Kallie
My vision is hazy once I finally come to. Specks of light dance in front of me before slowly coming into focus. Odeyssa stands over me, her mouth moving at an unreasonable rate, but nothing reaches my ears—the ringing drowns out everything else. I try to sit up, but immediately regret it. My skull feels like it weighs a metric ton. Wincing with each movement, I finally get to an upright position and slowly look around, reorientating myself to get my bearings.
“What happened?” My voice comes out gravelly. I almost don’t recognize it.
Odeyssa puts her hand on my upper back, holding me steady. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll live, but what happened?” I ask again.
“We went through the wall?” she explains like a question. “And you just started convulsing,” she finishes gently, as if that would be enough to tip me over the edge. My eyes widen. She clearlylooks fine, but Voraxis… Despite the throbbing in my head, my eyes swing side to side, needing to see him.
“He’s fine,” Dessa assures, and my shoulders instantly sink with relief. “He just went to scout out the area,” she adds. But I’m way ahead of her.
Where are you?
Coming back now. You had me worried there for a minute.
I let out a chuckle.It’s gonna take a lot more than a wall of mist to get rid of me.
Calling this a forest is a bit of overkill. Dead, dry branches sprout from the ground, so brittle I’m worried they would snap with just a look. The ground lacks color—this whole place lacks color, actually. It’s a barren land that’s starting to repress any emotions other than the simmering rage that’s been festering just out of reach. The sky is coated in ominous clouds, not allowing the sun to penetrate through, casting the land in a dark and gloomy atmosphere. It’s disturbingly accurate but, at the same time, makes my skin crawl.
“Are you sure you’re alright? You look…different,” Odeyssa asks again, eyeing me warily.
“Besides the pounding in my head and the subtle ringing in my ears, I’m fine.” Always fine. But the truth is, my limbs feel heavy, and my chest is tight with the anxiety that something changed when I went through that wall. At the same time, it’s like there’s clarity. The fog that I didn’t know was coating my vision has been wiped away, and I’m seeing through a new lens.
Voraxis comes into view, the saddle still strapped to him, and when he lands, the accumulated dust bounces off the ground.
What did you find out?
There isn’t anything for miles. But I couldn’t see much through the trees, he states. But looking out into the beyond, I’m curious how far he went, because from where I’m standing, there isn’t anything resembling what he described. Just a barrenwasteland.
How are you feeling?
Why does everyone keep asking me that?This wasn’t the first time it happened, and I have a sinking suspicion it won’t be the last. Ignoring him, I turn toward Odeyssa and tell her what he found.
“Okay, so where is it exactly that we’re supposed to be going?” Why is she asking like I have a fucking clue?
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I bite, annoyance breaching the surface. I try to rein it in, but it’s like my fuse is shorter than normal. That might be due to the lapse in time, the torture…the impending doom. Take your pick, really. “Do you know how big this place is?”
“Nope. It’s like a mirage of sorts. I’ll be surprised if we make it back here at all.” Well, that’s comforting.
We all knew the risks of coming when we agreed—not that there was much of a choice—but still. Strangely, I don’t feel the weight of being confined. I fully expected, the moment I woke up, to be in such a blinding sea of panic that I couldn’t go through with it. But it seems the anxiety has passed—or it’s buried beneath all the other bullshit coming our way, but I’ll take the wins where I can get them.
“She said it was encased in something, right? Are we looking for an actual glass case? A tree trunk? A secret door in the ground leading to the depths of the realm?”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I let out a long, heavy sigh. “We’ll know it when we see it.” At least, I hope we do. Voraxis takes off, obviously done with all the bickering because it’s getting us absolutely nowhere.
We collectively decide it’s best if Odeyssa and I stay on foot, in case we see something on the ground, and Voraxis will stay close, flying high in the sky for a better viewpoint. But with each passing step, I fight to look behind me at the wall to freedom,wondering if this is a good idea or if we just replaced one prison for another.
For this to be considered a purgatory, there hasn’t been a single soul moping about. Just the three of us and a whole lot of nothing. Voraxis has flown down a few times to check in and also to make sure that we eat at least something as we continue making our way through the pits of Hell. But the deeper we go, the more I’m certain this is all just a hoax. My necklace isn’t here. It probably never was, and that whole speech—orprophecyas she put it—was all a bed of lies to trap us here forever.
“This is hopeless,” I tell Odeyssa, my voice booming off the surrounding space.
“Aslan knows what she’s talking about. It’s here. You just need to have a little faith.”
I scoff. “Faith? You’ve got to be joking.” My gaze quickly flicks to hers, and I catch the end of her eye roll. “Oh yeah, my bad. Am I being toodramaticfor you?”
“Oh my gods, Kallie! I get it. I understand the whole story, and what you went through, and blah, blah, blah. But there are—according to you—muchbigger things to worry about here.”
