Chapter 22

Rounding the corner to the summoning hall, the air grew thick with the metallic tang of blood and the ozone stench of spent mana. A dark-clothed silhouette crashed into the opposite wall with a sickening thud, sliding down the stone in a heap of broken limbs. "Ethan!" Patrick Miller's voice tore through the gloom, a jagged shout that lacked his usual calm. Ethan didn't stand. He slumped against the masonry, his chest heaving with shallow, wet rattles. Blood bubbled at the corners of his...