Restless Stars (Zodiac Academy, #9)

by Caroline Peckham

“No,” the snarling skull roared, his paddle lifting then slamming down on me once more. “I forbid you from death.” The screams within me grew wild and suddenly something deep inside the fabric of all I was fractured, my grasp upon the Element of water falling away to nothing as the soul whose power I had unwillingly stolen was wrenched from my flesh. I stared at the translucent image of the dead man which rose from within me, his screams finally falling quiet as he let himself slip into the water and was swept away at speed. “I deny you passage,” the skeletal being hissed, the burn of his paddle cutting through me so that it seemed like I would split apart at the seams. Another screaming soul was ripped from my flesh, my grasp on earth magic going with it before it dove headlong into the river too. “I refuse you entry to the realm beyond this one. May you linger forever in the clutches of life while all others pass on without you.” The third soul to tear its way from me stole my connection to air magic as it went, its screams dying out as it plunged into the river. The raft bucked and rocked wildly beneath us, threatening to upend me into the icy water at any moment, the call of death growing ever louder as we sped down the rapids and the roar of a waterfall drew closer. The final soul was torn from my flesh, my fire guttering so I was left utterly empty in the wake of the magic my mother had stolen for me, gasping and choking on the foul truth of all I was and all I would...

Holy shit