Page 34 of Darkening Truth
“Stronger than should be possible, even for a goddess,” Hades replies. Looking at Rival, he asks, “Explain?”
“She recognises all of our magic, and so does her magic. In the state that she is in, she is more likely to respond to our magic than she is to respond to our words,” Rival explains.
“It makes sense,” Reaper agrees. “How do we do it? All at once, or one at a time?”
“I think all of our magic needs to be touching her at the same time, but the magic needs to connect to her one by one. If all of us suddenly connect to her, it could make her panic before she realises who we are. So one at a time, but no one lets go, does that make sense?” Rival suggests.
“Got it,” Storm shouts, and we all nod in agreement.
My intuition pings, it’s so fucking hard reading these mini visions when they aren’t really anything to do with us, except they are in a weird, connected way that I have to try to work out.
It’s a fucking good job that I’ve always loved puzzles, or this latest development with my visions would drive me insane.
“Khaos needs to connect to her first,” I announce. “After that, it doesn’t matter what order the rest of us connect to her magic. So long as it’s one at a time. Rival was right about that.”
The guys just nod and accept that I know something that they don’t, and honestly, it still fucking shocks me that they don’t question me or try to force me to tell them the reason why. They just believe me, and I love them for it.
“Me?” Khaos asks.
He’s not questioning me, but more questioning himself, since he’s not used to this new dynamic yet, and he doesn’t realise just how completely Farren now considers him hers, even if she doesn’t quite realise it herself yet.
Fortunately, this is one of my visions where I can tell them a bit more information than I usually can.
I nod, and then have to duck before I can answer. When I glance over at him, he grins, looking amused.
“Yes, you,” I tell him, and his amusement turns into an unsure expression, “your magic is the magic that she recognises the most in this situation. At her worst times, your magic brought her comfort, and it’s your magic that gives us the best chance of getting through to her now.”
Understanding and a healthy dose of determination fill his expression as he nods once, and he turns to look at Farren just as she lets out a long and horrific scream.
Khaos’ magic grows, and my eyebrows raise at just how much he has. Like Hades, he keeps it locked down most of the time, and although we saw a small part of what he is capable of, it’s clearly nowhere near his actual power level.
Even when he was angry as hell and thinking we were enemies when we first met him, and when he was kicking off a fuck ton of power when he was helping to save Farren and thought that she died, he was still somehow masking it. Just as I realise this, his power is once again masked, and I think that it might be an inbuilt thing into his magic, so that it just naturally does it.
When Khaos’ magic connects with Farren, her pain-filled expression momentarily changes to a beautiful smile that seems to knock the breath out of Khaos as he simply stares at her in awe.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t last very long as the claws of the dream seem to get purchase again and pull her back in. She whimpers and starts to mutter something that I can’t hear over the sound of the wind, but the urgency that I was already feeling soars to new heights as tears leak from her eyes.
Oh god.
“Kill, your turn,” Storm orders, a rasp in his voice, and his eyes tracking every tear that drips down her cheek.
Killian doesn’t hesitate. He gently joins his magic to hers, his shadows dancing around her, and some even breaking off to turn into a puppy that gently licks the tears as they fall.
“Loki, you’re next,” Storm orders.
Loki has his own tear tracking down his cheek as his magic rushes toward her, only slowing when it connects with hers.
One by one, Storm calls us all to connect our magic to hers, and when I connect mine, I can see why the others all look so horrified. I can feel the pain that she’s in, both physically and mentally, and it’s far more than most people could handle.
All of our magic works together in a way that it shouldn’t to soothe her and to try to bring her out of her nightmare.
Although having our magic connect to hers has seemed to help to a certain degree, she’s still trapped inside the nightmare, and feeling everything that the nightmare is making her remember.
A short sharp blast of a vision hits me and I have no idea if I’m reading it right, but I don’t think that we have much choice, her energy levels are dipping dangerously low, and unlike a normal dream, in this one if she dies in the dream, she’s going to die in reality and I can’t allow that to happen.
“We all need to flood her with a good portion of our magic at the same time, put all the emotions that we feel for her into it. It should be enough to break through the hold that the nightmare has on her.
“On the count of three,” Hades says.
