The soft dirt disappeared, replaced by what felt like polished slate. He had to step carefully to keep his balance. The gold line was brighter there, though Jesse couldn’t tell if that was because he was in utter darkness, or because he was closer to Emma. There were other strands of magic, other disruptions, closing in around him. Whatever Castelain was up to, it wasn’t just draining John. Jesse pushed all of that out of his mind.
Each step was heavy, like the air was thickening, or he had weights tied to his ankles. A part of him realized it was neither of those things—he was using too much energy for this little trip. He wouldn’t be able to stay much longer, but he was not going to leave until he found Emma. Even if that meant he had to crawl through the cave on his stomach.
He came t
