Lost Soul

Chapter Forty-One: No Matter the Cost

Shay takes Cat through the portal Charlie took Ava to.

Carter had mapped out a way through Thomas's defenses, but Shay hadn't. She would've been captured, or lost Cat, if she tried to go through the portal Thomas guards.

She tells me there's a high-risk taking Cat to the other portal. It'll take longer, which may make Cat's condition worsen before Shay can get her to safety.

But the only alternative would be certain death. For both of them.

The next morning, the snow has turned to sleet. It makes it hard to climb. The cliff-face becomes slick with ice and if it weren't for my dagger, I'd be dead ten times over.

Thunder rolls through the snow and shakes me to my bones.

I hold all my friends faces in my mind while I climb.

They're waiting for me.

I pass the time trying to imagine what life has been like for them since they arrived in Ebony.

Will had arrived first, and from what I've learned, he'd been there before. So, hopefully that means he knows his way around.

Based on that, I imagine all my friends have cushy rooms in the castle.

Will wouldn't have left them in the streets. And even if he couldn't help them, for whatever reason, some of them are the stolen Elementals. They're the 'entire' reason Thomas invaded the dome.

Surely, the kingdom will treat them like royalty.

I imagine them happy, and safe, and all recovered from their various life-threatening injuries. Even Cat, once Shay has gotten her through the portal and out of Caraly.

And when I show up, we'll all celebrate Christmas, or whatever Shay wants to celebrate, being Jewish, and everything will be perfect.

Thomas will be gone, my friends will be healthy and safe, and I'll have fulfilled my damned destiny.

It'll finally be over.

It doesn't even matter that while I climb, the twenty-fifth creeps closer. Christmas doesn't have to be on actual Christmas day. That's usually reserved for my birthday with my friends anyway.

All that matters is seeing them all again. Knowing they're safe. Knowing I can finally rest.

I try to ignore all the things I know will put a stop to my happy ending.

Ava's vision of my death, my mother being alive, the war Shay wants me to fight, the mystery surrounding Chase and Thomas. All the things I'm supposed to do.

None of that matters. Nothing matters except seeing them all safe.

When the twenty-fifth rolls around, I clutch the MP3 player in my hand.

It had been a birthday gift from Chase. From my maybe father.

I press the hard plastic into my forehead with a hard sigh.

If you've been with me this long, you should know by now the easy answers to my questions I've been avoiding.

What happened in Ebony that a bunch of non-humans ended up in a different realm? My mother kidnapped a bunch of children.

Why didn't Chase protect me, if he's really my father? He tried. But she killed him.

Why does Thomas really want me dead? He doesn't care about Chase really being my father. He doesn't care about returning the lost Elementals to their families. Even the prophecy may never have come true if he didn't make me aware of magic and Ebony. So, why? Why does he want me dead? Why go through all of this just to kill me and bring the elementals back to Ebony?