Chapter 17 · Breath in the Void

"Get your hands off me!" Sera's voice echoed, but it sounded flat, like the air was eating the sound before it could even travel.

She tried to shove me away, but we were floating in a damn nothingness. There was no floor, no ceiling, just a suffocating, oily blackness that felt like it was trying to seep into my pores. We were drifting, limbs tangling in the dark, and every time she moved, she only managed to wrap herself tighter around me.

"I can't—I can't let go," I gasped, my voice sounding raw. I gripped her waist, pulling her flush against my chest. "If we drift apart, we're dead. The void doesn't have a bottom, Sera. It just has an end."

"This is your fault," she spat, though her breath was coming in short, jagged hitches. I could feel her heart hammering against my ribs, a frantic rhythm that matched the panic screaming in my own head. "Your little shadow tantrum just dragged us into a hole. What's next? You going to tell me this is for my own good too?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't.