Book 4: Race Against Time

Xandra

“Alexander,” Father said across miles of mind-link, his voice thin with exhaustion or the unstable magic connecting us. “Alexander, Maris, my time has come.”

I’m sure he knew that those words would send me running. They have. My whole body burns as I run, not as bad as it burned just riding on Finn’s back on the way to Hana’s side, but bad enough. Her warnings carve lines of fire into my skin. I should be resting.

But he is my father. He is dying.

“Hold on another few minutes,” I call back through whatever mind-link still connects us. “Just another few minutes.”

The run from the Grayhead to Tansy Tower will take hours. We could’ve run it in one night if I hadn’t needed to rest last time. But if I keep begging him for another few minutes, and another, he’ll be there when we arrive.

My eyes burn as badly as my limbs, as the screaming muscles of my stomach. I start to slow.

Finn slows beside me, a ghost in the darkness.<