“Your parents wouldn’t survive losing you, Amara.”
I bit my lip. People survived insurmountable grief. As long as my parents had each other—
“I wouldn’t either,” he murmured.
“That’s just your guilt over tossing me off thecupolarearing up.”
His pupils pulsed.
I made the spear gun reappear, then held it out in front of him. “Here. You’re surely better at shooting things than I am.”
“Amara . . .”
When he cupped my cheek, I took a step back. I needed to get my head straight. In a rush of folly brought on by getting a second chance at life, I’d kissed him, but unless I was certain I wanted to do it again, I was keeping my lips to myself. “I’d really like to get home, Remo.”
Lips thinning, he took the proffered weapon, then lifted it and shut one of his eyes. After a steadying breath, his finger flexed on the trigger, and the arrow soared, arcing through the cottony air, piercing the portal in its very heart before drifting past it and plummeting back into the squishy mud like a fallen star.
“It’s an optical illusion,” I murmured. “There’s no way out of here.”
“No, I think it’s real, but I think we may need salt to turn it solid.”
My eyes widened. “We left the bag in Frontier Land! We need to get back there. We’ll just ride the train, without getting off until—”
“Even if we had salt, I doubt that’d be enough to unlock the door from the inside.”
Despair crawled over my disappointment. I wanted to cry and scream. Both. I wanted to do both but did neither. “So we’re trapped.”
He handed me the spear gun. “Just for a little while longer.”
His optimism did nothing to improve my morale.
As I liquefied our tool, I started to shake so violently that my teeth chattered. “What if no one comes for us?”
He loosed another deep breath before raising a paltry smile, one I didn’t think he was feeling. “I’m the grandson of the asshole who built this place. He’s bound to figure out where I ended up.” Remo, to my knowledge, hadneverinsulted his grandfather. “I’ll admit, I’m surprised he hasn’t yet.”
Still, I trembled. I was sick of Gregor’s horrific playground and missed my parents and cousins. My grandparents and Nana Vee. I missed flying, swimming, fire. I missed getting dressed at the press of a button.
Remo stepped toward me and startled me with a hug, tucking my head underneath his chin and stroking my spine.
As I filled myself with his calm breaths and even heartbeats, I croaked, “I’m sorry you’re stuck in here because of me.”
His hands stilled on my back. “Not your fault.”
Felt like it somehow was.
“And although the location isn’t ideal, the company . . . I couldn’t have wished for a better partner-in-crime.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head.
It took everything in me not to crane my neck and give him access to my heart again, but using him to feel something other than despair wouldn’t have been fair. “Forced together because of treason, then stuck together because of a mistake. What a pair we make.”
He didn’t answer, just held me a little tighter, and I melted into him a little harder.
25
The Return
Although we walked side by side, we kept to ourselves, both of us lost in thought. Several times, I felt his eyes on me but kept mine on the forest floor until the shadow of tangled branches and leaves receded.
When we reached the cliff where the goldencupolaawaited, its door already propped open, Remo’s fingers rolled into stiff fists. I peered over the ledge to evaluate the feasibility of downclimbing the mountain. Too steep. Wouldwita-made rappelling gear be solid enough to carry us down?
