Lillian looks relieved before she knocks over one of my pieces. “Checkmate.”
Damn it.
She laughs at my expression. When a strange bell begins to toll somewhere in the distance, Lillian stands, brushing more charcoal off her hands and beaming at me as I also get to my feet.
“That bell is mine. It means Sachar is ready for me. If you don’t mind seeing me off…”
I nod and then pause, glancing down at the makeshift chessboard that was such a big part of my melancholy childhood. “Can you take things from the vestibule into the Beyond?”
“I’m not sure.”
Worth a try anyway. I grab both queens from the chessboard, pocketing one and offering the other to her. “Something so you won’t forget me in the Beyond,” I mutter, feeling ridiculously sentimental.
Lillian laughs as we leave the hovel and walk back out into white nothingness.
“You’re not very forgettable, Maven. But if I can take it with me, I’ll treasure?—”
“Mom!”a girl's voice shouts in the distance.
Lillian’s eyes widen and fill with fresh tears as she whirls to face the direction from which we heard the voice. A moment later, the same curly-haired girl from the picture I saw on her nightstand skips into view, a big grin on her face.
She’s walking beside a tall, looming cloaked figure that I assume is my mother. But when they stop not far from us, the figure removes its hood, and I realize I’m looking at my mother’s twin brother.
Sachar.
The eternal judge of the Beyond has the same pitch black hair and eyes as my mother, as well as the same colorless skin and symmetrical, hard features. The only difference is his much shorter hair, his square jaw, and the fact that he doesn’t carrya scythe. His gaze falls on me, and there’s something incrediblypenetratingabout it, as if he sees everything about me all at once.
He says nothing as Lillian runs forward and scoops up Annabel, both of them weeping with joy. It’s a touching sight, and I’m genuinely happy for her.
But at the same time, my heart throbs strangely inside my chest.
I’m going to miss her so fucking much.
“Bye,” I whisper as Annabel pulls on Lillian’s hand, dragging her further into the whiteness.
Lillian looks back and waves one more time, a bright smile on her teary face.
I wave back.
Annabel beams over her shoulder, shouts a thank you, and just like that, they vanish into the white haze of the distance.
The bell stops tolling.
Several quiet moments later, tears are still trying to escape my eyes. I quickly take a deep breath before looking back at Sachar.
“Okay, Uncle Judge. Take me back.”
He shakes his head silently.
I tense, my words coming out sharp. “What the fuck do you mean, no? Syntyche said I could only be here briefly. It’s time for me to go.”
Sachar shakes his head again, but says nothing. His expression tells me nothing.
Shit. If he’s saying I can’t go back, my quintet is going to be so fucking pissed at me for leaving.
Am I about to have to fight the judge of the Beyond? I didn’t grab Cuttrina from the forest floor after killing Gideon, but Pierce is stashed in one of my boots. My hand is already itching toward it as I wonder if adamantine hurts divine beings.
But before I can attack my uncle and figure out a way back to the mortal realm by myself, someone clears his throat behind me.
