Strange and Ever After (Something Strange and Deadly #3)(67)

Take it, I thought, sinking into him. Take it, Oliver. Sum veritas.

A howl like a tornado burst from my mouth. A wave of magic pulsed out of me, so strong, it lifted me off the stone step and boomed outward. I watched it rush forward in a great wind of power. Down the pyramid, it swept up sand and wind and daylight. The airship swung dangerously, and its shadow gusted over the earth . . . until the wave had moved on. Until it had reached the rows of far-off trees and finally vanished.

My legs turned to pudding beneath me. I fell into Oliver . . . and then together we collapsed onto the rock.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The sky was brilliantly blue behind Oliver’s head. My chest quaked, and each breath was like fire, each blink acid.

His lips trembled as he gulped in air. His eyes shook, trying to stay latched on to mine. The wind twined through my hair—and through his—and sand collected on the pyramid steps around us.

But I could not look away.

He was so much more than I had ever thought or understood. So much soul—so much pure emotion. Each of his hurts was an agony and each tenderness a blistering flame. No human was meant to feel what he felt, and no body was made for it.

But worse—what scared me—was that I had changed him. I had irrevocably made him into a person he did not wish to be.

Slowly, his eyelids shuttered, and a flicker of a thought whispered through my mind. And now I have changed you.

“Eleanor!” Joseph’s voice seeped into my ears, distant and fuzzy. He was shouting for me from the other end of the pyramid. “Eleanor! Help!”

I wet my lips and tried to swallow . . . but I was still falling into Oliver’s eyes.

“Eleanor!” Joseph bellowed again, and this time he added: “Oliver!”

My demon looked behind me. Our moment slipped away. Like a punch to the gut, my breath burst out. I rocked back and gaped up at the sky.

I was changed. His thoughts and his feelings were inside me. Even if I didn’t want them, they flailed in my lungs and in my skull—

“Eleanor! Oliver! Help!”

Oliver staggered to his feet and set off in a listing jog toward Joseph, Daniel . . . and Jie.

Jie.

My throat closed off. The world reeled and blurred, my blood rushed in my ears, and I had to grab at the stones to get upright. But I dragged my feet, and soon enough I reached the others.

Jie lay on her back, her head in Joseph’s lap as he stroked her hair—over and over, he petted her forehead and murmured soft words. Daniel knelt beside her, his voice hoarse. “I’m sorry, Jie. I’m so sorry.”

And Jie simply lay there, as pale as a corpse and with blood gathering in the stones. Bits of flesh and bone flecked her clothes, her skin, the ground. . . .

So much blood. So much damage.

“Heal her,” Joseph said, his eyes locking on Oliver. “Please—you must heal her.”

“I . . .” Oliver’s hands opened helplessly.

“Please,” Joseph begged us. “She will die.”

Daniel gaped at Joseph. “No . . . not magic—she wouldn’t want it.”

“And she will die otherwise.” Joseph’s gaze never left my demon. “Please. Oliver. Please heal her.”

Again Oliver gave a helpless, almost lost shrug and looked at me. “I cannot heal her unless you command me.”

I stared down at Jie. My magic was gone. It had pulsed out, a harmless wind, and now all I had was Oliver’s power. I would command him if I had to, but I didn’t want to force him. Not now that I understood him.

“What do you want?” I asked him.

He cringed. “No. No, El. Do not put this on me.”

“B-but . . .” I tried to moisten my mouth—each word was a blade in my throat. “I do not want to make you do—”

“You can,” his voice hissed. “You must command me or I will leave her—”

“You won’t.” I searched his face, his eyes. “I know you now, and you won’t.”

Pain tightened his features—and something else . . . something angry. “If you believe that, then you do not know me at all.” He leaned in and gripped my elbow, rough and tight. “But command me, El, and command me fast or your friend will die.”

My breaths came in quicker. Harsher. I refused to back down from his gaze. I did know him, and I did not believe for a second he would abandon Jie. “Oliver,” I whispered, bringing my nose to his and driving the command into his eyes, “do what needs doing. Sum veritas.”

His irises blazed blue. I blinked, and he released me—lurching around toward Jie.

But Daniel refused to move. “No,” he mumbled, angling toward Joseph. “Please. We can heal Jie the natural way—”

“Get your inventor out of here,” Oliver growled at me, “or this girl will bleed to death, and we will be too late.”

I marched to Daniel. Blood splashed on my boots, on Jie’s clothes. I grabbed his collar. “Come with me.”

His head rolled back, his gaze uncomprehending. “Jie needs—”

“She’ll be fine.” I tugged harder. “We need to get the airship running, and you have to be the one to do it.”

Understanding flickered through his eyes, and with a final, broken glance at Jie, he staggered to his feet.