Page 144 of Ashes of Aether

“Koby?” I call over the crackling of flames and rattling of bones. “What is it?”

“Eliya!” he wheezes.

A ghoul lunges for him.

“Ignira!”I yell.

A fireball surges from my hands and hurls at the undead. It bursts into flames.

I return my attention to Koby. “What about her? Have you seen her?”

He shakes his head. “When the undead started attacking, no one could find you. Or your father. Eliya went looking for you.”

My stomach knots. “Where is she? Where did she say she would look?”

“I don’t know. Before I could ask, she sprinted out the Arcanium and teleported away. I... I hoped she was with you. Or that you had at least seen her.”

I grit my teeth. “We need to find her. Now. Before it’s too late.”

I don’t say that it may already be too late. That she may already be dead.

I refuse to believe it.

“Would she be at your house?”

“No, I came from there. I didn’t see her.” I pause. “Flour Power.”

“The bakery? Why would she be there?”

I don’t explain my reasoning. I grab his arm and draw aether over us both.

“Laxus.”

We fade away, leaving the Arcanium behind us.

The street we arrive on is more chaotic. With so few magi here, the undead are free to rampage. Screams of the dying and the dead fill the night.

I break into a run—heading toward the alley opposite us. To our left, a ghoul rips off the limb from a mangled corpse and gnaws on it. The undead wears Mrs. Baxter’s face. I don’t allow myself to stop and stare.

Koby does.

“T-that’s—”

I pull him along before he can finish. He stumbles after me.

We enter the alleyway. The shadows slash across us in bold lines.

There is nothing here. No undead, no Eliya.

I inhale sharply, clenching the staff with one hand and tearing at my hair with the other.

Since she found me here, three years ago, I thought this might be where she came looking for me. But there is no trace of her.

“She isn’t here,” Koby says.

I scowl at him for the painful reminder.

“Where else do you think she could be?”