Page 146 of Captive

An invisible hand pulls me toward the quivering portal. I step forward, one foot at a time, until the shadows reach in and grab me.

ChapterFifty-Six

Ilean over and vomit into the dirt. Over and over again, I vomit, but the nausea doesn’t ease.

Sunlight blinds me as I gain my bearings enough to look around, to search for Everly. There’s only sand, two fat acacia trees, and no sign of Everly.

I stumble to my feet and look around. A dirty, worn street stretches to my left. A tall building stands to my right. I gasp and slap my hand to my mouth.

The tall building is the alehouse where I worked before Luc kidnapped me. This isn’t Kyanite land. It’s far from it.

I suppress the strong urge to scream in frustration.

“Everly,” I call out.

She doesn’t answer.

“Please,” I shout into that wind I hate. “Everly.”

She still doesn’t reply. Doesn’t appear. Doesn’t rescue me from this catastrophe.

“Sol, are you going to stand outside all day shouting? Or are you going to come inside and help me?” I jerk my gaze to Katya, the Malachite woman I used to work with, standing on the doorstep of the alehouse.

With a shaky hand, I scrub my eyes, but she doesn’t disappear. She continues to stand there with her hands on her hips.

“Give me a moment.” I must have said the words with enough authority because she nods and disappears back into the alehouse.

My insides twist into knots as I reach for my bag and yank out Everly’s letter and read.

Oh, Sol. I’m tearing up as I am writing this. I begged Hector to let me take you back in time. But he wouldn’t let me, said traveling in time is too dangerous.

I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing, though.

It’s not in my nature to do nothing.

I couldn’t lose you the way I lost Kassandra. You mean too much to me.

The reason Hector forbade me from traveling in time with you is because time travel is too unpredictable. There is no way to control the passage of time. Three days in the pastcouldbe three summers in the future. Or a weekcouldbe three days.

Please forgive me for not telling you sooner.

I had to do something. I had to.

Oh, and don’t be angry with Mildred or Annaleigh. The Seer told them to help me. She said something about a tree can only grow in reverse when time goes in the other direction. I hope I remembered that correctly. She said you would understand.

Understand?

I don’t understand any of this. What the Seer said or why Everly isn’t here with me.

My heart screams as I tuck the parchment back into my bag and think about cursing everything. Katya. Everly for not being here. Mildred. The alehouse. The small town, sitting near the Bloodstone mountains.

Olah, help me.

Please, help me.

The Tarrobane god doesn’t answer. He’s as silent as the ground beneath my feet.

I will die here before I ever renew myself.