I pull it over my head and shove it in my pocket with the other half of the stone on my mother’s necklace.
They scorch a hole straight through my pants, my leg burning as the necklaces fall to the carpet with athud—the sound of only one stone hitting. One half yellow, half purple stone. No more jagged edges. Not even two chains anymore. I stare at my once most beloved possession fused with the symbol of motherly rejection, hardly aware of anything else as I lift it from the floor and fold my hand around it, already cold. The room fades into darkness. A voice echoes through the hollow cave forming in my heart.
Chapter 5
EVER
It's about time. Thank you, Ever.
Wonderful. Now I’m hearing voices to go with the visions. I’ve lost it.
You’re not crazy.
I might prefer to be, I mutter in my thoughts.Who have I decided you are?
Ametrine, the creator of this world.
Of course. I see death and hear the goddess of creation. What a cruel, poetic mind I have.
Oh, cut the sass,she says lightly.You’ve got my death stone tucked in your hand. That’s no accident.
Death stone?
It’s where the soul goes after death.
I rub my thumb over the surface. It’s the one thing I’ve always known. A constant. Something I could trust.Is this what causes my visions?
No, but itisrelated to your essence.
My essence is like a curse!I snap, all patience with my hallucination lost.
She drops her soothing tone.Your essence is needed to save the world I created!
Apparently, I’m more desperate to find an alternate reality than I thought. But not this one. Fumbling through the darkness surrounding me, I force my hand open. The gray light of the room returns as I fasten the chain around my neck, the fused stone heavy on my chest.
Eli tries to break into my mind with those eyes of his. I look away, but he still slips deeper than I allow.
The door creaks, and we turn our backs to my mother. Milo peeks into the room, sliding his gaze to my legs, likely confirming I’ve managed to put on pants. “We have a problem.”
“Worse than this?” Eli gestures toward the bloody mess behind us.
“They’re looking for us.”
“Who?” Eli’s muscles tense, deepening the definition along his arms… that I shouldn’t be noticing.
“Everyone in Sonnet. They’re searching the woods for the Centress and all of us.” Milo grips his hair, blonde tips poking past his knuckles. “They cut off Sola’s hands to sever her magic, then left her alive as a message. Coen found her like that.”
“Fuckers.” Eli punches his palm hard enough to make me jump.
“They won’t stop until they find me. Andher.” My mother stares me down. “Vaile are trained to unite and fight against traitors.”
“Coen says we have to move now before they’re everywhere,” Milo says, his voice cracking with urgency.
Eli’s jaw shifts. His thumb taps the blade of his knife at his side. Nerves. The kind he doesn’t like to show. But I see them. And his pain, how he’s devising a plan to protect his friends. “Get your shit and find Sypher and Kaleida. We’re going to Caldera.”
“What? No,” I say. Not the right plan. “I’m not going back there.”
“You are.”
