Abbi and Card were frozen too.
Card’s fingertips rested on Abbi’s shoulder, ready to pull her back through the portal in space he had opened.
Everything in the world was frozen.
Except Lula and me.
Dried blood tracked like tears from the corners of her eyes, catching her braid which had swung forward.The wildflowers we’d created with lost god power were still tucked in her braid, blood blackening the petals.
But in her hand was the magic pocket watch that could stop time, her thumb pressing the stem.
Clever, clever woman.
We only had a minute, had never been able to endure the stoppage of time any longer than that.
“We have to save Abbi,” I said.“We have to run.”
Lula smiled, but there were tears in her eyes.Her hand shook.“You aren’t strong enough to run.You aren’t fast enough.Neither am I.”
She was right.
I was exhausted to the point my vision was blurring.I couldn’t run.
For her to admit she couldn’t either, meant she was just as depleted as I was.
I lifted my hand and put it over hers, helping her keep time paused.
“I love you, Lula Gauge,” I said as I would always say.
“I love you, Brogan Gauge,” she said.
It was our hello.It was our pledge across too many lonely years.
And now, it was our good-bye.
“We’re here to kill the bastard,” I said, shifting our hold so it was my thumb on the watch stem instead of hers.“Pick up that damn book.”
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
Aminute can spin out in a flash, or it can contain infinities.
But however much time this minute contained, it was all we had left to finally have our revenge.
Lu picked up the book.She didn’t seem to notice her hands were blistered and burned.She opened the cover.
The page was a lost god spell.Not the violent one that had released the beast.It was the first one we’d cast to transform a simple bottle of water into wildflowers.
I didn’t know if we could cast the spell again.
But I knew exactly how I wanted to use it now.
I didn’t need the mirror.The spell had written itself into me, every syllable, every word, burned and permanent.
I just had to say each word within the seconds we had left.
All through in one.
I focused on the watch in my hand, on its magic that stopped time.
