He suddenly realized she had no control. It would take until glutted.

The pain exploded.

Kenneth couldn't react, not even to scream. Darkness stretched endlessly, and he felt as if he were about to fall into it.

He struggled to cling to consciousness, acutely aware his body was beginning to shut down.

So this is what it feels like to die.

Self-preservation was curiously absent. He didn't care.

He was completely anesthetized. It wasn't true an entire life flashed before one's eyes. In fact, he was aware of nothing except his inability to respond to what was happening to him.

Legs crumpling beneath him, Kenneth tumbled. He hit the cold stone floor with bruising force.

Chapter 18.

The air in the cell felt cold and empty. Save for Kenneth's soft moan of agony, silence prevailed. Horrified by what she'd done, Tessa dropped to her knees beside his trembling body. His face had gone bone white under the strain of losing so much so fast.

Cradling his head on her lap, she quickly checked for a pulse. It was faint, but there. She breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't kill him.

"Kenneth, can you hear me?"

His lids fluttered open. His gaze was blank, unfocused. "Get out, Tessa." His words were barely discernable.

Looking at him, Tessa felt a vise grip her heart. Just a few minutes ago, he'd been so strong and vital. Now his face was plastered with pain, his body contorted with suffering. Dark circles ringed his eyes.

Smoothing his hair off his sweat-soaked brow, Tessa bent close. "Hang on." She reached out to claim one of his hands and squeeze it tight. "I'm going to get us out of here." Her own body trembled alarmingly, not from weakness or exhaustion but from the searing surge of energy she'd taken in.

Right now she felt as if she had enough power to light up half the globe.

Kenneth struggled to draw in a breath. "Don't waste time." He struggled to lick dry, cracked lips. "Just go." Drawing in a final breath, his eyes slipped shut. He sighed and went limp.

For a shattering moment, Tessa thought he had died. She pressed a hand to his chest. His heart continued to beat, but weakly.

She gently lowered his head to the floor. By the G.o.ddess, he'd given everything and had nothing left. Not one whit of strength. She could tell just by touching him that she'd almost drained him dry. One more minute and he would have died for sure.

And she wasn't sure he'd survive now. She'd never heard of a human surviving D'ema. When a Mer used it, it was usually with the intent to kill.

Tessa sprung to her feet. Somehow she had to get him out of this wretched place. No way she'd let him die here. Not now. Not when they had a fighting chance.

"Hang on," she said fiercely. "We're not going to be here much longer."

Focusing her concentration, Tessa hurried toward the nearest wall. Pressing her hands against the smooth obsidian, she began to examine it, not with her eyes but with her senses. Going past the physical, she delved into the molecular level of the stone.

Its solid face faded away, allowing her to see the ma.s.s of particles and energy that gave it form. As she'd guessed, the Mer had reversed the stone's charge from positive to negative.

Tessa continued her exploration. It took a few moments to find a weak spot in the stone, but it was there. If she focused her energy strongly enough, she might be able to blast through it.

Pressing her fingers against the weak spot, Tessa reached for the crystal around her neck. Gathering the energy she'd harvested from Kenneth, she gritted her teeth and concentrated on channeling it outward.

The tips of her fingers began to glow, taking on a strange luminescence. The air around her quivered, crawling over her skin like a thousand tiny insects. Behind her eyes she felt a sense of pressure, her body's reaction as the energy she'd taken in began to drain away. The sensation wasn't painful.

I can take it.

Tessa pushed a little harder. Tiny cracks formed beneath her luminous fingers. But it wasn't enough. She needed to give a little more.

Narrowing her eyes, she recentered her energies and prepared for another attack. Body stiffening, she pressed her other hand against the obsidian wall. The tiny cracks grew larger. The floor wavered under her feet.

The pressure behind her eyes suddenly increased. A twinge shot through her temple. She ignored it. Now was not the time to draw back.

She pressed on, full speed ahead, leveling more mental energy into the heart of the stone. The cracks suddenly spread across the wall with unnerving speed.

Feeling the pressure behind her eyes turn to pain, Tessa refused to stop. Her brain began to burn. The sensation took off like wildfire, zipping down her neck and shoulders, intensifying as it spread through her chest and down her legs.

Tessa collapsed, her body slamming into the floor.

A long minute pa.s.sed, and then another.

Lying as if a deadweight, she didn't move. Darkness flowed around her. She gasped painfully. Teeth chattering, her head and heart pounding, double time. I can't give up, came her vague, indistinct thought. Too close . . .

Dazed, she lifted an unsteady hand to her temple. Locking her jaw against a rush of nausea, she pressed her fingers against her skin, attempting to ease the pain.

Struggling to sit up, she blinked hard. Her vision was badly blurred, the four walls around her doubling to eight.

Still shaken, she tried hard to focus on the wall.

All she'd managed to do was crack it a little.

She felt defeated. All that energy wasted for nothing. "s.h.i.t." She'd done almost nothing to damage it.

A single tear fell down her cheek. Kenneth had given her a chance and she'd wasted it.

They were still trapped. Still doomed to die.

Unbidden, another tear fell. She wanted to cry more, but there was no more to give.

She glanced toward Kenneth. He lay so still and pale. She'd drained him, leaving him as dry and barren as a desert plain.

She crawled toward him. She kissed his cheek, his cold, cold lips. "I'm sorry, so sorry."

Kenneth stirred a little in returning awareness. "Did it work?" His words were slurred, almost indistinct. His head shifted toward the wall she'd tried to break through. Weak as he was, he had to check for himself.

