Yanking my head up toward the voice, I searched the dark furiously as tears dribbled down my cheeks.My bone was going to snap, the pressure rising, and from down the endless tunnel of shadow, Caleb came into focus.
He launched himself toward me, and I held up my free arm, shielding myself as I screamed.“Don’t break my arm!Stop!”
Sweat collected on my forehead and the back of my neck, and then hands hauled me to my feet before one settled over my wrist, mumbling some Latin I didn’t have the awareness to understand right now.The pain stopped, though, and I desperately scanned the area around me, landing on the Caleb that stood before me.
“Are you real?”
“I’m real.”Caleb nodded, his eyebrow bleeding over his left eye.“Have you seen Lizzie?”
I shook my head, a sob tearing free as I cradled my arm against my chest.“No.I was trying to tell you not to turn around, and then I was just alone.Please don’t leave me again.”
The words came out like the terrified plea they were, and Caleb furrowed his brow, his lips parting gently as he pulled me to his chest, smoothing his hand down the back of my head.
“I won’t.Fuck, I’m so sorry, Temperance.We never should have come here.We weren’t prepared.”
“It was my idea.I was just…I was so nervous about the soul weaving, and—”
“We can talk about it later.”Caleb held my shoulders as he looked down at me, then eyed the tunnels of shadow around us.“We need to find Lizzie.”
All I could do was nod.But then I heard it—a scream.
It was just on the other side of the glass, and without thinking, I flung myself toward it, pounding my fists on the frozen surface.
“Lizzie!”Pound, pound, pound.“Lizzie!”
Caleb grabbed my shoulder, putting me behind him even as I fought to get back to the glass.But he was damn strong, and I had to watch as he held up his hand to the mirror, meeting his smirking reflection in the eye as the image began to waver and shake.
“I’m done with this shit.”The vibrations rumbled enough so I felt them in the floor, staring in disbelief as the air in front of Caleb’s hand appeared to ripple with invisible force.“Lizzie, if you can hear me, stand back from the glass!”
The thundering wobble of the mirror crescendoed, so loud that I had to cover my ears, and then the glass in front of Caleb shattered, pieces flying in all directions as he turned and huddled over me, protecting me from the shrapnel.For all the noise, the room was suddenly quiet, and little shards of mirror tumbled off me as I hurried to look at the empty space where Caleb had broken through the maze.
Lizzie was lying on the floor.I rushed to her, glass crunching beneath my feet and then digging into my knees as I knelt by her.
“Lizzie.”I shook her gently, sliding my hand under her head.“Lizzie, come on.”
But she wasn’t answering, tiny cuts on her face as she lay in my lap, unmoving.Caleb was there in a blink, putting his fingers to Lizzie’s neck and checking for a pulse.My stomach was a useless jumble of knots as I shook my head.
She can’t be dead.She can’t.
“Unconscious, but we need to get out of here.Hold on.”Caleb’s word offered some relief, but Lizzie was still out, and how the hell were we going to get out of the tent when it was obviously some extraplanar realm?
Pointing up at the ceiling, Caleb sent those vibrations up, up, up.His leather jacket was marred with little slices on the back, and his other hand was bleeding now, the tiny red trail leaking down the side of his palm.There were too many lights up there, too much glass.If he broke through again, we’d be torn to shreds.
“Caleb, I don’t…the glass…”
“Grab my hand and hold the fuck on.”He focused like a laser on the room until it tore and cracked like the mirror wall, a curtain of broken fragments hurtling down toward us.But just behind, clear as day, if not very big, was a view of the sky.
And just like that, he whisked out of there, me clinging to his bloody hand and my unconscious girlfriend.
Eighteen- And In The Time Of Darkness Rises A Soul Made Two, Bound & Everlasting
Caleb
Welandedbackinmy office, Temperance and Lizzie spilling out across the floor as I hit it hard with my knees.It had hardly been the most precise bit of magic I’d ever done.I was still ringing like a damned tuning fork as I braced myself on my hands and knees, breathing as if I were sucking in tar.The world around me wobbled, only dim fragments of what I was seeing making any sense.
Yes, I knew we’d made it back to my office, but my skin, my being, still felt off.I wasn’t sure if I was going to vomit or pass out.I had no time for either.
Hauling myself across the floor, I searched for where Lizzie had landed, with Temperance no doubt holding her tight.My eyes burned as they tried to focus, and as they did, I found gray flecks marring my vision.The debris from the ceiling and mirrors must have scratched my glasses.I could think about that later.Right now, I needed to stabilize Lizzie.
