Page 86 of By the Moonbeam and the Mist
I waited until Steeler’s thoughts hit me…
You look especially beautiful whenever you’re determined like this.
…andsnatchedat it.
The thought flowed through my mental fingers like the light of a sunset.
“Dammit,” I hissed.
“Try again.”
Now his internal thoughts came at me louder, a chuckle rumbling throughout the dark, fathomless texture of them.
Look at that little pout.
I snatched and missed again.
Pushing out your lip just because you didn’t get what you wanted the first time. That’s so cute.
Oh, hell no.
I struck, pinning that thought between both my mental palms like a trapped mouse. It wiggled and squirmed, but I held tight.
Steeler cleared his throat. “Now use my chain of thoughts like a rope to pull yourself toward me. Grab at each thought the deeper you go.”
I pulled myself forward, my physical body still standing at the top of the lighthouse while my mind dove inward and latched onto…
God of the Cosmos,Coen was thinking beneath the surface,she’s scary good at this for her first time.
I pulled myself forward again, feeling as if I was actually floating toward those eyes of smoky quartz even though my feet were still firmly planted on the floor.
This isn’t normal,came his next thought beneath that one, tinged with awe and maybe a little worry.This isn’t normal for her to be so stellar at a second power so soon.
I pulled myself forward, deeper and deeper into a darkness so alive and rich that I almost forgot to breathe, until I felt the layers of it give way around me and I was clutching onto a final thought of his.
She’s the one.
Then my mind broke into his, and I landed with a thump onto the moon.
Or, at least, that’s what it looked like: glowing and bone-white.
When I planted my hands against the ground, though, it felt smoother and warmer than I would have imagined the surface of one to be. And anactualmoon floated overhead, filled to thebrim with light that illuminated Steeler’s mind—the void circling it, and the colossal marble gate guarding the maze that stretched before me.
There was no sunrise here. Only distant stars.
“Like what you see?”
Steeler had appeared in front of his gate, arms crossed and eyes narrowed as he watched me make a slow, unfaltering stand.
“I can’t say I’m surprised.” I smoothed out the wrinkles in my dress. “Of course your mind would mimic your innate magic.”
For that’s what this place reminded me of: the darkness Steeler dragged me through every time he Walked. A void he managed to breathe energy and life and stars into.
I took a step toward him. Toward his gate and the mist beyond.
“How do I get through?”
Steeler adjusted his stance, as if preparing to chase me away.
