A flicker of fear passed through Malicine’s eyes before they snapped their head away. “It seems like mine is bleeding over as well.”
Amelia watched the horn-shaped clouds before the fog rose high enough to dissipate. Though the island radiated a menacing aura, the grayness was contained behind the ocean and did not seep through water. If she turned her head higher, the skies above remained bright blue, untouched by smog and death.
The nightmares existed. Yet, if she tried hard enough, they could never touch her.
“What if we stayed?” she dared to ask.
“And have an island of doom, quite literally, looming behind us the entire time?”
“We’ll do what we always do,” she murmured. “We’ll bury it all. The memories. The pain. Everything.”
A spring’s breeze brought the smell of sweet fragranced petals. Fresh grass parted ways to recreate the soil fields, where stalks of sunflowers rose up once again, as if they had never wilted. White and gray stones collected themselves together to rebuild the dollhouse she loved. Its charmingly misshapen roof slanted to the side, like she’d never fallen through it in the first place.
She heard Lilith whisper promises of treasure, but she could not make out the full sentence or meaning behind the words. Not when she was too busy listening to the bees instead, their buzzing drowning out any other sound. Black seeds from the sunflowers dropped like pellets, a few of them turning white like pearls. Amelia spun her dress and swept them away as she continued to dance in blissful ignorance.
Malicine stopped her at the end of the maze. “And what will be left of Gyldan?”
Her fingers curled into fists. The sunflower next to her also began to curl into itself, mimicking the same motion as it withered into a sad, ugly thing. Inside her was a weak soul, one that perished as easily as flowers did.
She replied, “I’m sure it would not make a difference to the world if I existed.”
The world would keep turning, the same as it always did. People would mourn the loss of their princess, but they would move on.
Malicine pressed their lips together. Shadowed thoughts passed behind the veil of green eyes as they took in Amelia’s words and made sense of them. She knew Malicine felt the same way, for the world had failed them as well. She would never know the true impact of her decision, but she could not will herself to believe there would be any. She would trap herself in a snow globe of her own making, where the scenery never changed unless she willed it,and any chance for true connection would be given up in exchange for comfort.
“You will never want more than this?” Malicine murmured.
“I will never want more,” Amelia answered, because she was good at fooling herself too.
She turned her head to the sky, where the shade of blue was so vivid it could only be imagined. Her eyes closed as she inhaled the sweet smell of florals. The sunflowers grew taller around her, their petals grazing her skin and softly bringing her back to the life she envisioned. Even if it wasn’t real, it was both of their new lives now. Neither here nor there, they stayed frozen in between. The villain and the damsel in distress had found a hidden pocket between realities to hide, and they would never come back.
CHAPTER 41
CORIN STOOD ALONE in the middle of a white void. The animals, the grass, the house, were all gone. Pieces of meadow scattered across the emptiness, a few flowers clinging onto the soil as temporary survivors, only to wither moments later.
She jumped across small patches of grass to reach the rest of the land that hadn’t been wiped away yet. A stream lapped quietly at the bottom of the hill. She splashed her face for clarity, then stared back at her reflection. Water dripped down her chin and slicked the fresh cuts across her flat nose and scratched cheeks. Her eyes were blotted red from crying. This was what someone looked like when they were going to lose everything.
She peered at the snowy mountains in the distance, where Winterland remained. Her wet hands balled into fists. Somewhere out there, Ezran still hunted for Briar. He wouldn’t stop chasing, just like how Briar wouldn’t stop running. It didn’t matter how many portals they created or worlds they left behind. Briar would spend the rest of eternity hiding, even if it meant never finding out what was on the other side.
But Corin had already buried her sister. She didn’t want to keep burying more pain.
The stream dwindled itself into nothing more than a trickle before it disappeared. Her hands dried, but a new icy chill ran down her palm. The clear resolution came to her before her subconscious could conjure it in the shape of a dagger in her hand. She grasped the weapon tight. There was only one way for them to move on, and it would no longer be running away.
• • •
A SNOWSTORM HAD overtaken the world by the time Corin reached Winterland. The bitter wind howled like a cry. Snowflakes morphed into tiny pins that struck her cheeks. Still she trudged forward in the snow, her own icy dagger in hand. A trail of dead crows paved the way for where Ezran had traveled. He’d gone through the mountains and past frozen lakes, where cracks formed past each footstep.
Some of the ice began to drift upward to the sky, like hail moving backward. Corin dodged the torrent of crystals while jumping between broken pieces of a frozen lake. A chunk of ice flew into the air and cut her shoulder. Her foot slipped on the glacier as she hurtled into water.
The lake was so cold she thought her bones would freeze over. Her blood pressure spiked, her heart beating wild like a hammer. She tried not to let water clog her throat as she gasped for air above the surface. Her hands grasped for the ledge, knuckles turning white to the bone as she struggled to lift her weight. Her wet clothes had gotten too heavy, and the water threatened to drag her down. She stared at the horrified reflection in the ice: face as pale as a sheet, lips turned blue from the cold.
The glacier had also brought something to the surface. The chainaround her neck drifted up, the pendant swirling in the water, the amulet glowing red. Corin remembered handing the necklace to Briar, telling her about the sacrifices her family had made. She remembered Malicine giving her their amulet, a relic of their own lineage as well.
Perhaps these tokens were always meant to be given away from one person to another, like a price to pay. There was a reason why, despite her insides screaming to give up, that Corin kept going. For her mother and father. For Harlow and their friends. For Malicine and Elly.
For her.
Corin wanted a better world for every person she ever loved.
