I looked up at Graff with a sinister look on his face and the barrel of a gun pointed at Fletcher’s head.
I screamed, body blinking in and out like a glitch until I teleported between Fletcher and the gun.
“Yes, Ripley! Our princess cannot be associated with this piece of garbage! I’m saving you from a life with aCidris, a thief, a monster. You might not see it now, but I’m savingallof Elizy.”
“Graff!” I warned, willing the tears to stay buried in my chest so I could continue to have clear vision.
“I tried to keep you from being at this mission to spare you seeing this.” He rolled his eyes. “What is it with you and him—”
I hadn’t heard much of what he said. The image of the gun aiming at Fletcher’s head—at my chest—was enough anger to jolt my split awake and propelled me into survival mode. Unfathomable power coursed through me. It flooded my body in torrents of uncontrolled energy. My arms were enveloped in black-and-sapphire-patterned veins that branched out like a malignant disease. Every path it trekked over my body burned in white-hot trails as a blood-curdling scream released from my chest just before my vision was engulfed with a crystalized hailstorm of obsidian icicles. Violent streaks of magic ignited along my skin that were outlined with a ruinous shade of Fletcher’s violet magic.
In the wake of my infernal scream, the ground shook aggressively. Graff was knocked off his feet, his body tumbling helplessly to the ground. There was a thunderous crack that rang with deadly intent.
My eyes trained on the ground beneath where he lay as I jerked my hand out, glittering magic threadingthrough it like the tangles of vines I stood upon. I released it with expert control and perceived loveliness. The ground beneath Graff split in two.
“Ripley!” Graff pleaded with an overtone of mercy.
But it only amused me as I tilted my chin down, and tauntingly said, “Bye.” A new roar escaped my lips as the fracture grew wider, into an abyss. The rocky walls glowed an inferno rouge and the depths radiated of a boiling heat.
Graff slipped between the widening crack then reemerged as bright lava bubbled to the surface, swallowing him whole.
A smile tugged at the edges of my mouth. Burn. Burn, my lovely.
My eyes lifted to the Cidris Facility to see licks of yellow flames breaking through the top of the cliff it was embedded in, and suddenly, everything was right. I opened more of the ground, letting it crack into the entrance of the facility and farther still. I laughed as I let the lava spring from the crevice, catching fire to all its surroundings.
However, I wanted to ensure there was no escape for any Cidris remaining. I willed my magic to intensify—to not only boil the inside of the facility with lava but also to bring down its ceiling. Rootscracked at the top of the cliff as it separated in two with a satisfying crack. Trees above buckled and snapped as they hurtled into the chasm, falling onto the facility. The ground rocked as the divide split wider apart and buried the facility in ash and roots and rubble.
“Ripley!”
Fletcher screaming my name in that raw, guttural tone sent my split magic running scared to the corners of my mind. Both his and my magic rose with overwhelming presence as my head whipped over my shoulder to see him on all fours, crawling away from lava oozing toward him.
I gasped as I raced to him, touched his arm, and was finally successful at breaking us apart with the wind.
It was a long moment and six tries before Aldris’s house surrounded us. I hovered over him on the floor of the front door as Aldris, Mirin, and Rosaanne came running to Fletcher’s side.
“I saw! I’m glad you found him!” Rosaanne screamed. “I tried teleporting him away, but I didn’t know where he landed. Is he okay?”
“Give him your blood!” I screamed at Rosaanne. “Heal him! Please!”
“Ripley,” Mirin chimed sadly. “That doesn’t work on other Elizians.”
I knew that somewhere deep within me already. That was why Fletcher’s zigzag scar over his temple never healed completely after drinking my blood. But I thought maybe non-royal blood would somehow be better. This meant there was only one way I could save him.
My hands darted to the gaping wound in his torso first. Tones of aqua dashed down my arms toward my fingertips. Release, release,release!
“Aldris!” Fletcher roared as an order to get me away from him.
“No!” I barked. “They will take care of me in Elizy. Let me do this.” Then, my body suddenly detonated every ounce of my magic into Fletcher. A torrential explosion of raw power fled my body with merciless force. And before I could be certain that I had taken his fatal wound, the world spun, and spun, and spun and turned to oblivion.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
There. Glittering in the distance… I could see it. It was both tangible and elusive. It smelled of ocaberries and spices. Of both me and Fletcher. The two entities twisted around each other in perfect harmony. My aquas mixing with his lilacs. And they pulsed in unison as the feeling entangled me in an enthralling joy. This was me. This was him. This wasus. Our magic was one. And it was mine to keep. Just like Fletcher had always said.
There was an undercurrent that towed me closer to its gentle shimmer and a soft tinkling sound vibrated from it, filling my soul with joy and laughter. Its delicate chimes held the memories of us when we were young, of me in the tower, of our reunion and our hardships. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way. A whimsical wonder soothed this tranquil limbo in ways I wanted to sleep in forever. Because our magic was protecting me from the inside out. And now, we could be… together… forever.Thiswas where I wanted to stay. This was where I was needed. To watch over this magic. But more importantly, to decide if it was to be donated to an Elizian without magic if I wanted to.
Love enveloped me. I was no longer in need of magic because I was beyond. As I marveled at it, I smiled, knowing I did not want this perfect union between Fletcher and me to dissipate into nothing. Knowing very well there was one person who would keep it safe.
