Silver: The Lost Royal

| 17.5 |

"YOU don't even know where your... sister is," Jamie panted.

The loud rumble of thunder reverberated through the air, as the wind howled, slamming against the windows with a force that made them rattle in their frames.

The raging weather outside was a perfect reflection of the state of the living room.

Chairs and cushions were strewn about, their fabrics twisted and torn. Silver machinations from the depths of her creativity stabbed into anything and everything. A jagged block of ice protruded from the wall, along with many others, some splintered, some whole that stretched across the room, plunging the atmosphere tens of degrees below zero. As chaotic as it was, it stood as a perfect picture of their unwillingness to relent.

She should have been shaking down to her bones, but sweat threaded down her temple and made her hair cling to her neck in a tangled mess. The air was thick and cold, and every breath she took felt like a puncture of ice in her lungs.

"But you can find that out," she said between breaths.

"What makes you think I'm going to help you?"

"Look around Jamie. We can't keep going on at this. Kara and Elowen need us-"

"Gema and Marcela are handling it!"

"Have they contacted you since?"

The raging thunder above replaced the silence.

He sighed and ran his hand over his cropped hair, stopping it to scratch at the back. She prodded on when he said nothing.

"They could need your help, too."

He sighed in resignation. Enough of an act to tell her she had won the mental battle.

"Follow me."

Outside, the rain came down harder than she had ever known in Emerfield. Perhaps even the heavens knew things were changing, irrevocably.

They dashed toward the barn, and once their two feet were in, Jamie got to spell casting. She knew because of his hand movements and mutterings of foreign words.

In the next moment, a blue mist vaporized from his hands, merging and dancing in slow but certain motion before it solidified into a door.

The door stood alone in the middle of the barn with no wall beside it. His hard gaze met hers when he turned.

"Once we're there, you're going to do whatever I tell you to. You move when I say so, jump when I say so, and run when I say so. Is that clear?"

Her words failed her, so she could only nod.

The thunderbolts above didn't jolt her as much as before. Instead, her nerves welcomed it and somehow transmitted energy from it into her. The hairs on her skin stood at attention as he opened the door, and a portal of red and blue swirled in a ferocious endless chase around each other. Those colors were of him and Gema, and she assumed the door would take them to Gema. Jamie stepped in and she watched his body spin and disappear through it.

"Here goes nothing," she said as she put her leg through. Her feet sunk into nothing and her hands rose in a desperate attempt to steel herself but before she could let out a yelp, her feet touched the rock-solid floor.

In the next moment, a powerful explosion echoed around her, sending shockwaves through her body. A tremor rattled the floor, causing her to stumble and flail her hands in search of something to grab onto. The heavy scent of smoke hit her nostrils like a wave, causing her eyes to water. She heard someone beside her curse before they forcefully grabbed her hand and pulled her down into a crouched position.