“What?” Nia sat up. “You mean fae, as in Faeries and such?”
A smile. “Yes. Aethan and I had to go over. I needed to heal a tear in the veils between the demon world and the Fae one.”
Yes, her sister had already explained about being the Curantii, what it entailed, and how it made Echo weaker by drawing on her life essence, and it worried Nia.
Echo’s smile dimmed. “It wasn’t easy, with Aethan and the Fae fighting a horde of demons who broke through. The negative energy took a toll on me. He tried to be there with me since I’m at my most vulnerable during those healings. I lose focus of what’s around me. But with those monsters coming from every side, he had to kill them to keep me safe…”
Nia gaped, stunned, as Echo continued. “I must have fallen into a coma. It’s how my healing sleep works. Aethan said he found me in the forest, a short distance from where I was psychically repairing the tear. I don’t recall anything, only that I’d awakened back in the castle. Anyway, Nate helped restore my soul’s energy. He has the ability to do so. Yet, I still don’t feel like everything is right.”
Nia leaned forward, studying Echo’s drawn features. It felt surreal, like looking in the mirror, except for their eyes and hairstyles. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Our family finally being together helps.” A glimmer of a smile.
Nia glanced at the shore and rose. “Let’s go for a walk. It’s safe here, right?”
“Yeah, it is.”
She hoped the stroll would invigorate her sister and maybe take her own mind off Lore’s fate.
Her cell beeped. Nia removed it from her parka pocket. Saia.
It’s okay. Call when you can, as long as I know you’re okay.
Nia sent a heart emoji and slipped the phone back into her pocket.
They left the boathouse and ambled along the beach, their booted feet crunching through snow and pebbles. While Echo had told her everything from her first meeting with Aethan to her dying and being reborn, she knew little about their brother.
“Nate said he isn’t psionic and mentioned something about a curse of our ancestors. Sorry, I barely paid much attention at the time, with my mind in a mess about Lore…” She stuck her chilled hands in her pockets. “He said there’s time to fill me in about everything once all this is all over.”
“Don’t apologize,” Echo murmured as they clambered over a cluster of boulders on the shore, avoiding pockets of snow. “We understand.”
“Echo…” Nia frowned. “I know Nate’s otherworldly. How did that happen?”
“It’s another long story, and best to ask him.” She pushed her overlong bangs away from her eyes. “No, maybe Ely would be better. He’ll probably give you the CliffsNotes version?—”
A disturbance in the frigid air stopped them in their tracks. Michael took form in front of them. “Rania, come with me.”
She stilled, blood thundering in her ears. “Lore?”
He nodded.
Echo gave her a quick hug, pulling her out of her frozen state.
With a touch of his hand to hers, the chilly air around them spun, and Nia shut her eyes and prayed. Michael wouldn’t be so cruel as to show her Lore’s dead body?—
They emerged on top of a frigid mountain blanketed with snow. Her teeth chattered at the freezing air, and she hastily stuck her hands in her parka pocket.
Dawn slowly broke, painting the night sky with rich shades of oranges and yellows, giving her a little more clarity of the sheer isolation of the meandering mountain range.
Michael glanced around the plateau and sighed. “He’s not here.”
“Wait, wait, you found himhere?”
“Yes. I kept an eye out for him, so I’d be aware the moment he entered the earthly plane again. It took a while to find him, though. Come.”
He flashed them to a gravelly slope carpeted in daisy-like flowers with pointy white petals and trees that appeared like relics from an ancient forest—tall and imposing, seeming to defy gravity with their towering trunks. They grew sporadically on the incline. The air here was brisk but not as icy as on the plateau, and a little dry.
“Where are we?” she asked as Michael scanned the mountain.
