“Dammit!” Riley yelled. “We have to get him out of the rain!”
I tightened my grip on the bars, watching the witchcops gather him up. The gates hummed under my hands, and I stepped back as they opened.
“I don’t understand,” Riley whispered to me, taking my arm.
Before I could answer, I returned to Blue Orchard.
“Shit…” I groaned, falling to my knees in the snow.
“Welcome back, Sunshine One.”
Piper had pretty much returned to her normal rotting self, sitting upright.
She regarded me with her violet stare and a sheepish grin.
“What do you want?” I snapped. “To whine about how your little plan failed again?” I showed her my new marks.
She cackled. “Silly, silly, silly. I’m here to elaborate on the news The Star just shared. Or should we call him The Impostor Star?”
My throat closed around a comeback.
Preston. He’s… He’s…
This couldn’t be real. HewasThe Star.
“The voice I hear on the wind tells me she is in another Coldharbour,” the hag said. “Waiting over there, a dead thing, a lost thing, offering to share herpower with me. I can be her salvation. I can mark her return to glory in your version of the city, not that other one.”
My brain performed its best washing-machine-at-full-spin impression. “What the fuck?”
“I always believed I needed The Sun, The Moon, and The Star to be free of this prison. Only now I see the bigger picture, and you will set me free by affecting a massive change. By allowing her in when you find the real Star. She felt the touch of your city and now she hungers for… You will see.”
I languished in my confusion, my tongue frozen. I couldn’t speak, only listen to this soul-wrenching revelation tumble from her lips.
“Your brother is in a parallel world. A place not dissimilar to this one, but also with many significant differences. Over there, you are not you. Over there, I’m long dead.” That made her laugh.
This couldn’t be right. This couldn’t be real.
Someone wake me up!
“He used a doorway I cannot find, The Real Star. Maybe Sweetvoice can scry for it with the help of the impostor. After all, he is a part of the true Preston.” Another cackle. “Aren’t these exciting times, Isaac? You will go to this other Coldharbour to bring your brother back because you must. In doing so, you will allow my mysterious new friend to enter this reality.” She clapped excitedly. “The days of fun, fun, fun will soon begin. And all I have to do is sit back and wait. How wonderful!”
She threw her head back in a mighty cackle, leaving me in my numbness, unable to wrestle with any of this.
Preston in a parallel world?
A mysterious friend? Theshethe hag kept banging on about?
A different version of Coldharbour and of me?
No. She was playing games. She had to be.
Riley and Drake arrived, the delay Piper inflicted on Mind Sharing still in place.
“Isaac,” my little brother said. “What?—”
Starlight swirled, swarming me then peeling back like opening drapes to reveal an empty room with a mattress on the floor, a tall lamp glowing in the corner.
Unseen starlight. Just like my dream.
