I purposely don’t tell him about Ren or the Tainted, unsure if it’s safe or not, ifhe’ssafe or not. I shake my head and swallow down my fury, knowing it’s not the time or place, but the way all of this is going to make me distrust and doubt people who are like family just might be worse than anything that’s been done to me until now.
“What is it, Craith? What’s wrong?” My sister’s worried voice fills the call, and hearing it is both a soothing balm and a tightening fist around my heart.
Craith’s garbled response is met with a shocked gasp, and then the com screen whirls and tilts until familiar flame-colored hair and jade green eyes are staring back at me like they’ve seen a ghost. Enslee’s pale skin looks even paler, and exhaustion and grief sit heavy in her features.
“Is this real?” she whispers, pulling the screen closer. “Tell me this is real,” she demands with a pained wail.
“Hey, Ens,” I greet, my voice cracking with emotion as tears well in my eyes.
“Ever!” she cries in answer, her own tears spilling freely down her face. “Where are you? Are you hurt? We’ll come get you right now. Is Ren there?”
Enslee starts barking orders like the born leader she is, and I can hear scurrying and running in the background as people rush to follow her commands. Swiping at my eyes, I clear my throat, trying to get a hold of my runaway emotions before they veer off even more than they already have. As much as I’d love for Enslee to come roaring to the rescue, it’s not that easy.
“Ens…Ens!” I snap, needing her to focus back on me.
Jade green eyes once again meet mine, and something in my face thankfully stops Enslee in her tracks.
“I don’t know how much time I have, and I need you to listen, Ens. Renatta’s gone. They killed her. I got away, but I was hurt. I ended up in a hospital in Lairwood, and they called in The Horde. I’m going to try to shake them, but if I can’t…”
“Oh, Ever,” Enslee murmurs, distraught, her face falling as the shock of everything I just threw at her settles. “Ren…” The name is a broken lament I feel in the depths of my soul. “Fuck!” Enslee roars, and I can tell it takes all of her effort not to throw the com in her hands as rage takes over. “Someone tell me where the fuck Lairwood is!”
“It’s on the other side of the divide, Ens,” I tell her flatly, refusing to let any of the despair I feel bleed into my voice.
“The Horde?” Enslee asks, like she’s hoping somehow that she misheard.
I nod solemnly. “They were on their way when I snuck out of the hospital. If they’re not there already, they will be soon.”
Paper rustles in the background and I can just make out someone spreading an old map. I can picture the others all frantically scouring it, and Enslee’s focus drifts from me as several people start to talk and strategize. I listen carefully, hoping to hear something—anything—that might help me.
“Can you get to Feyer?” a deep voice asks, and my throat gets tight when I recognize whose it is.
“It’s good to hear you, Vero,” I tell him, a small smile sneaking across my face.
“Not as good as it is to hear you,” he replies, his tone growing thick. “If you can get to Feyer, I can send your Flight to get you from there. Mizzen Pass is your best bet, but you’ll need supplies and you’ll need—”
The door to the bathroom opens with a squawk. I search for the mute button on the com bracelet, but I don’t immediately see it and instead press a finger to my lips. Vero instantly goes quiet, and I hold my breath as my pulse starts to race.
“Korinne is so full of shit. She just has to be the center of attention,” a woman sneers, the sound of multiple pairs of heels clip-clopping across the floor filling the bathroom.
“Dragons? Is she serious? I’d believe she hitched a ride over here on a fucking unicorn faster than I’d believe she saw a bunch of dragons in Lairwood.”
Like crashing waves against a sand castle, the stranger’s words pulverize all the time I thought I had. The moths that have been flitting around in my stomach suddenly turn to wasps.
Snide laughter bounces around the bathroom, and someone enters the stall next to mine, closing the metal door behind them with a thunk.
“‘I swear, guys! There were over two dozen of them. They stepped through a jump portal that appeared out of nowhere, got into lirocars and sped off,’” another girl mocks, and everyone starts tittering again.
“Like she’s ever seen a lirocar in her life! Those airboats cost more than this whole territory. But of course, Gio and Hurley are eating out of her hand, just lapping her shit up. Stupid simps.”
I feel the blood drain from my face as I tune out the rest of the gossiping and lock eyes with Enslee. Tears shine in her stare and she shakes her head like the movement itself will erase everything we both just heard.
The Horde is here.
I keep silent as the women piss, bitch, and wash up. Enslee mutes the line from her end, and I watch as she snaps and snarls at her advisors. My stomach aches with simmering fear and frustration, and it starts to boil over into my chest. When the bathroom door screams again in protest and the herd of haters exits, Enslee’s now alone in what looks like her private quarters, and there’s a hard look of resignation in her light green gaze.
“If The Horde doesn’t have a Thrasher…” I start, and Enslee closes her eyes, a tear slipping down her face.
“They’ll have a Thrasher, Ev. If they’re anything, it’s prepared. They’re probably already tracking you.”
