Chapter Eleven
Thonis
Several days passed with everybody anxiously searching for a way to stop this without giving up their loved ones. Thonis spent sleepless nights in the library, aided by a gallon of coffee. Only when he saw that Katrina was about to fall over, did he take her hand and lead her back to her chambers, where they slept restlessly, wrapped in each other’s arms.
When they returned to the library, more alert if not rested, Warmund, Penny, Indulf and Anna were the only ones there. Warmund glanced up, noted their twined hands and scowled. Thonis had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Surely the prince wasn’t going to cause a fuss about this? Surely he wanted Katrina to find whatever comfort she could here in Byrelmore?
Warmund didn’t say anything, though, as he cleared off a spot at the table for the two of them. Katrina slumped into a chair and pulled a large book toward her.
“How are the children?” she asked. “Have they been told?”
Penny’s eyes flooded with tears. “We told them last night. They don’t understand. Mark and Lisa are too young still. I heard Erik crying, though.”
Warmund sucked in a ragged breath as Katrina flinched. She rubbed her eyes before wiping them on her pants and focusing on her book again. There really wasn’t anything else to say. Thonis wanted to offer his sympathies to her, to Penny, to Warmund. Words just weren’t enough, though. So, he picked up a book and started to skim through it. It was an empty gesture, though. They all knew that the chances of finding something helpful were slim at best.
A tremor made them all tense, but it was over without any damage. Thonis put a hand on Katrina’s shoulder, and she gave him a small smile—he caught Indulf eyeing the two of them, and his heart sank a little. Fortunately, the king did not have condemnation on his face. He leaned over to Anna, whispered in her ear and headed over as Penny took Warmund’s hand and tugged him away.
“The children will be wondering where we are,” she told him, and he let her guide him off.
Katrina glanced up as Indulf approached, then bent over the book again. Thonis sighed, she glanced up, Indulf hesitated.
“Please talk to him,” Thonis whispered to her. “You don’t know how hard the choice was for him.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to talk,” Katrina said in a normal voice. “It’s just… we don’t have the time. We can sort out all this family stuff after…”
Indulf closed the distance between them. “That’s not what I’m here to talk about. I just want to know if you are doing alright.”
Katrina turned the page in her book then propped her elbows against the table and rested her head in one hand. “I’m lousy. We’re all doing lousy. There’s no point in asking that sort of question, the answers are already clear. It’s too much to take in, and I am trying very hard not to think of the implications if we can’t find a solution. If I do that, I won’t be able to function. So, I need to not be thinking about how I am and just concentrate on finding answers.”
Indulf nodded his understanding. He gently placed a hand on Katrina’s shoulder for a moment before moving off to work beside Anna again. It was only a short time later that Anna started to cry. The king put an arm around his wife and led her away, murmuring softly to her. Katrina’s shoulders hunched. Thonis wanted to say something, but she was right. They would have time later to talk about this. Right now, they had to focus on trying to find another solution.
***
Several hours later, the library was once more alive with activity. The humans from Earth and their mates were determined to find any information. Hendric and Sylvia’s boy, Avas, had joined them. He kept wiping his eyes, but he read through shorter books, his finger pressed to the page as he tried to find something of use.
The words of the book Thonis was reading started to blur. He set it aside, pressed his palms to his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. Exhaustion weighed his limbs down as the soft murmur of voices came from all around him. It wasn’t just the humans and their mates in the library. Audiv poured over her notes and the notes collected by others, Vindr compared two copies of the same book, and countless others had taken books to their personal chambers to work there. Everybody was desperate to stop this from happening.
Katrina suddenly let out a gasp that had everybody turning to her. She ripped a page from the book she was reading—causing Audiv to wince, Thonis saw and rushed over to Indulf and Anna.
“Do you have a map of Earth? Europe specifically?” she bounced on her toes, waving the page around. “Please say you do, otherwise we’ll need to get one from Earth and that will take time.”
“I brought an atlas back with me a few centuries ago,” Anna said, looking slightly dazed. “Why?”
“I need it,” Katrina said.
Thonis left his book and hurried over, his heart in his throat. Had she managed to find something? He hardly dared to hope, but it rose sweet in his chest. His flagging energy returned to him. When he reached Katrina, she shoved the page in his hand as Anna handed her a dusty atlas. Katrina’s hands flew as she flipped through it, her eyes glowing with anticipation.
“Here!” Katrina slammed her hand on a page of the atlas. “Look at the shape of the sea between the UK and Denmark and Sweden and all that. Now compare it to Byrelmore’s borders. I knew that art class would come in handy. Negative spaces!”
Thonis leaned over her shoulder as the others all crowded around. They peered intently at the pages. Thonis’ breath caught in his throat. Looking at it, he could see that the space she had pointed out was almost identical to Byrelmore’s borders. Perhaps a little more ragged but nothing that couldn’t be explained by a few centuries of erosion.
“But how?” Vindr, at Thonis’ side, glared at the pages. “And what does that do to help us?”
