I press two fingers to my temple. “I would know if he was dead. Just…trust me, okay?”
Cielo nods once, then gestures at the note again. My gaze fixes on the last line.
Can you find him?
I’ve been given nothing but silence when I reach for him, but maybe if I push harder, scream louder, he can tell me where he is. I look up at Cielo.
“If I do this, if I find him in my mind, you have to take me to where he is, okay?”
Cielo looks frightened for a moment, but it dissipates quickly. He squares his shoulders and gives me a firm nod.
Relief rushes through me. This might be the worst decision I’ve ever made, but I don’t care. Rathyn is missing, and he’s probably hurt, so I’m not going to just sit here waiting for his people to pull their bullshit rescue maneuver. If there even is one.
I can’t bear the thought of being without him. I don’t care about the consequences anymore.
I drop the note and swing my legs to the edge of the bed, planting my feet on the cool floor. Closing my eyes, I sink into the darkness, and then I picture Rathyn. My monster. My heart.
There’s a thread there—not visible, but a feeling, and I follow it into the dark.
“Rath,” I call out. It’s almost impossible to yell in my head, but I try. I push a burst of energy out through my call. “Rath! Please, I need to find you. I’m with Cielo, and I’m coming for you. Just tell me where you are!”
There’s nothing for a moment. Silence and emptiness. And then, just before I open my eyes, there’s a pulse. Inside is a rush of pain, and then affection. There’s worry, and fear, and doubt.
And then there’s an image. It takes me a moment to get a grasp on it. It looks a lot like the cave Rathyn took me to, only this one has no water. And it’s almost like the stone walls are singing. He’s on a mossy bed like the one that had cradled me, and the bright, flickering Eretharian insects are a rainbow of colors.
The ceiling is higher than the cave was.
And he’s not alone.
For a brief flash of a second, I get a glimpse of a fire, and something with horns.
My stomach twists, but before I can panic, there’s another image. A carved out path through tall grass, and a line of trees with bright pink trunks the same color as Cielo’s coat.
And then it’s gone. There’s not a glimpse of him, not a whisper of his voice, but I know he’s alive.
I open my eyes on a gasp, and I turn to Cielo. “I saw him. He’s in a cave near trees with pink trunks.” I gesture to his coat, which he has slung over his shoulder. “And the cave is…is singing. Does that…”
Cielo says something in his tongue, his tone excited. He motions for me to stand up, so I do.
“You know it?”
“Yessss,” he says, firm and clear. “Yes. Yesssss!”
I want to cry. Instead, I pull on the robe I wore when visiting with Rath, pulling it over my head. Then I take his offered hand and let him pull me through the apartment and out the front door.
twenty-five
EVEREST
Cielo doesn’t take me to the main portal. No, instead, he takes me out of The Foundry and toward the hovel he and the other Vyastil are living in. It’s still pitch black out, and though I didn’t look at the clock before I left, I know it has to be well after midnight.
Cielo motions for me to keep quiet as we creep around the side of the building, and then he tugs me toward a massive shed. My breath catches in my chest as he opens the door, but the only thing inside is the glow of another portal.
It’s unguarded, but then again, who would go snooping around this shithole? If a human slipped through, they’d probably be captured on sight, and god only knows what would happen to them after that.
“Is this yours?” I ask him.
He nods, then jerks his head for me to follow. Luckily, he keeps hold of my hand, so when we step through, I don’t fall on my face when we land. We’re not in the city center or in the main capital building like Rathyn’s portal, but instead on the edge of the woods.
