“I. . . I don’t know.” I said. “Maybe we’re all wrong. Maybe it was just a coincidence.”
“You should at least try. Exhaust every possibility.”
“Give me a moment to think.”
Seth shrugged, rolling up his coat’s sleeves. “It’s not like I can go anywhere.”
Pressing a hand to my head, I paced through the trees, struggling to recall what I’d done. Magic came with intent. But I had not meant to stop the Empty. Not tried to survive it.
Whatever cursed magic had been bestowed upon me, it didn’t work like that.
Halting in my tracks, I reached for a different memory. A long time ago, a little girl had run through the woods, aimless and lost. Mother had abandoned me, and my father had never been in the picture. I’d been crying. I’d given up searching for her.
The Empty had appeared, reaching toward me like a warm embrace. At first, I’d tried to flee, but my legs couldn’t carry mefast enough to outpace its spread. Falling to my knees, I’d given up.
Given up.
Gasping, my eyes shot open. In the marshlands, I’d ceased fighting the keres and gone limp in their grasp. My life had never been worth anything; what did it matter if I died?
Panic had consumed me as I’d rushed for Percy outside Serifos, but only briefly. Once I’d realized I wouldn’t reach him, despondence had taken over. I’d launched myself at him, believing it a futile attempt that would see us both dead.
Jogging back to Seth, I approached the bounds of the Empty, reaching my hand towards its shadowed realm.
Fighting the Empty waspointless. I’d never save everyone, never push back enough to spare our lands, our people. To enter the void itself, I had tobecomeit. Empty myself of all feeling, all desire, all hope.
Trapped in the tiny hovel I called home, my days had drolled on without meaning. Every morning, I’d stare into the mirror, meet a hollow-eyed gaze, and drag my feet out the door.
All hope had fled the day I realized Ainwir wasn’t coming back. Embracing the Empty came as naturally as breathing.
“Aethra,” Seth called. “What are you doing?”
I didn’t answer. Spreading my fingers, I advanced toward the abyss. Realizing my intentions, Seth lurched off the tree, trying to stop me.
He didn’t reach me in time. Lifting my foot from the living world, I stepped into the void.
Silence enveloped me. A muted world bereft of color swaddled me in a suffocating embrace. Pain rattled through my limbs, as though my skin was coming unwound.
I didn’t want this to be like last time. I didn’t merely want to sustain Percy and me for a mere moment.
Hoping to dispel the Empty was pointless. But I wanted totry.
Light sparked on my fingertips and shot through the shadows. The sound of birds and howling wind burst to life as theabyss around me shattered. Where once a steep canyon plunged into the still sea, flowers grew beneath my feet.
“Maiden’s grace.” Seth cursed, eyes flashing around my pocket of safety.
“Stay close,” I called. “I don’t know if it’ll close behind me.
Whistling for Whisper to follow, Seth yanked Athena’s reins and joined my side. Walking forward, I let the magic stream forth. Seth had been right. Now that I understood its call, something roiled within me, a raging storm unable to be quelled.
Like a splitting sea, the Empty parted for us, pale blue flowers growing where once nothing had reigned. The black pall receded, and blue skies shone overhead. A grin spread across my face, admiring my pointless venture, and the magic only seemed to intensify in response.
A bridge of life extended across the chasm, far above the silent sea.
“Is there an end ahead?” Seth asked. “Can we reach the main road?”
“I don’t know,” I answered in a trance-like voice.
“It can’t be far,” he said, glancing behind us. “We’re headed away from the outpost. The Empty would have stopped, eventually.”
