“But she has them.” I felt hopeful for the first time since I’d learned about the prophecy. “I’ve read every book in the library. Gone over every fragment of knowledge. Examined the Veil itself. And I’m no closer than I was when I first got here. I haven’t found anything that gives any hint on how to fix the Veil and save Serentyn from the darkness. But Violet knows something. She lived it. She has the answers.”
He stared at me like I was mad and spoke very slowly. “Lexie, she’s dead. Dead people don’t typically show up for a chat.”
I tapped the date on the letter. “She hasn’t always been dead.”
“Wait, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Now he looked convinced I’d gone mad. “Lexie, you’re talking about going back in time.”
I shoved unkempt hair out of my face. I hadn’t had time to rebraid it in my mad dash this morning. “So?”
He set down his cup with deliberate care, all thoughts of his hangover forgotten. “You can’t time travel. It’s impossible.” He spoke like he was talking to an idiot. “So what in all the gods’ fevered daydreams makes you think you can?”
I pointed at a line in the letter. He pursed his lips as he read it again.
There are bonds that hold the universe together, barriers that cannot be broken. Except I’ve never met a barrier I couldn’t break if I wanted it badly enough. I think you might be the same. But for a little extra luck, the bondsthat hold the universe together are weakened on High Days, which means that’s the best time to try.
“And just how are you going to accomplish this time travel?”
I paused. I hadn’t truly thought it through. I just knew I could do it. “Well…” I drew the word out. “I imagine it’s a bit like teleporting. Except through time instead of space.” I tried to appear nonchalant about what I was proposing, but a chill ran down my spine as I wondered what terrible truth had driven Violet to burn herself out trying to hold back the darkness.
He rolled his eyes as he sat back heavily. “Say for argument’s sake that you do this and you do go back. How do you come home?”
“A bond here and a bond there,” I said softly.
Finn’s eyes narrowed as he worked through it. “She’s your godsmother. That does create a bond in the eyes of the gods.” He paused, understanding dawning. “A bond there, to anchor you to her time.”
A bond there. A connection between us two. Me and Violet. I had her journal. I carried her sword. And some of those dreams of Violet, I didn’t think they were mine. I knew many of the nightmares were, but some of them felt like viewing through the eyes of someone else.
“And here…” His expression shifted. “Here you have… all of us.”
I was counting on one bond in particular. Assuming I was right about it. But there was no time to dwell on that now.
“I have to gonow.”
He massaged his head as if I was giving him a headache. “Why now?”
“It’s Blathaine. You read it. She says the barriers are thinnest on High Days. If I’m going to do this, it’s now.”
“The ball was last night,” Finn countered. Before I could answer he continued, “But it was last night so that we were celebrating at midnight when the equinox started.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Let’s just think for a minute.”
“No, Finn. It has to be now.” I looked at the clock. Forty-five minutes had gone. “Now are you going to help me or not?”
“Voda’s tits, woman. Of course I’m going to help you,” he muttered. He pushed back from the table, the chair squeaking, and sighed heavily. “I even know where you should do it.”
We descended a steep staircase, the stone steps worn smooth by countless feet over the centuries, ending at a floor of hard-packed earth. The walls transformed from the familiar gray stones of the castle to older, rough-hewn rock. We wound our way through the bowels of the castle, deeper than I’d ever gone before. The smell became musky, the air grew thick with an earthy scent of places untouched by the sun. However, even as we descended, the passageways still felt more like hallways than tunnels or caverns with doors and paths branching off. As though this had been an original part of the castle, lost to the centuries.
“You should do this as close to a power source as you can,” he explained. “My father theorized that this was where the gods met to cast the Veil. Places where great power has been cast can take on remnants, imbue the very walls with magic, like soot from a fire. If anywhere has enough power, it’s here.”
The musky smell deepened as we drew farther and farther into the earth. The walls grew damp with moisture. The space opened before us into an archway, behind which could only have been a temple, the ceiling soaring into shadows, supported by massive columns of natural stone.
My earth channel connected instantly to the walls around me, and I could feel the history soaked into the rock itself. Layer upon layer of memories pressed into these stones.
A trickle of water flowed through the center, its gentle murmur the only sound besides our breathing. The stream wound between smooth boulders, pooling in a natural basin. The water itself glowed, as if starlight had been dissolved into its depths.
Strangely, it grew warmer as we continued deeper, a gentle heat that radiated from the stone itself. The temple was lit by a strangelight, not a harsh glare but something soft and alive. It emanated from the crystals embedded in the walls.
Finn was right—the air itself was buzzing with power. All of my elemental channels hummed in harmony, responding to the residual magic of this place. The sensation was intoxicating, overwhelming. I think I could have done anything I wanted to here, using the latent magic in these stones to accomplish any goal.
Time to test that theory.
