Everyone looked at her except for Vera, who kept picking at the lock, tongue trapped between her lips in concentration. Atheia didn’t waste any more time. She gathered power around her—tendrils of dark and light and death—and snarled as she angled it toward them, ready to unleash it.
The lock clicked open. One of the prisoners burst out of the cell, putting herself directly in the line of fire of Atheia’s magic, hands extended out, yelling at her to stop. It was Nisha. Somewheredeep within her, Romie screamed as Atheia moved to unleash her magic, delighting in the way Nisha simply closed her eyes, as if accepting her own death.
“I love you, Romie Brysden,” the girl whispered, opening her eyes again to peer at her. “You said to tell you when we woke, so here I am, begging you to hear me.”
The magic at Atheia’s fingertips died as those words reached Romie like a hand pulling a drowning girl up onto solid land. All at once, Romie was present enough to wrest control of her own body, pushing Atheia’s consciousness down, down, down.
“What did you say?” Romie croaked, stumbling over her own voice.
Nisha’s face shone with bewilderment. A sob escaped her lips as she reached for Romie, hugging her close. “I love you.” She said it again and again in Romie’s ear like a prayer, impossible words Romie had heard in a dream and had stopped hoping she would ever hear in waking. Words that had coaxed her out from the unfathomable depths Atheia had pushed her into.
Romie’s arms wound tightly around Nisha, fearing this was all going to be swept away from her at any second. Wanting to hold on to her forever yet knowing forever didn’t exist. “I love you, too,” she whispered, nestling her nose in Nisha’s hair, breathing her in, branding this moment into her very soul so she would have this, at least; so she could revisit this in her dreams, again and again.
Atheia’s rage was growing inside her, threatening to overthrow her control. Romie pulled away, her gaze landing on the woman hovering close who looked so much like Emory.
“You’re Adriana,” Romie whispered. Or Luce, as Kai had called her when he’d told Romie she’d been helping him with the escape plan.
Emory’s mother gave her a wobbly smile. “Can you believe the nightmare boy actually came through for us?”
A disbelieving laugh bubbled past Romie’s lips. The thought that this had all started with Romie and Kai venturing into the sleepscape together to find the epilogue that had been in Adriana’s possession…
“Where is Kai?” Romie asked, noting his absence.
“He’s taking care of the Eclipse wing,” Vera said with a crooked smile. “Along with some help.”
“And Baz?”
“He’s fine,” the Luaguan boy said. At Romie’s quizzical brow, he added, “Sorry, I’m Rusli. The Illusionist who’s going to get you all out of here undetected.”
The sudden reality of it all fell in Romie’s stomach like a weight. She turned to Nisha. “You have to get Emory out.” She took the key that hung around her neck and pressed it into Nisha’s hand, telling them where Emory was being held.
Nisha frowned at her. “You’re coming with us.”
Romie shook her head, holding back tears. “I can’t. Atheia’s already fighting for control, and I can’t have her ruining your escape.”
“No,” Nisha said. “I’m not leaving you.”
But Romie had already backed up into the open cell, motioning at Vera to lock her in.
Nisha launched herself at the bars. “Romie, don’t do this.”
“I have to.” She felt Atheia clawing inside her, getting closer and closer to the surface. She wouldn’t be able to hang on much longer, not against the will of a deity. “This won’t hold her for long, but it’ll give you all a head start.”
There was the click of a lock. Romie reached through the bars for Nisha’s face, wiping away her tears, forcing the girl of her dreams to look at her one last time. “I love you,” Romie said again, desperately holding on to herself long enough to go in for a hasty, fervent kiss, to feel the salt of tears on her tongue and the silky feel of hair through her fingers.
Romie broke away with a frustrated gasp as Atheia’s consciousness began to dawn. “Go!” she yelled at Nisha, at all her friends.
The last thing she saw was the girl she loved tearing down the corridor with the others before Atheia took control once more.
In the confines of her own mind, Romie couldn’t help but smile at the luck she’d had to have this one win.
Luck. Or perhaps something greater.
52EMORY
SHE SAW NO ONE INher sleep after that first visit from her ghosts. There was no reprieve to be found here from the pain she experienced in waking, no one to lean on but her own self and the darkness that was pressing in at the edges of this endless, empty nightmare.
Sometimes, that darkness taunted her with words meant to be encouraging. “Don’t give up hope,” it said. “We’ll find a way out of this.”
