Abandon by Analeigh Ford

Author:Analeigh Ford [Ford, Analeigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-20T16:00:00+00:00

18

Octavia

Touch and feeling for Earth. Concentration for Psychic. The potion still pounding in my veins for Ritual. Where before, ever since the night of Homecoming, I have been unable to call forth my Time Magic, today it works.

The knob is so small between my fingers that I can barely feel it—but I know the moment it turns and catches. For a second, there is only a quiver—the faintest movement that, if I stare too long, I can’t see at all. But then I push a little harder. I feel a surge inside me as my boys turn to watch, their power running into me as well.

Then I begin feel a slight vibration as the gears inside begin turning, and with it, so do the hands of the clock. They spin quickly at first, the little moons shifting and phasing through time until they match up with where we now lie. Tiny dots of light appear inside, suspended within the crystal in tiny, glowing constellations.

I am sure that if I were in the real world and looked up into the night sky, the same stars that I see reflected here in the glass would be overhead.

From somewhere infinitely deep inside the watch, begins the faintest ticking sound.

It was beautiful before, but now it is breathtaking.

I run one finger across the edge, feeling the rune-marked edges. I don’t dare push any of them yet. The watch doesn’t exactly come with an instruction manual for its use, so there is no telling what would happen if I pressed one of them.

But Michael has no such qualms.

The young mage reaches out, and in a frantic bid to stop him, I accidentally press one of the buttons on the side myself.

I freeze, waiting for something terrible to inevitably begin. I feel a draw at my powers…but the world does not fall apart around me. No one screams. No one faints. Pain does not tear out the magic from within me.

In fact, no one does anything at all.

All the world is suddenly silent.

The distant drone of students muttering ritual incantations, the scrape of feet on the cement floor, even the muted hum of breath—that is the first thing that I realize is missing. No air moves to press against my cheeks. I open my mouth to breathe, and though air rushes into my lungs, when I exhale something seems not quite right—like the moment that same breath leaves my body it hangs suspended before me, waiting.

Michael’s hand still touches the watch’s dial in my hand, but his fingers do not so much as twitch. When I lower my hand, and the watch with it, his hand remains firmly in place—just hovering there. My eyes flit over to his face.

It is blank. No registered shock or surprise. Sweat is still smeared across his pale skin, catching like little dewdrops in the light. Standing here like this, unmoving, he looks even younger than before.

But that is not what makes panic rise up in me.

It is, instead, the look on Draven, Cedric, and Kendall’s faces when my gaze falls on them.

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