ready. Was this what Fenris had meant when he talked about late manifestations? Was I going to burn out?
I wish I’d never asked about stupid shadow mages.
Torsten placed his hands on my face. His jaw clenched and I could tell that whatever was happening to me was causing him pain too.
