A crowd had already formed, Afton front and center, staring at the doors with wide, tired eyes.
Slowly, the bars returned to their place, releasing their hold. With a loud, shuddering thud, the bars disappeared to their original resting place.
“Well done, Yarrow.” Kane reached his arm around Erinna’s shoulder and pressed her against his side with a squeeze. “Well, fucking, done.”
It worked. Gods, something had finally worked.
Relief hit so hard her knees buckled beneath her. If it weren’t for Kane’s steady frame, Erinna would have crumbled to the ground.
She steadied herself against him, wrapping her arms around his waist for support. Her eyes drifted from the doors to Afton. The mage gave her a slight nod of approval, and she grinned in return. People cheered behind her, but the sound morphed to a buzz in her ears as the weight of fatigue finally washed through her body.
“Excuse me,” she muttered, disentangling herself from Kane. He murmured something after her, but she was too tired to hear. She made it back to her room, barely taking the time to kick off her shoes before collapsing on the thin mattress.
Inez greeted her with a soft smile, a book open in her lap, firelight dancing across her face. “I told you they would need you,” she whispered.
Erinna sighed, fluffing her pillow beneath her head before closing her eyes. As she let the comfort of sleep wash over her, she thought about the small, unbidden blooms of Talent, the cold air on her hand like a caress. Something was guiding her. She was certain of it. If something was trying to contact her from the Realm Beyond, perhaps it was time to try and reach back.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Erinna slinked through the early morning haze as silent as a ghost. At this hour, no one was around or awake enough to wonder where she was headed. What she was doing.
She preferred it that way.
Erinna trudged up the hill, just outside of camp. Her destination up ahead.
The graveyard.
Mist rolled across the grass as the land began to warm. Worn stones bathed in violet pre-dawn light. It was serene, but Erinna only allowed a small moment of appreciation. There was work to do, and with the success of last night, a renewed determination pumped through her blood.
She pushed forward, targeting the old cottage hidden in climbing vines and brambles. First, she needed to search the groundskeeper’s hut—tear through whatever moldering records or forgotten tools remained. Even if she could just get a name. Names were far more powerful after death. Her mother told her that once. Maybe with a name it would be easier to communicate with whatever reached out to her last night.
Tough weeds and vines snagged at her legs as Erinna pushed through, circling the property’s edge. She made it to the front,pulling at winding green tendrils to free the warped and cracked door. Moss grew from the center and softened the material. A brass knob hung from its space. Erinna pushed at it gently and was met with groans and creaks. It would give in easily.
She thrust her shoulder into the wood, and the door crashed to the ground with a dull thud. Dust littered the air, and Erinna choked on the disturbed dust as she entered. The smell hit her first—damp moss and earth, threaded through with rot.
Dim light filtered through the caked, cracked windows. Shadows pooled in the corners, draped across the floorboards, but Erinna hardly noticed. She was used to the dark. Could see well enough in it.
The entire space was one large room. A rectangle of dust marked where a sleeping area used to be. A large fireplace dominated the back wall; a cauldron lay empty on the brick. In the far corner an old desk leaned over the remains of a chair beneath it.
Erinna picked her way to the desk, kicking up plaster and gravel as she went. The wood was rough beneath her fingertips, the grain deep and weathered. An old pen fell to the floor at her disturbance, rolling away into shadow.
She tried the single drawer. Locked and unyielding.
“Seriously.” Erinna sighed. Just her luck. The one thing that withstood the test of time was a locked drawer that likely held important and potentially useful information.
A muted whistle sounded in the distance. The rest of the camp would be rising soon. She was running out of time. The desk would have to wait.
Erinna returned to the cemetery.
It was time. For the first time, Erinna would use her Talent with purpose. Extend whatever senses she could through the space between realms. Search for whomever had guided her thenight before. If something was reaching out to her, maybe it was time to reach back.
Erinna sat in the center, dew seeping slightly into her trousers from the damp earth.
In. Out.
She forced her breathing into a steady rhythm. The way Damien used to do when he was learning how to control his own power.
