I swipe my arm in an arch in front of my body, a shadow shield forming in front of us as dust and grit pelts against it. The ground stops shaking, and Winnie turns to face us as I lower the shadows. The strange, uneasy feeling remains—whatever wards that protect this entrance are clearly still in place.
We all approach again as Winnie presses her hand against the now open cave. “There’s something … tangible,” she says. Her hand seems to meet an invisible wall. “It reminds me of one of your shadow shields. But invisible.”.
Beyond the invisible wall, there seems to be more forest. “What now?” Chiyo asks.
“I think … I can bring down this ward. It’s?—”
“A light shield,” Alys signs at the same time I do.
Neris pokes at the space with her finger as Osheen steps aside.
“Oksana had me break through hers often. This one probably takes runes much like the ones to get into the Verge. The problem is that itcouldreject us depending on what exactly it’s warded to do.” My pulse quickens.
“Well, that’s just great,” says Ava. She gestures toward it as if inviting me to a cup of tea.
I take a deep breath, imagining the light falling away, imagining us on the other side. I remember what Alys and Dayfyd, even Haruka, said about my birth mother. That she had an affinity for runes. Perhaps I do too.
I close my eyes and press my hands against the tangible empty space—symbols come to mind, and I draw them with my finger in the space until the strange feeling begins to dissolve, until my hand passes through nothing but air instead of meeting resistance.
My body grows tired, my head woozy as I step back, blinking. Winnie is the first to move forward again, waving an arm through the archway. Her face is ecstatic. “You did it,” she says.
I smile back wearily. “Wedid it.”
Gathering our horses again, we step through the now fully open wall to what feels like an entirely different realm. I wave my arm to put up fresh wards that’ll likely need more strengtheninglater, but Alys gives my shoulder a small squeeze and says, “Well done, sweetling. That was impressive.”
Green mountains fill the backdrop, a large waterfall cascading in the distance into a wide, winding river that seems to never end. A gentle mist coats the forest, bright unblighted leaves filling out the treetops and colorful fields of wildflowers all around. On the other side of the forest, a tree towers above the rest, its trunk wider than any I’ve seen before.
The tree from our dreams.
My gaze lingers on it before I turn my attention to the sky. It’s the clearest blue, not a cloud in sight. Everything is almost ethereal.
In fact, this place seems unreal, supernatural within its own right. We all look around in stunned silence until Neris asks, “Is this the Otherworld?”
“I don’t think so,” I say. “But it certainly feels different.”
We roam our surroundings, and I numbly walk toward the stream to fill my waterskin. This journey was so much longer and filled with even more obstacles and dangers than any of us imagined. My heart aches with the realization that it may be quite a while yet before I see Taig again. And as much as I try to keep my thoughts off Tiernan, I simply can’t. I know Taig’s being well taken care of, but I’m uncertain of the state of my Killjoy.
Something tells me he’s not dead. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking. Perhaps it’s my powers. But I hold on to it—a little beacon of hope.
Ava suggests we set up camp and investigate this new land tomorrow. We split up the tasks of setting up camp, Chiyo and Osheen going off to fish in the river, the rest of us setting up the tents Murtagh supplied us. The sun dips low and a warm glow of orange settles over the otherworldly land.
Briefly, I catch Osheen’s gaze as he returns with a large catch of fish. He smiles at me, and for a moment, I consider holdingon to the anger and resentment. But instead, I tentatively smile back at him. As we gather around the fire, the mouth-watering aroma of broiled fish filling the air, Ava leaps to her feet.
“Someone’s here,” she signs.
Chapter 70
They tellme I slept feverishly for days while they sailed in small fishermen’s boats, unperturbed, around the coast of Erleya. How they got them, no one tells me, but I wake up in a strange home that I don’t know. In the Grounds, of all places.
I come to with a gasp, and Odgar and Briony rush to my side as pain and exhaustion press in on me. It’s not as bad as back in Paramount, but I burst into tears regardless. Odgar holds me in his arms and promises me it’ll be alright before Briony’s healing light puts me under again.
The next time I wake, my mind is hazy, but we borrow horses from the kind family who’d allowed us to stay with them and travel northward. Odgar and I share a horse, as does Valdis and Seth, while Briony leads, following an apparenttugin the right direction that she cannot explain.
My powers slowly return as we travel, a small flicker of my flame, but the rest of me feels exhausted. None of us speak much as we simply ride onward—for as long as our horses can tolerate, for as long as we can keep going.
Every pause in our travels leaves us fearing we’ll be discovered and taken to Paramount or killed on sight. And indeed, as we stop for a moment as night falls, torches spark tolife around us. It all happens so fast—arrows flying, Briony and Odgar deflecting with their magics before I’m practically thrown onto the horse by Odgar.
The horse is already running, and there’s a scream stuck in my throat as Odgar retrieves his axe from a man’s chest and sprints to catch up with the steed. He manages to leap onto the horse while it’s in motion, while Briony, Valdis, and Seth mount up again and follow along. Arrows continue to pursue us, a few whizzing past my head, tearing a screech from me.
