“What’s happening?” she asks, staring at her own hands as the image pulses. “This feels different.”
“Maybe because we’re both different. What happened?”
She shakes her head firmly, and everything wavers as though the dreamscape is threatening to disintegrate.
“Alright, alright, you don’t have to tell me!” I shout over the wind as it howls. “It’s alright, Carys. I’m just happy you’re alive. Youarealive right?”
“Yes. I’m in Uldarvik.”
Relief weakens my knees. “Uldarvik?”
She nods. “Yes, but I’ve been told that I must return to Erleya. To a place called the Serpent’s Hollow or Siad Nahar. It holds the answers about the prophecy. The same prophecy that the bloody Zenith is trying to find.”
My heart trips. “Do you know where it is? Siad Nahar?”
“Northeastern Erleya. As far as you can go. But apparently it only welcomes a few chosen. Don’t ask what that means; Briony is cryptic. But we’re the ones the prophecy speaks of, so …”
I grimace, my head starting to pound. I press the heel of my hand against my temple as our surroundings wane. This time, I know it’s me causing it. I’ve created this place out of nothing, and it’s taxing on my body. “I have to let go now,” I say. “I’m not sure I can hold this dreamscape much longer. But I will see you again. Somehow. I promise.”
Does she know I’m her sister? Should I mention it now?
“Durvla …”
But my vision dims, and my limbs tremble.
Everything goes black.
When I wake, I’m in a soft bed, the scent of medicinal herbs filling my nostrils so strongly that I sneeze.Everythingaches,my head especially. I peel my eyes open, but even the dim magelight hurts, so I shut them again.
The next time I try to open my eyes, a face hovers above mine. “There you are,” says a familiar, baritone voice, mind to mind.
Immediately, I feel calmer and cast my thoughts toward Tiernan. “Where am I?”
“Alys’s place. We figured you wouldn’t want to wake up in the infirmary, and our house was much farther. We weren’t sure how much we should jostle you. You gave us quite a scare.”
At last, I manage to keep my eyes open. Tiernan’s dark gaze is wrought with concern. My muscles strain as I lift my hands to say something, so I lower them again. “I think I intentionally daywalked … to Carys.” It feels absurd to say it aloud. “Full dreamscape.”
My head pounds painfully with every beat of my heart. Tiernan reaches out to my head, then pauses, “May I?”
I nod, and he places his fingers lightly on my temple. Coolness followed by a comforting warm sensation flows through my head, dulling the ache. Alys must be in the house somewhere.
My body feels as though it’ll sink right through the bed, but I gingerly push myself up to a sitting position and lean back against the headboard. The room we’re in has a couple of swords on the wall, dark curtains, and dark sheets, and there’s a coat rack in one corner where colorful scarves like Alys’s are on display, but … “This isn’t Alys’s room.”
“Ava’s,” Tiernan says, and my brows shoot up. “I know. I was surprised too, but Alys had been resting in hers.”
The odd conversation with the Purist comes flooding back to me, making the room seem smaller. And smaller. And smaller.
Tiernan is at my side in no time, putting an arm around me. “Deep breaths,” he signs.
For a moment, I just sit there, breathing.
“So, without a doubt, Carys is alive?” Tiernan asks.
“Yes. And she’s been told she needs to go to Siad Nahar. For answers about the prophecy and for a cure. I suppose she’s speaking of that curse of Enidwen.” I shudder at the thought, though I don’t fully understand it. “Have you ever heard of Siad Nahar?”
He shakes his head.
I let out a sigh as the door slowly opens. Wavy salt-and-pepper hair swings into view before Alys’s round face appears.