“Atlantis,” Anna shouted. She shoved through the crowd and snatched a book out of the discarded pile. “I thought it was just nonsense because Atlantis wasn’t real, but what if it was?” She flipped through the book and slammed it onto the table, making its dusty spine crack. Audiv groaned audibly. “It doesn’t call it Atlantis,” Anna continued regardless, “but the description is similar to Plato talking about Atlantis. Only here it says that it was under attack and randomly disappeared from where it was.” She flipped the page, skimming and gave a triumphant shout. “And here, where I didn’t read before. It reappeared several centuries later. But leading up to its disappearance were hundreds of sudden earthquakes and volcanos erupting and all sorts of things.”
Katrina reached for the book. “So, what we’re saying here is that it might be possible that Byrelmore is part of Earth right now, right? Not a different universe but the actual past and the reason it’s not in current maps is because it was taken out of the timeline?”
“Maybe,” Anna pressed her fingers to her temples and started muttering. “Depending on what theory of time we look at… If we go with Doctor Who and the wibbly-wobbly time stuff all jumbled up together… not a linear progression from start to end… We might be able to take Byrelmore out of time and put it back when the earthquakes are hitting Earth…. There will be more plate shifts since then and a sudden large landmass will cause a sharp increase in ocean levels… and there is evidence that there are lay lines and that’s where magic comes from… removing Byrelmore would sever those connections, putting it back would be like reconnecting wires… Audiv!”
The queen turned on her heel, expression fierce. Audiv straightened. “Yes, my queen?”
“You and I are going to have to run a few experiments. Sylvia, you come with us. The rest of you keep working. If this doesn’t work, we’ll have to make other plans. Volcant, Hendric, go and get exact dimensions of the Exiled lands and the surrounding territories. Misty, contact Hazel and Jord on Earth and get an update on what’s going on there, and I want a map of the tectonic plates. Vindr, put that math brain to work and find out the volume of Byrelmore based on how deep the sea is in modern Earth.”
Thonis straightened, expecting more orders from his queen, but she had apparently said all she needed to. She strode out, Audiv hurrying after her. Penny and Warmund stared hopefully at each other, and Thonis found himself stepping closer to the prince to put a bracing hand on his shoulder.
“We still have hope.”
Warmund glanced at him, frowned in a thoughtful way and nodded. “Yes. We do. But we still have to work.”
Thonis nodded. He opened his mouth to apologize for the way he had snapped at him before, when Warmund first found out about him and Katrina, but the prince didn’t let him. His frown turned harder, and Thonis stepped back and let his hand drop. His heart sank a little, but he shoved that aside. The last thing he needed to worry about right now was if the prince would ever accept his relationship with Katrina. There were far more important things to think about.
But as he turned back to Katrina to ask her if she wanted to continue or take a break to go watch the children, he saw that Indulf had come over to them. When Thonis tensed, the king only smiled reassuringly.
“Can we take a moment to talk?” he asked, glancing at Katrina.
She had grabbed another book but nodded. “I guess if there’s time for a break, it’s now.”
“Thonis, please join us.” The king turned on his heel and walked away.
Thonis was reassured that he didn’t appear to be angry but wasn’t convinced that this would end well for him personally. He followed the king to the hallway, Katrina next to him. Once the door to the library shut, Indulf turned to them, still smiling gently.
“I just wanted to know how your relationship is going.”
Thonis squeezed Katrina’s hand. “I would say that it’s going well.”
Katrina laughed softly. “Don’t be so nervous.” She looked back to Indulf. “It’s the start of a new relationship. It’s not like we’ve had time to really talk about things or sort it all out. I mean, it’s too soon for any of that anyway. Technically, we haven’t even dated yet. Just slept together.”
Thonis hissed between his teeth. “We spent a lot of time together first, though,” he protested.
“I don’t need that level of detail.” Indulf held up his hand, chuckling. “You are an adult, Katrina, and I trust that you know what you want from a relationship. I am glad that you two are getting closer. Anna’s been telling me for years that it was going to happen. Now. As far as Warmund is concerned…”
Katrina scowled. “I could live without all the scowls and glares he gives Thonis.”
“You’ll have to be patient with him. A lot has happened in his life and now, especially with the threat of losing his mate and children… he’s bound to be overprotective of you. He was always a solemn boy, always overly worried about his little sister.” Indulf cleared his throat and shifted on the spot. “And I think he still doubts his choice of leaving you on Earth. As well as wondering if he could have done more to save his stepmother.”
“I get that. I guess I’ll just have to talk to him.” Katrina let out a soft breath, and Thonis squeezed her hand.
Indulf nodded and smiled softly, though this time it looked strained. “Would you like to send a message to your parents as Misty gets an update from Earth?”
Katrina’s eyes lit up. “Can I?”
“Yes. You’ll have to keep it short, though.”
“Thank you!” Katrina bounced on her toes and tightened her grip on Thonis’ hand. “I’ll go right away. Thank you.”
As Katrina pulled Thonis with her to the portal room, he turned once to see Indulf watching them. And he couldn’t help but think that the king looked sad… as if he didn’t have hope that they could bring Byrelmore to Earth.