Skin Deep

At the back wall, the emergency alarms had activated, and the display cases were empty. Except one. The Treaty had reached the Rotunda. Cress stood in front of it, gripping the edges of the casement.

“Can you stop it?” Laura whispered.

Cress held up a hand for silence. A complex maze of essence enclosed the Treaty, an intricate web of layers within layers. Security and preservation charms and bindings pulsed and vibrated in rainbow hues of essence. Beneath them all, a deep green orb radiated with a force that burned against Laura’s skin.

“Helhound, is that thing the bomb?” asked Sinclair from behind her.

Laura nodded. “It’s enough pressured essence to vaporize everyone in here.”

Protection spells wrapped around the core of the bomb. Cress’s deep violet essence threaded its way through the levels, sorting out the purpose of the spells. Her tendrils danced along a green grid, wrapped around it, and tugged. The essence leached away, pulsing back up the strands into Cress. The grid faded. She started on the next one.

“Too many,” Cress whispered, her stark, black eyes wide.

“What is it?” Laura asked softly.

Cress paused. “They’re all trigger spells. I have to sort each one to find its purpose. I can’t identify which one triggers the bomb or how.”

“Can Sinclair’s medallion help?”

Cress shook her head. “Weakening the protection essence is a fail-safe on some of the triggers.” Without a word, Sinclair moved back.

“What can I do?” Laura asked.

Cress focused on the document. “Power. If I can tap someone’s Power, I can move faster.”

Body essence. Cress wanted body essence. Laura trembled as she took a deep breath. “Take mine, Cress. As much as you need. All of it, if necessary.”

Cress moved her head slightly. “It won’t be enough. I need more than one person.”

Laura swallowed hard. If Cress needed more than one person, she meant at least one would die as she drained them. Laura looked around the room. She didn’t know what to do. Pick someone, she thought. Hit them with a binding spell and let Cress work. Her eyes came to rest on Orrin ap Rhys. “What about the Guildmaster? He’s Dana

Cress absorbed another spell layer. “He’s the strongest fey here.”

Guildmaster, you’re needed by the Treaty, Laura sent.

The barrier is weakening. We will be through in minutes, he sent back.

Laura appealed to his vanity. We do not have minutes, sir. There’s a bomb. Only you can stop it.

Rhys dropped his hands. He gave one last look at the essence barrier and started toward them. As he drew near, Laura saw his body signature towering around him like a storm cloud. Powerful was an understatement.

Cress gasped. “Something’s happening.”

Laura looked down at the Treaty. A wheel-shaped layer of yellow essence glowed in a pattern, bolts of light arcing along its radial spokes. The arcing grew, jumping from one part of the pattern to the next. They bent and swirled, twisting together and leaping out in the same direction. Laura followed the line of their path to Rhys. The bolts grew larger.

“Rhys, stop!” she shouted. He froze. The bolts stabilized but didn’t dissipate. Laura looked at the strange essence leaning toward Rhys, and she saw it for what it was. “The Treaty was supposed to rise during Rhys’s speech, Cress. The bomb is keyed to his body signature. He’s the trigger.”

Cress swayed. Black spider fractures appeared on the orb. “I think… I think it’s too late.”

The orb pulsed and expanded, white light burning in the fractures. Cress’s essence plunged into the cracks. Her violet essence became thick ropy strands as they sucked greedily at the orb.

“Cress, you can’t contain that!” Laura shouted. She tried to pull her away. Cress screamed. The orb bulged and burned brighter. Laura threw out her body shield. “Everybody down!” she screamed.

A shock wave of white essence exploded. It slammed against Laura and threw her off her feet. The white light enveloped her, and she stopped motionlessly in the air. Bodies hung in suspension surrounded her, trapped in the frozen explosion of a brilliant white haze. Within its center, Cress glowed in black-and-purple silhouette. The light collapsed. Laura hit the floor, blinded by the afterimage. Dazed, she forced herself to stand.

Cress hovered like a lavender flame above the floor, scorching the stone beneath her feet. Her head fell back, and darkness oozed from her lips. Essence convulsed and radiated outward in waves. Laura staggered into Sinclair’s arms.

“She can’t hold it, Jono,” Laura said.

He dragged Laura away, shouting. “Get everyone back! Shields! We need as many shields as possible.”

Everyone retreated from Cress’s burning figure. Hemmed in by bodies, Laura joined the other fey on the far side of the Rotunda. They extended their body shields, the human guests tangled against the wall behind them.

Light shivered off Cress and struck the body shields. They warped, and people fell. Another burst released. The shields shifted again, pressing against the crowd. A third burst pulsed, stronger than the last. The shields shuddered, leaving little room between them and the wall. Laura fought to retain her balance.

Get against the wall, Jono. Your medallion’s fighting the shields, Laura sent. She didn’t wait to see if he complied. Another pulse of essence burst from Cress. The body shields retreated, tightening the gap. Screams went up as some collapsed. The odor of burnt flesh filled the air. People spread out to cover the breach.

Laura cast a broadcast sending. She’s trying to do a controlled release. Time your energy to the waves! Another burst and the entire line of fey stumbled back. The screams behind her were deafening as Laura fought to hold herself up. Again, and half the line fell. Laura bowed her head under the strain.

Cress floated like a brilliant mauve star beneath the Rotunda ceiling dome. The skylight in the center of the dome shattered under the pressure, shards of glass disintegrating as they fell into her burning field. She rose higher, her body cycling to a deep lavender as the energies within her fought for release. Tears sprang to Laura’s eyes. The essence was too much. Cress was burning out. She was dying.

The damaged skylight framed her body like a broken eye, the top edge of the Inverni barrier rippling just below. Laura’s skin prickled as she watched essence escape through the skylight.

Up, Cress! Release the essence up! Cress didn’t acknowledge.

Blow the roof, Cress! Straight up! No response. Cress burned brighter. The next wave mounted in Laura’s vision. Body shields were no match for what was coming.

Dammit, Cress! Go up!

Cress’s arms moved. Laura bit her lip as she willed the leanansidhe to hear her. Cress’s arms floated out, then lifted. Laura almost laughed. She had heard. Cress’s mind was still in there. Clasping her hands over her head, Cress pointed up as the essence crested within her, burning with power.

She let go.

White essence geysered in a violent surge from her chest. Laura shouted as the torrent hit the dome and blasted it off its base. Chunks of masonry showered down, pum meling her body shield. Laura poured the last of her energy into her shield and prayed to whatever goddess would listen to her lost voice. Wild wind tore through the Rotunda as the raging column of light lit the night sky.

In the rumble of stone and bodies, Laura collapsed.