Page 106 of Crave Me
But I refused to stop.
I refused tosleep.
The bottom floor finally appeared, but there wasn’t a soul in sight. I tried to open my mouth, to call for someone. But I didn’t have enough air.
Keep going,I told my legs.
Only they bent and sent me tumbling down the last few steps instead. Everything spun, my back and head aching from slamming against the ground.
Get up,I commanded myself.Get up. Get up. Get up.
The magic seemed to be saying the same, its dull light flashing, begging me not to let this be my end. Yet I could feel…dirt…weighing me down.So heavy.
What is happening to me?
I swallowed, the taste of earth in my mouth.
This can’t be right.
Am I…?
I coughed, the sound foreign and unexpected and filled with… with…
I touched my lips, my fingers coming away withash.
None of this made any sense. It was like a nightmare more than a reality.Am I dreaming?
I closed my eyes again, only to reopen them to darkness. All around me. The scent of fresh earth infiltrated my nose. And a flicker of energy blinked above me.
My dying magic.I lifted my hand to touch it, my ash-colored skin an alarming quality in the night. I was too pale. Like a dying moon.
Impossible.
I closed my eyes again, waking up in the palace once more. It was like I was in two places at once.
My head spun, my mouth dry. It took physical effort to look out the window and find the night sky.
Heal me,I begged.Give me the strength to fix this.
The moon was not in an optimal position, the sky dark but not dark enough.
I swallowed again, my hand stretching toward the window as a trickle of energy slithered through the air toward me. Just enough stardust for me to ignite my phasing ability.
Outside, I thought.Take me outside.
I pictured the park behind the estate.
But that wasn’t what appeared around me.
A cemetery,I recognized almost immediately, the scents similar to the one in my dream. Or my reality. Or whatever that moment had been.
I ignored it all in favor of the moon, the hint of it still in the lingering night sky.
I inhaled, taking in as much energy as it could provide, and allowed it to chase the ice away from my limbs.
Except that weighted magic seemed to absorb it all in my next breath, that incessant energy sticking to my skin in invisible strands.
I growled, irritated by whatever enchantment had been woven over me. Overus. It was thick in the air, seeming to spread all over the city. But the source of its web was nearby.
