He wanted to do an overlay like Fare had done.

  “Doesn’t that take a lot of magic?” I looked at Justia, then Whisper. “Won’t that kill her if she tries it?”

  “I can channel mana through her.” Whisper put his hand on her shoulder, but if he was trying to reassure her, he wasn’t having that effect.

  “But that…” Justia shook her head. “I saw what that did to Jord back…” Her eyes widened as she remembered that Whisper had been fighting with the other side when Jord Dinx had absorbed higher Tier crystals to fuel summoning magic to help fight off the bandits that had been with Whisper after we had been kidnapped.

  The silver man pointed at Rix. “This spell was made to drain GOD-LEVEL mantles. What do you think it’s going to do when it reaches her?”

  Justia turned and stared at Rix for a moment, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “THAT WON’T WORK!” The demon roared, but the tone it was using wasn’t taunting but more of a command.

  “Ignore him.” Whisper caught her face as she tried to look at the demon. “Mantles don’t bring magic with them, which is why we don’t have our CBs when we go in them.” He touched the purple barrier. “I don’t think it will break the tethers, but it should strip the barriers off of them.”

  Mive sagged from where he was suspended. I reached out to grab him as the tendril that was connected to Kara flared. The Scarlet screamed as her red armor began to melt under the smokey restraints. Whatever it was doing straightened the kitsune back up.

  “KARA!” Ether ran over and crashed into the barrier surrounding her sister.

  “You need to do it NOW!” Whisper held out his arm.

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  I pulled a knife out of my CB and sliced my left arm and held it out for her.

  “Justia.” Tears were running down the ivory woman’s face. “Please don’t let…” A soft sob cut off the rest of the plea.

  The green woman grabbed Whisper’s right arm midway between the wrist and elbow, ran her left over the wound on my arm, then slapped it on Mive’s chest.

  “How are you..!!!”

  Justia wasn’t able to get the rest of her question out as electricity crackled up her left arm. Whisper criss crossed his wings behind her to help hold her up as my ears popped and I felt the mantle open and swallow us into it.

  The barriers crackled and sputtered, then began popping, releasing each of the captives from their suspension, while keeping them bound by the tendrils.

  Whisper started sagging as the field began to pulse and I could feel the Mantle closing.

  “AHHH!!!” Justia sank to her knees and her left hand slid down Mive’s chest to his leg.

  I wasn’t sure what would happen if she broke the connection midway through opening the Mantle and didn’t want to find out. I grabbed Mive’s chest and caught Justia’s arm. It felt like there were hot needles being forced through my body. I wanted to scream at the surge of pain, but my mouth refused to open.

  I could taste burnt blood in my mouth. I felt numb all over and couldn’t tell where noises were coming from. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I realized that Ether was shaking me and that I was laying on my back, staring up at the sky. Except the sky wasn’t the sky. We were inside the Bequeathal Chamber, not in an overlay. Justia hadn’t managed to do an overlay even with the extra boost from Whisper.

  “Why did you do that?!” Ether slapped me.

  “OW!” I blinked as I tried to sit up.

  Shock covered her face as she touched my cheek. “Sorry! I thought you might be out too.”

  “Too?” I looked over at my left where Justia was laying over Whisper. Both were breathing, but that was all the movement they were doing. Whisper’s wings were gone, there must have been a spell or something that broke once he was tapped out.

  “You stupid, STUPID MUTTS!” Yoriel growled.

  I got to my feet and tried to envision Whisper’s sword in my hands. The golden blade appeared, complete with flames dancing down the blade.

  Red armor wrapped around Ether as the ivory woman stood up on my right. Right now it was two on one, but I knew those odds weren’t going to stay like that for long.

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