Gemini

Chapter 26* The Secret

I call upon myself. Mentally sifting through the thousands of foreign powers, it is not a long time before I find me hovering beside a tree a small way from the others. The moment I acknowledge its presence, it zooms towards me, halting right in front of my chest. Slowly, slowly, it passes through the shift. I feel an unexplainable warmth stealing through me, warming my iced skin, thawing my insides.

But then something reaches into me, something foreign and invasive, and snatches my soul back out.

Instantly, I feel as though I have been dunked in icy cold water. My hands grow cold, the warmth fades, and I just feel empty. In a wild state of panic, I open my senses again, and pull my soul back in. And then there it is, a little pinprick of blackness no larger than a snowflake, holding back my soul.

Ariadne. I watch as my soul tries to struggle free, fruitless and feeble. I can’t do anything! Outrage and helplessness burn through me as I watch the struggle. I need my soul to get back.

As I watch, a little burst of flame ignites between the two struggling pinpricks of light. A massive pain erupts in my chest, and I stumble back. The fire. It is consuming my soul.

Ash fills my throat. I cannot breathe. The black spark grows larger, malicious energy rolling off it in palpable waves. It is feeding off my soul. I try to suck in a breath and find that I can’t. My limbs grow sluggish and heavy. I watch the black light grow in size.

And I pass out.

A yank of a chain had Gemini spinning around.

Back on the table, Kayla’s eyes had snapped open. The brown was empty and vacant, yet there was a sort of fear in them, like something behind was struggling to get out. Several blood vessels popped, and her eyes turned a frightening red. Froth bubbled up around her lips, and blood began spurting down her nose.

“Shit,” Gemini swore. “Shit!” Sam rushed over, and shouted for him to do something, anything, and Gemini wrung his hands.

“I can’t do anything,” he growled. “The Laws of the Void prevents me from going in there to save her.”

“What’s happening?” Sam demanded, looking on the verge of tears. His hand was tightly wound around Kayla’s, his body hunched over hers as though to protect her.

“Ariadne is devouring her soul. In a few minutes she will have no more soul, and she will never return.”

“Don’t just sit there and do nothing!” Sam bellowed, and Gemini nearly exploded with rage. How could the boy think he was doing nothing, when he was doing everything? Who made it possible for them to even have a chance of saving Kayla? Him! Who made all the spells and mumbo-jumbo to keep them safe? Him! Who purposely didn’t attack them in the caves? Him!

Sam started to cry, grinding his palms into his eyes and caving in on himself as he shuddered with tears. His entire body was shaking uncontrollably, the hand holding Kayla’s white and bloodless. To heck with that, his face was bloodless.

“There is one way!” Gemini shouted suddenly. It had only occurred to him, but it would have to work. “You could go in and save her! It would work because you’re not a god!”

Sam’s head snapped up. “Do it!” he almost roared. Gemini scrambled to the rows of vials in a moment of most un-godliness, and grabbed a crystal phial and another one made of polished chalcedony.

“Drink both,” he gasped. Sam didn’t wait, only snatched the two bottles and drained them in one gulp. There was a moment as they stood staring at each other, and Gemini was about to say it wouldn’t work, when Sam disappeared, body and all.