Night is in full bloom now, and the slightest chill begins to descend, draping the canyon like a light dusting of snow. Only, without the snow.
I cross my arms and rub my biceps, feeling a forever film of grime even after my bath earlier. I can’t decide what bothers me more. Joshua’s guard-dog act or the vessel of the Void’s lingering gaze. Both leave me unsettled. A deep sense of loss coats every thought and emotion. A sense something is missing. Yes, my memories are spotty, but it’s more than that.
If only I could figure out what.
So much has been misplaced. Joshua claims I was taken by pirates, but how was I captured? And why? None of it makes sense, and something deep inside rings an all-too-recognizable bell.
Joshua has lied to me before.
Mom says he’s lying now.
I’m keeping my mouth shut around him until I find out why.
How long until Reggie and Makai arrive? They have to travel through two Reflections to get here, and the Threshold we used to enter the Fourth has drained. Mom says Reggie left yesterday, but there’s no telling how far they’ll have to travel to the next nearest passage into the Fourth. I’d mirror walk and pull them through, but I’ve no clue where they are. Besides, I haven’t attempted mirror walking since leaving the Second. The Verity inside still feels like a flicker. When will everything be normal again? Has it ever been normal?
Joshua has Mom terrified, refusing to put Evan down if she can help it. Ebony and the girl Khloe whisper behind his back, and the other two guys, Flint and Tide, are under lock and key along with the man Joshua claims is enemy number one in all the Reflections.
Kyaphus Rhyen.
As if on cue, footsteps scuffle behind me. I didn’t hear the back door open, but there’s no question who has followed me out here. Doesn’t Joshua know when to give it a rest? I’ve heard the same thing over and over since our reunion. I was kidnapped. The trauma messed with my memory. But he’s here now and everything’s going to be fine. The Callings and Reflections are safe. The drained Thresholds should fill up and return to normal. But nothing is normal, not when I hardly know who I am or how I got here. Not when the Verity lies dormant in my soul.
I loose a frustrated scream. Grab at my hair.
Joshua clears his throat behind me.
I brace myself for another conversation I’m not in the mood to have.
“Ember.”
I whirl. Terror grips me. I back toward the cliff’s edge, toward the mouth of the rope bridge. The man before me looks different from earlier today. The blackened veins that covered his entire body have begun to shrink, reaching only as far as his jaw, revealing his face. The expression there can only be described as anguish.
“Please,” he says. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“How’d you get out?”
“Makai and Reggie are here. They’ve brought reinforcements, including Stormy and Robyn.”
Stormy is here? And Robyn? Their familiar faces fill my memory and I emit a half sob, half hiccup. I’ve never been so happy to remember anything in my life. But . . . how can this guy know those names would give me such relief? “My name’s not Ember,” I say.
His entire face points south from his furrowed brows to his drawn lips. When he reaches out, I stumble backward, end up straddling rock and bridge. I’m leaning so far I might end up in the gorge if he comes any closer.
“Would you just listen, Em? Please.”
I promised Mom. I bite my lip. Nod. “Okay.”
His stare bores into mine. His jaw muscles flex.
What’s he doing?
The ground shudders.
I bend my knees to keep from falling. Whoa. Another earthquake? How is that possible?
“Lower your walls, Em,” Kyaphus says. “Let me in.”
This guy really is off his rocker. Lower my walls? Let him in? What game is he playing?
That’s when I hear it. The music. At first the tune is faint and far away, floating along the night air in a whisper. This song, I’ve heard it before. Once, perhaps. Or twice? It’s so achingly familiar. I long to put lyrics to its notes.
The Void’s vessel smiles. “That’s right, Em. Remember.”
I tilt my head. Lower my eyelids. Lyrics I didn’t know I had in me roll in a sonata across my mind. They’re not out loud. Because this song is my soul. And sound can’t do it justice.
“I can walk through my reflection,
Use my Shield as a deflection,
Sing the song of my complexion,
But it’s nothing without you.”
A breath in my mind. Dim but real. I continue . . .
“I can heal and I can fight,
My memory is bright,
Through a façade I bear good sight,
But it’s nothing without you.”
Without who? Have I lost someone? Is this why my memory loss has been so painful?
“If love is what ignites me,
Then the Verity inside me
Cannot win unless you’re beside me.
I’m nothing without you.”
The song inside dies just as a sound like earth splitting amps my pulse. Dust rises and pebbles dance. It is another earthquake. Joshua said the Thresholds were fine.
He was wrong.
My hands grasp the poles anchoring the bridge in place. I peer beyond my shoulder. The water below churns in hunger for a fresh body.
I’m losing my balance.
The cliff’s edge is crumbling.
And I’m falling.
The Void’s vessel grabs me.
And everything comes back into focus.
I look into his eyes, but the monster before me has vanished. In his place is the man beneath. Kind, two-tone gaze. Crazy-adorable crooked smile. Hair of gold with a heart to match.
“Ky.” His name is a wake-up call to my soul. I used to think “I See the Light” was about Joshua. But now, now I see the difference. Because it’s like the fog has lifted. Because, with Ky, everything is new.
“Hold on!” he shouts.
The cottage windows rattle. The draining Threshold calls to me, but Ky’s grasp keeps me from falling.
For now.
I look down. The water drains faster than anything we’ve witnessed. Which means whatever Joshua—Josh—did to make me forget Ky, to break the soul bond we shared, it didn’t quite work. Ky’s tear. And the bottle? Somehow it erased my memories of him. But erasing memories can’t change what actually happened.
Joshua can make me forget Ky, but he can’t alter the events of the past. Such a feat would be impossible. Ky and I shared a Kiss of Infinity. My mind has forgotten him, but my soul?
Never.
Somehow I know Ky’s touch is the only thing binding us. I feel it in the very real and tangible energy passing between our fingertips. If we disconnect, my memory of him will fade once more. If he sets me free, he’ll be lost to me. But our hands are slipping, the cliff is breaking. Much more of this and we’ll both end up sucked through the Threshold. And if it creates a wormhole? Who knows where we’ll end up, or if we’ll even arrive at the same place. And even if we did, would I know him? Is this touch thing a fluke or a permanent fix to what Joshua—Josh—did?
Ky’s fingers tighten, but he’s weak. Weary. The Void may be rescinding, the light in him fighting it off, but the darkness is too much for him right now. He’s not strong enough to hold us both up. He can’t pull me back and I can’t let him fall. One of us needs to remain here. To fill Makai in on what we’ve discovered. To look after Mom and Evan. To question Dahlia—Reggie.
My fingers loosen.
“Don’t!” His arm flexes and shakes.
I want to tell him I love him. I want to kiss him good-bye. Instead I ask the question I already know the answer to. “Find me?”
His face contorts. The sight is a dagger to my heart. “Always,” he says.
My fingers splay.
I let go.