Chapter 39 - Above Cursed Winds

Every step brought him closer to death. Each time he resisted, trying in vain to turn from this suicidal compulsion and rescue Zia. But the voice in his head—Sehrin’s voice—urged him onward.

Every word he’d spoken after Zia’s arrival had been under Sehrin’s coercion.

Harsh wind continued to whistle through the open pane of glass above the rocky outcrop below, and his feet treacherously carrying him toward certain death.

Another step. Another. Another.

Sehrin’s gleeful voice in Jeremiah’s head was maniacal and cruel, the Raeth giddy at the thought of Jeremiah’s unwilling suicide.

Knowing Zia would be caught under Sehrin’s spell next, that she wouldn’t be able to defend herself from the monster that was making him a puppet, threatened to tear his heart in two. What he wouldn’t give to apologize to her, to tell her it wasn’t her fault. If he could only share one more thing with her, he’d assure her that he loved her.

Another step, Jeremiah.

And then he was standing on the precipice. His feet balanced precariously on the ledge, the broken glass crunching beneath the soles of his shoes. Wind battered against his emotionless face as Zia’s sobs tightened his chest.

This was it. This was his death.

And he hadn’t even told Zia he loved her.

His heart broke yet again, knowing she would never realize it. He’d never get to say goodbye to Rukia, or play peek-a-boo with Isaak again. Rona and Gideon would forever believe he’d been fundamentally broken by the night of Gideon’s near assassination. He wouldn’t be able to see if Myko’s sessions with Isaiah would work or finish the tiling on Zia’s basement bathroom.

And most of all, he would never see Zia’s face again. Of all his regrets, that one cut the deepest.

Inside his head, Sehrin’s voice spoke once more: Jump, Jeremiah. Jump to your death.

And he did.

Zia’s scream shattered the quiet. Full of unrelenting torment, it echoed off buildings, reverberating against the volcanic rock below. Jeremiah fell, tumbling through the air with no trace of his Elemental ability. If he hadn’t been dormant, he would’ve been able to stop himself. As it was, he was a ship without a sail.

Black, twisted juts of rock rose up to meet him, and in the last moment, he closed his eyes.