Concealed (Unbound, Book 4)

Chapter Twenty-One

Back and forth, back and forth.

Finally, the bind snapped, spreading wide into the air before disappearing.

The next bind fell to the ground like silk, then burst as dust in the air.

Beads of sweat popped onto my forehead and along my spine, running down to follow the line of bony bumps.

Three down.

Four dismantled.

Five.

Six.

I sucked in a deep breath and exhaled, pausing as I tried to breathe without inhaling the smoke scissors upon ribbon generated. No matter how many times I swallowed, my tongue tasted ash and my throat burned. I could still feel Calin behind me, the heat of my body attracted to the warmth of his, and I could feel the breeze around me cooling the effects.

A few moments passed.

I imagined the scissors back in the fire being heated like a brandishing iron.

When I pulled them out again and opened my eyes, I saw Maible's light shine bright as though I'd taken away some of the shadows hiding who she really was. It gave me renewed purpose, and I began to saw.

The next three binds were easier, and I assumed they were the newest.

There was no order to their creation, they criss-crossed too much to determine when each was enacted. I felt that the ones that were harder to break were the strongest. They'd been there so long that the binds had merged with a part of Maible. I couldn't fathom how she wasn't crying out in pain. If it was even a tenth of what I'd felt when my binds had broken the last time, I'd be a puddle on the floor, but Maible remained still.

When I reached the twelfth bind, I took another break to heat the imaginary scissors once more. The muscles in my brain were telling my arms they were tired. My breathing grew shallow and I wiped the sweat from my brow as it dripped into my eyes, the salt stinging. I took another deep breath and bit my lip as I continued.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

I exhaled, coughing, and bent to rest my hands on my knees, dragging in shallow breaths to ease the constriction in my chest.

It felt like I had run a triathlon or... I didn't know.

I hadn't ever done something this exhausting.

Even when I'd stripped Duvessa and her family, it hadn't been this strenuous. This was nausea-inducing, I-need-to-lay-with-one-hand-on-the-floor-and-one-on-my-head-in-order-to-stop-the-swaying, torture.

There was only two more left.

I couldn't do it.

Standing straight, I felt myself sway, and I held my arms at my sides in order to steady myself. Unconsciously, I took a small step back, stopping when I felt Calin behind me without having to make contact. I forced myself to take a few deeper, calming breaths, and looked at Maible, blinking against the light now radiating from within her. The gold held a tinge of red, creating a kaleidoscope of color as it was met with the natural light of the clearing and the blue-white fire.

I licked my lips and took the scissors from the fire, and I attacked the sixteenth bind.

It fell within seconds, black tendrils once again hissing into the air above Maible.

I moved to the final bind from the memory of where I'd last seen it, the light too consuming to see through. Once again, my mind was telling my arms they were too tired to continue to saw, and I felt as though I was at the bottom of a twelve-foot pool trying to bring a fifty-pound weight from the floor with the use of my pinky.

It was impossible.

I closed my eyes and all around me were purple bubbles.

I blinked but couldn't keep my eyes open.

When they closed, the bubbles were there again, a voice humming a foreign name in the background that I couldn't quite hear through my water clogged ears. Slow at first, the bubbles intensified. I felt them pop against my skin as they raced to gather under my feet. My lungs were bursting but I knew if I took a breath, I would find air.

My mother's face flashed in front of me.

I gasped.

Suddenly, the bubbles grouped beneath me. They thrust me upward. I soared through the water until I broke the surface, then flew into the air. My eyes widened as I began to fall.

Just before I met the surface of the water, the clearing came back into focus.

I teetered.

There was but a string left.

It was too much. Losing my footing, I stumbled back and felt Calin's hands grasp my shoulders, keeping me from falling.

With one last burst of energy, I cut through the final thread.

A flash of light blinded me and then everything went blacker than the dusk that had settled as the sun set.