Free Unlocking Void (Book 3) by Jenna Van Vleet Page B

torn a hole in a tapestry. He took another step back and the rip vanished.
    Void kept one world in the spirit world and one in reality. He looked around the afterimage of the room, and he saw diaphanous images hovering just outside his vision. Spirits.
    “Stars above, he has done it,” Lael whispered.
    A new Element raged within his chest, something threatening to break him in two. He reached for it and black strings shot from his chest to his hands, smoking slightly and blowing in an unseen wind.
    He had to get out of there. He laid the pattern he knew best, the shift, and shot himself out of the castle.
    The world moved around him in rapid black and white images, threatening to make him sick up. The mountains were white, capped with black, and he careened up them without direction. The pattern was easy to steer, and he did not care where he went.
    He finally cut the pattern and dropped himself on a mountain summit. The wind was bitterly cold that cut at his face, and the air was thin. He released Void, an action as instinctive as if he used it his whole life, and with Void went his strength. He collapsed to his knees and felt the weight of the past minutes crush him into the snow. In one last act of survival, he clenched his fists, threw back his head, and screamed.

 
     
    Chapter 9
    “What do we do, Lael? What do we do ?” Lace screamed, tears running down her face. “Oh my stars, she is dead !”
    Lael knelt staring at the spot Gabriel had just occupied with numb emotions. The leader of the greatest race had gotten so angry, he simply snapped and slain one of his own. Lael knew Gabriel well enough to know it was far from his usual character. In his arms lay the girl who stood between him and his rationality. Her eyes were open and her body still warm, but there was death in her eyes. A vessel in one of them burst in the corner giving her an eerie look. He slid her to the floor carefully and laid his coat over her face.
    “Lace, Lace,” Mikelle said, gripping the girl by the shoulders and rattling something off in Arconian. Lael only caught a few words. Slowly the petite blonde quieted, shaking her head to questions Mikelle posed.
    “But he killed her, Mikelle, he killed her,” Lace cried. “How can I let that by?”
    Lael stood and took Lace’s hands in his. “I know this is very hard for you, and I cannot offer excuses, but we cannot let anyone know what happened here.”
    “But, Lael—”
    “You swore an oath to protect the Head Mage at whatever cost, just as he so swore to protect you.”
    “But he killed her!”
    “He had to.”
    Lace stopped her weeping and stared at him. “Explain.”
    “You notice he is no longer here? He succeeded in opening Void, and Shayleen was the only way he could accomplish it.”
    “But why her?”
    He shook his head. “It is not for me to say. But I know it was a terribly painful decision to make, and in making it, he is one step closer to defeating the Arch Mages and protecting us.”
    Mikelle gave him a sly look. “What happened in Kilkiny, Lace?”
    “I do not know. There was shouting, and a door slammed, and then we returned here.”
    “What would give him reason to go there?” Lael asked.
    Lace burst into tears again and shook her head. Lael pulled her into him and held her as she cried, not sure what else to do but shoot Mikelle pleading glances. Mikelle offered no assistance.
    “Where would he go?”
    Lael shook his head. “Anywhere in the world.”
    “He can do that?” Lace whispered, clutching the side of his shirt to her cheek.
    “What do we do?”
    Lael was the epitome of calm. It was what made him an ideal Secondhand. “We are going to bring Lewis up here and say she collapsed. The Head Mage was not here at the time, in fact, I have not seen him all day, and I do not know where he is now. Lace, dearest, you are going to your room for a while and if anyone asks, Shayleen fell and that was it. Mikelle, you will take her back. Do I make myself