Chapter 144: The Race Against Time

  XENOIS   I stood at the edge of the path, staring down at a scene that seemed to defile everything that I thought I knew about reality.   My son ---- Riley, who I'd been told was dead or dying somewhere in these woods ---- was lying on the rocks below, alive and breathing. Beside him knelt Thorne and a woman I didn't recognize, her hands still glowing with residual magical energy that made the hair on my arms stand on end.   My legs gave out completely, and I found myself sliding down the rocky slope without any regard for the cuts and bruises I was accumulating along the way. All that mattered was reaching Riley, holding him, confirming that this wasn't some cruel hallucination brought on by grief and desperation.   When I finally reached the bottom, I immediately scooped Riley into my arms, feeling the solid weight of his small body against my chest. He was real. He was alive. But he was also clearly injured, his skin pale and cold, his breathing shallow and labored.   My relief wa