Silence settled over the room like a storm waiting to break.
No one moved.
No one even breathed.
Yemi was the first to look away from the grimoire. Her eyes traveled slowly around the room until they landed on me.
"She isn't exaggerating," she said quietly. "Soul anchoring isn't just another protection spell. If anything interrupts the ritual..." She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "...your spirit could become untethered."
"Meaning?" Brody asked.
Yemi swallowed.
"You wouldn't wake up."
Aurora's face drained of color.
"No."
"Aurora—"
"No." She stepped closer to me, shaking her head. "We're not doing this. We'll find another way."
"There isn't another way," Yemi replied.
"There has to be."
"If there was," Yemi said, "I'd have found it."
The room fell silent again.
I looked toward the windows of the boarding house. Outside, the late afternoon sun painted the trees gold. In a few hours it would disappear behind the horizon, taking our only chance with it.
