Faerie After by Janni Lee Simner

Author:Janni Lee Simner
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult, Speculative Fiction, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Published: 2013-05-28T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

There was fire in those talons, fire that burned deep as they dug into my shoulders, seeking muscle and bone. “Go—” My voice froze, just as my body did as I tried to beat the creature off. Emptiness swept through me, fire turning to ice as the owl’s paralyzing poison took hold. Wings flapped at the corners of my sight.

Footsteps scrabbled over stone. Allie stood before me, legs trembling, face glistening with sweat. Run, Allie. I couldn’t speak the words—any words—aloud.

She didn’t run. She reached for the owl on my back. There was a flash of silver light, brighter than any glowing stone, and the wings ceased their flapping.

Allie toppled backward. I tried to grab her, but my poisoned body wouldn’t move. Her shadow flickered out. Allie!

Motion blurred around me. Nearby, Elin. Farther off, some wild gray creature slower than the owl. I heard cloth tear as Elin pulled the owl from my shoulders and tossed it, lifeless, to the black stone. A gray muzzle nudged my face. Matthew. I couldn’t make my lips form his name. I couldn’t remember why it was so important that he come. He moved from me to nudge Allie, but she didn’t move. Elin crouched beside them.

Matthew threw back his head and howled. Caleb ran to his side, wearing an oilskin cloak and nylon pack. It was important that Caleb come, too. He knelt by Allie, his face grim, while Elin took the pack from his shoulders. He put his hands to Allie’s chest. Silver light bloomed, then flickered out as surely as her shadow had. Matthew whined. Caleb moved toward me. I saw his hands reach for my shoulders and back, felt a searing wave of fire. I found voice at last to scream as more silver flashed around me.

Numbness left my limbs, my thoughts. I rolled away from Caleb as the fire burned on. “Not me—Allie! It’s Allie who needs you!”

Caleb grabbed my wrists, flesh and stone, pulling me up to sitting. I fought him. Matthew gave a sharp bark.

“Liza!” Caleb didn’t let go. “If I do not heal you, you cannot call her back!”

His words washed over me like cold river water. Shadow. Allie had no shadow. Caleb couldn’t heal anyone without a shadow.

Only a summoner could call shadows back from the dead.

I slumped in his hold. Caleb returned his hands to my shoulders and back. Healing cold flowed through my wounds. Matthew leaned his head on my leg with a sigh. I dug my fingers into his ruff. There were orange leaves in his fur and a long scratch down one side of his nose.

Elin remained by Allie. Behind them, the first hints of gray touched the sky. “She killed the owl,” the weaver said. “To save you.”

There’s only two times it’s okay to kill with healing magic. When someone is in pain and when someone’s causing it. Allie had used her magic on the owl, the magic that had already made her so ill. She’d pushed too hard at last, and she’d— No.

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