Yet a darkness loomed in the back of her mind, manifesting into an island she watched whenever she stared past the ocean. A lingering fear told her that, if Malicine didn’t return, it would be Corin’s fault. She had been the reason they chased her into Autumnland and lost their amulet, endangering everyone if intruders came into the world.
She wanted to enjoy this second chance, but couldn’t forget the real person she left in peril.
“This doesn’t feel right.”
Her words came out as harsh as the clatter of teacup on porcelain. They had gathered on the porch with Briar, Penny, and Dime, sitting around a circular table set with pastries and tea pots. The attempt at normalcy seemed ridiculous in front of Briar’s collapsed cottage. Broken pieces of wood scattered the grass, while some of the stones had stacked together into a smaller house fit for animals. A lace parasol replaced the collapsed roof, trickling small rays of light for Dime to sunbathe. Without Malicine’s amulet, they couldn’t restore parts of the dreamscape back to pristine condition.
Elly’s brows pinched together. “You still aren’t used to me here. Pretending I’m alive.”
“No! That’s not—” Corin stopped. It was true that Elly’s presence didn’t feel whole yet. Every time Corin wrapped her sister in her arms and felt a beating heart against hers, the gesture seemed incomplete. The sense of peace remained foreign, yet still, she wanted to become familiar with it.
“I need you here, El.” Her hand wrapped around Elly’s fingers and squeezed them, as if her sister were a mirage that coulddisappear if Corin didn’t hold tightly enough. “But I keep wondering when Malicine will return. Sometimes it feels like they’ve been gone for weeks. Then it’s as if they only left a few hours ago. Time warps itself here.”
Corin’s gaze stretched to the empty chair at the end of the table. Their absence carved a blank space between the others. All the questions without answers, the stories without endings, hovered in the chasm. Briar must have known this, because she stood from the table and walked toward the red poppies sprawled in the field. She held her breath, as if measuring her words next.
“I want to leave and find Malicine.”
Her confession made the animals gasp around the table. “It’s dangerous out there,” Penny protested. “Wouldn’t you rather stay here with us? We can pick chamomile flowers for the lemon cake. I promise Dime won’t eat the flowers this time.”
“I don’t promise that,” Dime said, earning a beady-eyed glare from his rabbit companion. Penny jumped to kick sugar cubes at the cat’s face. The table dissolved into yowling and thrashing paws until Briar broke the playfighting and pulled Dime away by his arms. She laughed as she cradled the cat to her chest, her fingers combing gently through his fur.
“It’s odd. My imaginations have been such a familiar comfort. But the best part about this world was being with people who didn’t come from my imagination.” She looked up to meet eyes with Corin. A breeze carried petals over to her chiffon gown and tugged at the ribbons in her hair until the lace unfurled. “And now, I’m afraid of losing what’s real.”
The lace drifted to Corin’s direction. She snatched the ribbons and watched the string tangled into webs between her fingers. She thought of fleeting conversations, accidental meetings, theunexpected threads of people that traced throughout her life. She should have never met Briar Rose or Malicine. Somehow, in the hazy, watercolor edges that bled into their shared dreams, they found each other in crystal clarity.
“I don’t want to wait anymore, either.” Corin’s lips pressed together in a determined line. “Let’s bring Malicine back.”
• • •
PERHAPS IT WAS a reckless decision to go together, Corin thought. Malicine surely would have said so. She stood at the shores of Summerland, watching thunder rumble the island across the ocean like a slumbering beast. Veils of mist clung to the jagged cliffs and obscured any glimpse of the nightmares that lay beyond the desolate landscape. Beside her, she could feel the subtle trembles in Briar’s body, watching the island that manifested everything the princess had been running away from. Corin would have mirrored Briar’s tremors had she not kept her grip on Elly’s shoulder, the only force who could keep herself still.
Her arms pulled Elly into an embrace. She pressed her lips against her sister’s temple and murmured, “I’ll come back.”
“You promise?” Elly’s voice was strained, as if she held back from crying.
Corin said yes, because she wanted it to be true. They needed to be together: Briar Rose, Malicine, Elly, the animals, and Corin. They would retrieve Malicine, and Malicine would open another portal for a new dream. They would keep running and hiding, as long as they could stay together.
A boat pulled up ashore as Corin and Briar said goodbye to Elly.They grabbed two pairs of oars and started rowing. Corin kept her gaze fixed on her sister instead of looking back at the island. She told herself this wouldn’t be the last time they’d see each other. As Elly’s figure turned into a speck in the distance, Corin found a steady rhythm in the waves carrying them to the island, the back-and-forth motion of her oars dipping into the water. Though she wished they had Malicine’s magic to transport to the island faster, she would savor this sense of calm before the inevitable storm at their destination.
Beside her, Briar had also adopted the steady motion of guiding the oars along the water. Corin watched the careful purse of her lips, the small knot on her forehead. The girl was frightened, yet she was willing to travel to the island anyway. As the princess leaned forward, Corin noticed the bow and quiver of arrows strapped to Briar’s back.
A memory of their first meeting floated in her mind, when the girl was hidden in trees and covered in snow. Corin could picture it clearly, the bow in her hands, the bow of her lips. Briar had held a penetrating stare that burrowed under Corin’s skin and lingered like a kiss. Corin had thought Briar would shoot her. She knew now that the girl had only been practicing for another intruder.
“If Ezran arrives,” Corin murmured, “will he hurt you?”
A stinging pain from crescent shaped wounds bloomed in her palms. She’d stopped rowing and let her nails dig into her hands. At first, her hatred of Ezran stemmed from survival instincts. Now it had transformed into something deeper, knowing Ezran would hurt Briar.
And Corin cared about Briar Rose. More than she’d like to admit.
“I don’t know,” Briar said. “A foolish part of me hopes that,maybe, I could convince him to be on my side. Perhaps the real world wouldn’t be so frightening if we worked together.”
Corin’s posture stiffened. She tried to ignore it as she leaned back and continued rowing, though she couldn’t hide the bristle in her don’t you. “You realize that waking up would mean risking everything, right? I told you about the state of the world. Nothing worthwhile exists out there.”
“You existed out there,” Briar said. “You deserved to live a better life, and it was my fault you didn’t. Every time I think about how much I care about you, I think about everyone else who exists on the other side, too. Maybe what’s scarier is not what’s real, but never finding out what could be real.”
Corin’s mouth cracked open to release a wry laugh, but her throat was too dry, and the noise turned strangled. “Don’t use me as an example that the world can be a better place. Everything I touch always breaks.”
The boat cut through the endless expanse of ocean, where sliced water reflected fragmented faces that she ignored. It was easier to leave regrets in the past rather than conjure them in full flesh. Corin could bear the contortions of her half memories, like the ripples of water that drew Harlow’s face. The whispers of trees that sounded like her mother’s voice. The shadows lurking at the bottom of the ocean that made the vague silhouette of her father’s body, drowned and waiting for her next. Small distortions in their environment that could easily be dismissed as nothing more than the sway of the boat or the ebb of the tide. Because if her gaze lingered over these reflections in the water for too long, she would see the truth: that she spent her entire life justifying her selfishness for survival and lost everyone because of it.
