Vonetta gasped. My eyes flew open. A silvery glow crept along the walls of the cavern. Kieran pitched forward, reaching into the tear as strings of light lifted Vonetta. He grasped his sister’s hand, pulling her up as I pulled the eather toward me. Emil let go, scuttling back on his belly as Kieran and Vonetta collapsed to the side.

Letting out a ragged breath, I pulled the eather back toward me as I sank against Casteel. The radiance retreated and then disappeared.

“Are you okay, Netta?” Casteel demanded.

“Peachy.” Vonetta rolled onto her back, breathing heavily. She tilted her head back toward Casteel and me. “That…that felt weird.”

“You could feel it?” I asked.

“Yeah, it felt…warm and tingly.” She dragged her arm over her forehead. “Thank you. All of you.”

“How did you do that?” Casteel asked as Emil stood.

“I pictured it. Like you said.” My heart still hadn’t slowed. “And I just hoped it didn’t…you know, break her bones.”

Vonetta halted in the process of rising, her gaze finding mine in the dim firelight. “You didn’t know if it wouldn’t do that?”

“No,” I admitted sheepishly.

She put her hands on her hips. “Gods, I think I need to lay down again.”

Chapter 40

We traveled on, wary of the stability of the tunnel. Again, it felt as if we continued on for a small eternity, but the sudden and familiar scent of lilac sent a bolt of hope through me. Pressing through the narrow turn, a pinprick of light appeared in the darkness.

We had reached the end of the tunnel and Iliseeum.

“Mist,” Casteel announced. “I can see it coming through the opening.”

I tapped his shoulder when he didn’t move. “Cas.”

He growled low in his throat but flattened himself against the wall, holding the torch high. As I passed him, I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

“That doesn’t help,” he grumbled.

I would’ve smiled, but I saw it—tendrils of thick mist seeping into the opening in the tunnel, drifting toward us. I moved forward, sending up a prayer that Jasper had been right about my ability to pass through the mist and that my suspicion that it would not only allow me to do so but also scatter, making it safe for the others, was true.

The Primal magic rose from the floor of the cavern, forming wispy fingers as it stretched out toward me. I lifted my hand.

“I don’t like this,” Casteel muttered from behind me.

“It shouldn’t hurt her,” Kieran reminded him, but concern bled into his words.

The mist brushed against my skin, the feel of it cool and damp and alive. The eather retracted, lowering to the ground and then disappearing.

I exhaled roughly, looking over my shoulder. “It’s okay.”

Casteel nodded, and I moved ahead. The opening wasn’t all that large, only about three feet high and two feet wide. “You’ll have to crawl through.”