Free See How She Falls by Michelle Graves

breathing out once,
before I felt myself pulled into the dreaming. I heard him shout my name as I
slipped back, pulled by some invisible string into the fog. I couldn’t tell if
I’d done it in my panic, or if it was something altogether different.
     
     
    Chapter
Nine
     
    “ABERTO!”
My panicked voice rang out, echoing eerily through the fog. “Fantastic, just
freaking awesome. How in the hell am I supposed to get back now?” I mumbled,
making my way through the fog.
    An
overwhelming sense of oppressions swept over me as I ran through the fog. Every
moment of the past few years played out in my mind as I sought my way back
home. Moments of fear and pain, moments of sadness, they all coalesced, forming
an impenetrable wall. It was too much; the changes happening within me, the
secrets, the terrifying truth of what my future may hold; and as my strength
depleted, I began to fall. My resolve fled me in an instant, leaving me to the
unpardonable truth. My death beckoned me, pulling me deeper into the darkness.
Lost to the world, I fell to my side. The truth settled around me like a
cocoon. I would never be enough.
    As
I let the inevitability sink in, I heard it. A familiar voice called out of the
fog. A voice I hadn’t heard for two months, yet there he stood. The culmination
of nightmares and fears wrapped into the body of a cloaked figure. My future
cradled in the palms of his crushing hands. Motionless, I was rooted to my
place. The unchangeable darkness, the coming storm, it all pushed down upon me.
    He
moved towards me, cutting a path through the fog to stand above me like some
sort of centurion. The robe covered all but his sneering mouth. The mouth that
housed the words that would end me. “Do you see it now? The inevitability? This
world will burn for its sins, Izzy. These people, they don’t deserve the grace
they are given, or the protection of our kind. Why not just join us? Fighting
really is futile.” 
    The
hopelessness pushed against me, prodding me, taunting me. Swallowing deeply, I
rose to my knees. I’d never been a quitter, I wouldn’t start now. I’d been
warned that the darkness would call for me, that it would tempt me. Strength I
didn’t know I possessed rose up within me. Whatever this person was doing, I
could fight it. I could fight him. Taking a deep breath, I stood on shaking
legs to face the robed figure.
    “I
will do everything in my power to protect this world from whatever it is you
are trying to bring.”
    “Look
down at your leg, Izzy. Do you really think that you can stop us? Just two more
runes and the bridge will be complete. Your fight was lost before it began.”
    At
his words, the burning began on my calf, ripping deep into my soul. I knew that
when I awoke, I would have another mark. I wondered if this one would be my
undoing. My rubbery legs failed me, and as I began to fall I heard a laugh.
    “I
will die before I let you do this.”
    “Yes,
you will. But really, your death won’t do anything to stop the darkness. It
shall end all.”  He paused, turning back towards me as the fog engulfed
him. “Not even Aberto can save you from this.” His voice dripped with distain,
his words echoing through the fog as he faded away.
    “Yeah,
fat lot of good he’s done me lately," I muttered miserably. I sat there,
thinking about the man that had been there. I needed to get back to my body.
Eleanor and I had some more searching to do. I thought about my body, laying in
the office. Breathing deeply, I closed my eyes. “Please let this work.”
    The
dreaming spun around me quickly as I was thrown out into the office where my
body rested. Conall, Kennan, and Aberto were all there shouting at one another.
As I made my way on unsteady legs back to my body, Aberto turned towards me.
The fear in his eyes was unmistakable.
    “She
has returned," he said, moving towards me as I mended my battered soul
back into my body.
    “Izzy,
what happened?” Kennan knelt by me as I struggled to