The voice recording she left me the night she died is saved in my inbox. I’d always meant to download it onto my computer or send it to the cloud, but never got around to it. Not that it would matter now. It’s still on my phone, and if the phone is still alive with the portal, I might be able to listen to that message just one more time.
The portal has Arial trapped.
Gamalt will know what to do.
“Ah, I see that look on your very strange face. You want to help her, don’t you?”
Of course, but how?
“Gamalt said the portal can’t be opened.”
The white of her eyes glows a light blue. “Gamalt lies! That is what he does. He. Lies. The portal lives. It’s malleable. It can be opened.” She slips my phone back into her pouch. “Your friend could be saved.”
Though two rows separate us, I have the urge to parkour over them and grab her by the throat. I’m still not used to feeling this fighting urge, but I’m going to roll with it.
“What do you want from me?”
“There is the cooperation I was looking for. You will help me open the portal.”
Rolling my eyes, I wipe hair back from my face. “I can’t do that.”
“I think you can. You carry the cosmic energy inside you. It’s what changed you when you arrived. I watched as your hair shortened and your face became scattered with those dots. The clothing you wore became a better version than the original. While you lay there confused and helpless, you were becoming something else.”
They saw that happen? Gamalt didn’t mention it.
“How do you think those changes occurred? Your energy mixed with cosmic energy as you came through. I’ve heard about the possibility, but never in my time traveling portals have I seen it. It means your personal energy is very strong. And it means you are useful to me, and to your friend. Would you like to hear it again?”
She slips the phone out just enough and taps the screen.
“Fern? Fern, where the hell are you? I’m getting tired. So tired.”
Clenching my eyes, I try and hold back a tsunami of emotion, but it overwhelms me. Without thinking, I grab the edge of a long table and flip it. It crashes into the table beside it, items scattering and falling onto the floor.
The guards shout, their footsteps rushing from outside the door.
“What do you want me to do?” I hiss quietly.
“Meet me where you fell from the portal. When the three moons rise on the morrow.”
The guards rush in. Maneshha walks out. “We had a small accident. Fern will clean it.”
Like a terrible tornado, she’s suddenly gone, leaving quiet destruction in her wake.
It’s a trick, Fern. She’s tricking you.
That seems the most likely thing, but how would Maneshha know about Arial? How would she be able to recreate her voice so perfectly? There’s so much I don’t know about the Talarions. Gam is a cosmic manipulator. Maybe they can all manipulate reality in some way.
Yes, that has to be it. I can’t overreact and rush into anything.
The guards look over the mess, then to me. Putting my hands up in supplication, I heft the table back into place and begin picking up the objects. Gam hasn’t appeared, which is odd. I could tell he was nervous about leaving me with Maneshha.
“Where has Gamalt gone?”
The guard closest to me spares me a glance but draws it away without answering. Forgetting about the table, I try again.
“Has something happened?”
“It is no concern of yours.”
