“Because subtlety has never been Candace’s strong suit,” I reply, watching the fog roll in from the ocean like a mystical red carpet. “And she might want to shove us off the cliff should the mood strike. Besides, this place has history for us. I earned my wings here, remember? I took a swan dive off that cliff and discovered I could fly.”
“Right. You realize I died here once. And Gage fell here, too. Chloe’s body was found buried at the base. And you nearly died here as well. Starting to see a pattern?”
“Devil’s Peak—where the Oliver boys come to meet and greet the Grim Reaper, and the girls of Paragon discover their true potential. We should put that on a tourism brochure.”
Logan sighs my way. “Do you think she’ll show up before we graduate? Again?”
“She’ll show when she feels like it. And she will show. We both know my mother never misses an opportunity for dramatic entrances and cryptic conversations.”
As if summoned by my words, the air in front of us begins to shimmer and twist, coalescing into the familiar figure of the wily Caelestis we know and almost always love. Almost.
The wind picks up to hurricane speeds, and Candace materializes as if she’s stepping through an invisible doorway, her golden hair catching the strange blue light from the clouds above. She’s wearing that expression I know so well—the one that says she’s three steps ahead of everyone else and enjoying every wicked minute of it.
“My children,” she says, spreading her arms like she’s welcoming us to some kind of celestial family reunion. “Thank you for coming.”
“Like we had a choice,” I mutter, earning a sharp look from those crystal knowing eyes.
“There are always choices, Skyla. That’s rather the point of our current situation.”
Logan steps forward, and I can see him mentally preparing for battle. “Candace, we need to get home. This whole anchor experiment isn’t working out so well.”
“Isn’t it?” She tilts her head with the kind of innocent curiosity that immediately puts me on high alert. “I think it’s working exactly as intended.”
“Intended to do what?” I ask. “Destroy everyone’s lives while we’re here? Turn my stepbrother into a motorcycle gang wannabe? Make Gage think he needs to entertain Chloe Bishop with his baseball bat? Because that’s what’s going to happen if we hang out here for another second. And yes, we’re well aware of the fact that we can’t really change anything. But honestly? We’ve already changedeverything.”
My mother’s smile is serene and completely infuriating. “You’re focusing on the small picture, my love. Don’t forget, I’m maintaining Celestra’s power balance.”
“Power balance,” Logan repeats slowly. “What exactly does that mean?”
I’m with Logan. I, too, want to read between the lines, but when it comes to my mother, even the lines have lines, and nothing is in a language I can understand.
“It means ensuring that the celestial realm remains stable,” Candace replies with the kind of vague authority that makes me want to throttle her. “Your presence in this timeline serves a greater purpose.”
“Which is?” I press for details that I already know will never come.
“Preventing catastrophic disruption to the natural order.”
Oh, good grief. Logan and I exchange a glance. Only one thing is clear: Candace Messenger is a master at talking in circles. And she’s taken us for idiots—because apparently, we are.
“Okay, but here’s the thing,” I say, crossing my arms and channeling every ounce of teenage stubbornness I can muster without meaning to. “We’re done. Logan and I want to go back to our own time, to our own children, to a future where we haven’t demolished the past like a house of cards lost in a time-traveling tornado.”
“Candace, we can’t light drive back. We’ve tried,” Logan adds. “And considering you’re the one who brought us here, we’d like for you to return us to where we belong.”
My mother’s expression doesn’t change, but something dangerous flickers in her eyes. “The temporal barriers are in place for your protection.”
“Our protection from what?” I demand, shocked that she’s all but admitted to locking us into a past we’re not thrilled with and throwing away the key.
“From making choices that could unravel everything you hold dear.”
Logan growls. “Everything we hold dear is sitting in our future, probably wondering where their parents disappeared to,” he says, his voice tight with frustration. “Our kids, Candace. Your grandchildren. Do you remember them? Do they even exist anymore?”
I suck in a breath and shoot him a look for even going there.
Of course, they exist. They do, don’t they?
My mother glowers at him as if Logan himself weren’t going to exist after one more outburst like the last. “They are safe and sound in the future you left them in. What you need to focus on is fulfilling your purpose here.”
“And what purpose is that, exactly?” I ask. “Because so far, all we’ve accomplished is making everyone miserable and creating new problems that didn’t exist before.”
