“No!” I shoved myself into motion, arms outstretched as the baby screamed in fear. I hit the floor front first, eyes closed from the impact and stretching forward. My hands were empty. An awful thump echoed through me, and I curled up in heartache. I had jumped too short. I had missed. Knowing what I’d find, I opened my eyes, tears blinding me as I gathered up the silent, limp baby and stood, my knees shaking in anger.

“You will behave, Rachel, or you learn obedience from the back of my hand,” Ku’Sox seethed.

The baby was dead, and I held him, rocking him and aching inside. “Now you’ve done it,” I said, voice low and threatening. Trent had been right. The baby had been dead the moment Nick had stolen him. “You will account for yourself,” I intoned, shaking as I felt a tweak on my thoughts.

“Who will force me? You?” Ku’Sox snarled, his hand reaching for me hazed with power dripping to hiss on the floor.

The lines echoed in my head as Bis landed on my shoulder, and I gasped when their jagged existence flooded my mind.

“No!” Ku’Sox screamed, but it was too late, and I sobbed as the line took me, the harsh caw of the demon replaced with the howling discord of the broken lines. I deserved the ragged edges cutting at my soul. It was only because of the baby that I bubbled my thoughts against their burning haze as I wept.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Rachel?

I thought it odd that a kid who had skin as hard as stone had thoughts as soft as silk, and they slid into mine without resistance. Depressed, I gathered my awareness, not wanting Bis to know how broken I felt, listening to the line screaming around us with a curious detachment.

Rachel, can you bubble this resonance for me? he said meekly, and I let him further into my mind, aching as the line seemed to burn and shift to a harsh orange-green glitter with sparkles. If we can set this song in the line we’re going to, then it won’t hurt so bad.

Bis was in pain, and that galvanized me. Sealing my heartache behind a thick wall, I sent my thoughts deeper into the chaos of the ever-after, finding the resonance he colored for me and bubbling it.

Shift us to this . . . Bis prompted, showing me a shimmery gray and green.

Mentally rocking myself, I did. A ping of rightness went through me. It was as if a tiny wail softly subsided, finding peace in the storm streaming around me. Hesitating in my misery, I caught back a sob, remembering the baby in my arms. Bis?

Bis’s emotion next to mine was clearer, and he sighed. Thank you, it will be easier to jump now. He hesitated, then added, Sorry about the headache.