Tessa lowered her head, kissing him on the mouth again. "No," she murmured softly, cupping his face in both hands. "But it doesn't matter. We're together, and we're going to stay that way."

He didn't reply. Exhaustion crept in, dragging him back into unconsciousness.

Attempting to add her body's heat to his, Tessa pressed herself closer to him. Neither of them could last very long at this rate. She was acutely conscious of the lack of energy in his body. He might possibly survive if they had food, warmth, and time to rest.

Rationally Tessa knew they weren't going to survive. As it was, they had nothing. The Mer granted the condemned no comfort, not even a single sc.r.a.p of material to use as a blanket to cover their shivering bodies.

A pang of homesickness filled her. She hated to think she was going to leave this world without seeing her sisters one last time. She missed Gwen and Addison. She missed her island. And her life hadn't been as boring and worthless as she'd believed.

If she could turn back time, she would've refused to see Jake that fateful day he'd arrived with the artifacts. Instead, she'd fallen to that siren's call, forever beckoning souls to their doom.

It pained her to realize she'd doomed not only herself, but Kenneth, as well. He was a good man. He deserved better.

She closed her eyes, wishing she could take it all back.

Just as she was about to drift off, there was a commotion, sounds outside her cell.

Tessa raised her head. "What the . . . ?"

She had no time to finish the sentence.

A sliver of the obsidian wall slid away. The Mer guard who'd earlier accompanied Jake stepped into the cell.

Tessa climbed painfully to her knees, attempting to shield Kenneth's inert body. She had an ounce, maybe two, of his energy in reserve. It wasn't a lot, but it might be enough to blast the b.i.t.c.h to h.e.l.l.

Fear clutched at her throat. She'd never used her magic to take down another Mer, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Tessa concentrated, gathering the last remnants she possessed. Her vision wavered, jagged flickers of color dancing in front of her eyes. This was it. She was going to give it everything, every last drop she had. If she tried and failed, she probably wouldn't care what happened next.

She'd be dead.

Trembling with effort, Tessa threw up her hands.

Sensing her intent, the Mer guard reacted instantly. Making a quick gesture, she dropped to her knees. "Do not," she cried, raising her arms as if to shield her body. "I am here to offer my aid."

Tessa slowly lowered her hands. "Did you say you were here to help?"

The Mer climbed to her feet. "We all are." Returning to the threshold, she made a quick gesture. Two more women appeared.

Tessa's eyes widened. Unlike the guard, who was a beautiful blonde with crystal blue eyes, the newcomers had darkly shaded hair.

The Mer guard stepped up. "I am Cyntheris, and we have come to help."

Tessa looked at the women in confusion. "I don't understand. I thought you served Queen Magaera."

Cyntheris frowned. Her nostrils flared with disdain. "In name I serve her." She spat. "In spirit I fight for what is right." Her contempt, though unspoken, resonated.

A Mer with chopped chin-length black hair and deep black eyes stepped up. "My name is Kleio." She offered a smile. "Like you, I am one of the outcasts, with no right to live."

"Not all Mer believe that way," Cyntheris added. "And we are fighting to regain what has been taken from us."

The third Mer spoke up, the eerily identical twin of Kleio. "We must go, and fast. Too soon our treachery will be discovered."

Her mouth a grim, set line, Cyntheris agreed. "Kallixeina is right."

Tessa reluctantly moved aside, revealing the unconscious man. "I can't leave him."

Kleio knelt beside him, touching his pale skin. "He has been almost completely drained."

Tessa felt like a criminal under her gaze. What she'd done was wrong and she knew it. She had no excuse. She should have known better. "I channeled his energy to try to break us out of here," she finally admitted, pointing to the damage she'd inflicted on the obsidian wall.

Shivering faintly, Cyntheris shook her head. "The stone is strengthened so no one can take it down. You could have drained a thousand humans without success."

Her words went through Tessa's heart like a spike. "Then I sacrificed him for nothing."

Kleio glanced up. "He is weak, but your symbiote didn't drain everything. As long as he has a pulse he can be restored." She looked at the other two Mer. "But I can't do it here. We have to get him out of here."

Kallixeina stepped up. "I will help carry him."

Tessa moved to help. "I can, too," she said.

Cyntheris caught her arm. "You are weak yourself. You will need all your strength to make the journey across the dead lands."

Tessa gulped. "That doesn't sound promising."

Kleio looked at her levelly. "It is the only place where Queen Magaera's people refuse to go. Their fear is the only thing keeping us alive."

Tessa made a quick decision. She had no other choice. She'd do whatever it took to save's Kenneth's life.

"We'll go."

Kenneth lay helpless, his senses m.u.f.fled by the grip of an intense headache. His pain prompted a groan. He opened his eyes. Confusion buffeted his senses. This place didn't look familiar at all.

"Where the h.e.l.l am I?" he mumbled numbly. The words falling from his mouth hardly sounded as if they came from a human being. Lost in the pain, he remembered only pieces. Right now, he only knew he was alone and that he was hurting. Death would have been preferable to the terrible agony crashing through his skull.

He tried to concentrate through his suffering. He heard his heart beating in his head, felt the reverberating thud in his chest.

Drawing in a deep breath, a strange scent caught his attention. Just the faintest hint. He filled his lungs again. The aroma was unmistakable.

Meat. Roasting meat.

His stomach rumbled, reminding him of how hungry he was.

He tried to sit up. Couldn't. His limbs just wouldn't obey the commands of his brain. He fell back, weak and spent.

Seeing only shadows and haze, he squinted. Hovering at a doorway, a flickering figure set into motion. It floated a moment, then began to advance, gliding closer until it had settled beside him.