Sprawled on the ground, Jenn stared at the pillar of roaring magic that replaced the obelisk, as if a cork had been loosened from the core of the immortal world. It rose to the sky. Darian snatched Yully and pulled her forward.
Take them to the gateway! Darian directed into her mind. I'll follow. Jenn expected him to run around the power coursing upward. Instead, Darian released Yully and ran straight into the magic.
Jenn scrambled up, terrified when he didn't emerge.
"Charles! Yully!" she shouted above the roar.
The vamp shook his head as he pushed himself up from the ground a few feet away. Jenn dashed forward and grabbed Yully's arm, motioning for Charles to follow her. Magic fluctuated around her, sometimes pounding her and sometimes absent. Her own power felt scrambled, and Jenn fought to keep from becoming disoriented.
They struggled through the remains of the orchard as the earth rumbled and bucked. Jenn saw the tree at last and staggered to it. She gave Yully a shove, satisfied when the Magician disappeared. Charles tripped and fell through the portal.
Jenn turned to face the magic. Darian hadn't followed. Her chest grew almost too tight to breathe at the thought of losing him so soon. She made her way back and circled the screaming pillar, shielding her eyes against its brightness. At its center, she thought she saw the dark shape of a man.
"Darian!" she shouted.
Leave. "Come with me!"
Can't control. It's coming on again. Go! His words were choppy and faint.
Jenn drew back, unwilling to let her mate die in the immortal world. She balanced herself as much as she could with the rumbling ground and then ran straight into the magic. She leapt through it, half blinded, and tackled him. Fire and ice ripped through her, sucking the air from her lungs.
Her momentum carried them through to the other side. They burst out of the light, landing hard. Darian was unconscious, his body convulsing. Magic shot off him in bursts of black and white lightning. Jenn flinched as it went through her. She knelt and carefully lifted him over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. She made it only a few steps before the shaking earth brought her to her knees.
She looked towards their destination then back at the pillar of magic, which had grown thicker and had begun eating away at the earth around it. The skies were covered in billowing clouds that pulsed with power. She rose only for Darian to seize again, sending her crashing onto her stomach. The trees were falling around them. She clambered forward to drag Darian out of the way of one, only to feel the crushing weight of another as it slammed across her legs.