Derive by Jamie Magee Page A

could peer out the oval window in my sitting room. With the millions of thoughts racing through my head, the regret of not putting more passion behind that bleak kiss or gazing more longingly into her eyes slammed into me. For all I knew, I would never see her again.
    Seneca pounded on my door, and I pulled her in so she could watch Skylynn. After securing the door, I glanced over my shoulder to see that Skylynn had rushed after me.
    “It’s okay. Stay right here. Trust me,” I said as I vanished, not sure how many of my words she’d actually heard. I took comfort in the fact that if she did create another porthole, Seneca would follow. That someone would know exactly where she was—not that I couldn’t feel her as if she were next to me. Her energy had elevated me. I knew it had. I moved far too fast, thought my actions out before I understood them.
    I could not fathom how or why we could have been breached again, who would have dared to cross that sea—especially knowing the fate of Cashton and his sister. More had happened in the last few days at the palace of The Selected than had ever happened in my lifetime.
    My vim soared me to the shores. I was the first to arrive. The first to witness betrayal—this treason.
    Camlin was on the shore. I was seriously questioning how long Skylynn and I had been lost in one another at that point. I had no idea how he could have made it back here so swiftly.
    I watched his hand drop the thread of energy that connected Guardian to our reality. I saw The Fall ripped open, against its will, without the balance of the sun and moon.
    The waters were bubbling, the ground was rumbling, and that fool Camlin looked like a child who had just heard his first ghost story, with wide eyes, open mouth, and a trembling stance.
    “What did you do!” I bellowed as my eyes searched the waters. Even though they were violent, the ice circles remained intact.
    Darkness was invading. Shirking beings that had no hope of ever taking a corporeal form were racing through the water. I had no way of knowing if Guardian ’s line of energy were broken or whole, if this fool Camlin was indeed strong enough to pull him violently from the life Guardian was living within.
    I had to dive, and did so with my next stride. I had plowed a path through the dark abyss, killing every damned soul I passed, trying to reach the vine of energy that connected to Guardian. Seconds after I entered the water, I knew that my men had reached their post. I could see their energy not only extending my path, but also ensuring that no one could harm me.
    Finally, I saw what I thought was Guardian’s body. He was limp in the water, still wearing whatever clothes he must have just died in on the other side. From the tears in his pants and shirt, I knew it was a violent death, and even more rage for Camlin absorbed me.
    I grasped Guardian and soared back through the water, through the safe path that was made for us. Seconds before we reached the surface, Guardian came to life, roaring under the water and slinging punches at me.
    The surface was more chaotic than under the water, and no one knew I had him, that he was alive; they were too busy trying to defend us.
    Rage may have been fueling Guardian, but I still had far more strength than him. I pulled us up on the bank. My path to him and back had put us on the far side of the shore, near the point where sand instead of marble took over.
    We rolled across the sand, and I dodged as many of his punches as I could as I tried to read his tracers to see how badly Camlin had hurt him and his life plan. Guardian only had half the time he’d asked for. He had been robbed in the most tragic way; the fierce stare in his eyes told me he was well aware of that fact. He was struggling to understand where he was, what had happened.
    “Where is she?” he roared.
    “You’re alone!” I harshly whispered, cupping his mouth with my hand, using my body and vim to pin him in place so I could figure