Towers [BOOK ONE]

Chapter Fifty-Two

I saw fire and starlight, and the night was torn in two by a terrible, thunderous roar. Everything trembled. Time—what was time? It was water, and I was drowning in it.

A shimmer in the gloom, the brush of an angel's wing. I am not falling. I was caught, carried, cradled by a pair of arms.

"Are you all right, Songbird?"

"I—I'm fine." Then I whacked him on the shoulder. "Don't ever do that again!"

He laughed. From above, Ash rained crimson magic down upon us, but the air over our heads was like impenetrable glass. "No promises."

I glanced down at the cliff's edge. Softly, I asked, "Can you see them? Are they safe?"

"See for yourself." My vision sharpened, and the world grew a shade lighter. There! Alive, all four of them—that was more than I'd dared to hope for. Rapunzel lay on the ground, her hair hiding her face. I covered my mouth with my hands as I realized—"Jasper, Vang's fighting Caleb!"

The commander's sword flashed like a deadly white viper. Caleb held only a dagger. Even he can't win that battle. "We have to go back. We can't leave them!"

There was a terrible, shuddering crash. Jasper and I looked up with round eyes. The shield above us warped and flickered, and torrents of scarlet poured over the sides, like rain over a parasol.

"Time to go," said Jasper. With a hand, he parted the blood-red waterfall and dove through. I didn't look behind; I knew Ash would follow us.

He wasn't going to give up.

I turned my head, anxiously watching the fight at the chasm's brink. Channing was holding Lily back. Melody knelt by her mother's prostrate form, desperate and afraid. I was shocked to realize that not only could I see farther, but I could also hear her voice—quiet and distant, but still distinct. "Don't worry," she was saying. "It's okay, it'll be okay. Stay still. I won't leave you. I'm here, Mother."

Vang attacked with renewed strength, sparks flying as his blade collided with Caleb's. Caleb's arms shook. He was weakening. He can't win. He can't win.

Caleb's arm buckled. The knife fell from his grasp. Time slowed.

Vang stabbed him in the stomach. The blade slid right through him.

"No!" I screamed. I couldn't breathe. I heard a high voice weeping—Lily's or mine? "Caleb!"

He crumpled. Vang's sword shone scarlet. Music surrounded me, coming like an echo from somewhere deep within my mind.

Chaos, motion, silence.

"Jasper, we have to go back." I was sobbing, crying too hard to see. "We have to go back, we have to help him, please!"

Without a word, he steeled himself and blasted Ash backwards with an enormous gust of wind. He shot into the distance like an arrow from a bow, and the white spot of his cloak vanished. Turning, Jasper dove.

I'd never moved so fast before. We were at the very cusp of the sky, unimaginably high up, and as we fell like a stone, I felt my face going numb. I fought to put a trembling hand to my cheek. My fingers came away tipped with blood.

Caleb.

No, no...please, no.

If he died, I'd never forgive myself.

We fell. I felt cold inside, and then I felt nothing at all.

Vang was stepping forward, his sword gripped in one hand. Caleb didn't rise. He's going to kill him. "This can't be happening. This can't be happening."