She rises into a partial crouch, as if ready to spring back into the fray. “Then I need to transmute the bomb here. Now.”
Her words clear my mind, and it takes all my will to force myself back to the present. Everything in me wants to travel to Aspen through the Bond to ensure he’s all right, but I committed myself to this job. One that is the difference between life and death for everyone on the isle. Swiping errant tears from my cheeks, I take a deep breath and refocus on our task.
“We need to get to it first,” I say. It takes me a second longer to comprehend what else she said. “Wait, when you saynow, do you meannownow? As in from the airship?”
Her expression turns hard, determined, fixated on the rear shaft. “Yes.”
“Don’t you need to be at the wall to transmute the bomb?”
“No. This is actually better, and I know exactly what I must do.”
Pulling myself upright, I glance at the rear gondola, still teeming with armed soldiers. Half the crew is there, guarding the gangplank, our only path to the shaft. “What will you do?”
She lifts her hand and the Chariot within. “I’m going to transport myself straight to the shaft and pull myself into the hull. I’ll need you to distract the crew so they don’t see me.”
“Wait,” I hold out my hands as a better idea comes to me. “I can enter the Twelfth Court and go myself. Time slows when I’m there. I can make it past the soldiers before they see me coming.”
“No.” I’ve never seen Estel look so stern; not even when I manipulated her into bringing me up here. “I must be the one to get it. As soon as I touch the Parvanovae, I’ll begin the enchantment. You must distract them only long enough for me to climb up. Once I’m out of sight, use the Chariot and get back to the bluff. Don’t wait a second longer. Understand?”
I open my mouth to say yes, but a chilling thought dawns on me. “If I use my Chariot to return to the bluff, how will you get back? You’re going to utilize your Chariot to transport yourself to the shaft, which means you’ll have used it twice.”
Estel’s eyes turn down at the corners. “I’m not coming back, Evelyn. Not from any of this. I never was.”
Suddenly, it all makes sense—how ambiguous she’s been at every mention of the enchantment, masking her expression behind her swirling particles. She was never planning on surviving this. “I don’t understand.”
She gives me a sad smile. “I discovered why my sister didn’t destroy the Parvanovae like she said she would. I can’t transmute the bomb unless I detonate it. To guide its transmutation, I must absorb the blast, become one with it. My final act of consciousness will be to fuel the energy with my intent, transmuting it into protection. It’s the only way the enchantment will work.”
“And that…will destroy you?
“It will, but I’m ready. I’vebeenready.”
I shake my head, eyes wide. “You can’t! You should have told us. We never would have agreed to let you do this.”
“This is my choice, Evelyn. You can’t take this from me. I’m sorry.”
All further arguments are stripped from my throat as her words resonate deep inside me, echoing against ones said by my mother when I spoke to her in the Twelfth Court beneath the sea.
You cannot take that moment from me, Evelyn. It is mine, not yours.
Acknowledging them both, I nod.
Her eyes glaze with shimmering light as she places a hand on my shoulder. “I’m glad to have known you, Queen Evelyn of Fire.”
I nearly choke on a sob. “I’m glad to have known you too.”
“Promise me you’ll leave as soon as I enter the hull.”
With a deep breath, I force the words from my lips. “I promise.”
Without another word, she opens the lid of the Chariot and disappears into golden light.
I turn around and face the rear gondola, glancing above the edge of my hiding spot. A flash of light ignites inside the shaft over the gondola. One of the men makes to turn toward it, but I rise to my feet with a roar. Filling my palms with fire, I draw their attention to me, connecting to the element of air to send orbs of flame down the gangplank. My diversion has them thoroughly preoccupied, and I only have a second to duck before they return my attack with gunfire.
When I peek back over the side wall, I catch only a glimpse of a shimmering foot. Then nothing; she’s inside the hull. It takes everything in me not to charge the crew and follow her up that shaft. To respect the promise I made. Breaths harsh and shallow, I crouch back down behind the side wall and reach into my pocket. My fingers tremble as I flip open the lid of the Chariot and fill my mind’s eye with the bluff.
The golden light swallows me whole, vibrating, humming, growing, then blinks out, leaving me surrounded by salty air at the edge of the bluff. Heart hammering against my ribs, I turn away from the sea to the northwest, where Grenneith should be. I find no sign of the airship from here, but still search the skies. What I’m looking for, I don’t know…
Then a shudder vibrates through me, through everything, like a wave of sound washing over the land. A blindingly bright light appears in the sky, brighter than the sun.
