No, no, no, no. Not now. How is it every time I attempt to help, I only make things worse? That’s what I get for speaking up. Maybe my mother has it right. Maybe the best option for getting by is to go through life keeping your mouth shut and letting anyone else make the decisions. That way you can’t be blamed when things go wrong.
And things, I’m afraid, are definitely going wrong.
Josh and Ky launch toward each other.
Uncle Makai pitches forward, yanks Rhyen away, and pins his arms behind his back. The Shields battle it out, both strong and stubborn. Ky does some kind of ninja maneuver, freeing himself in a one-two-duck-twist move.
My uncle goes into stealth mode, invisibility cloaking him in timely fashion.
Ky falls forward through nothing, lands palms first in the dirt, before he jumps up and shakes it off.
Makai reappears, reaches for Rhyen, but misses him as he lurches for Josh.
Oh, brothers. Can’t you work out your problems without resorting to caveman techniques?
Wren caw-growls and swoops in from the sky. Thank goodness she doesn’t transform into a human as she places her griffin self in front of Josh. Sorry, girl. You may look good, but no one wants to see your naked behind. That’s one thing I’m grateful for. Maybe I don’t want to be a Mask after all. I kind of like that I can keep my clothes on with each form shift.
“Stop!” Khloe’s voice echoes across the canyon. “This is exactly what that stupid Troll wants.” She glances at me. Looking for my offense?
I give her a wink that says, “Nah, runt, you’re good.” Because Verity knows I’ve said a lot worse than that about my own mother.
And she’s said worse about me. I’m the constant reminder of Tiernan. “You’re just like your father,” she would say. When I messed up. When I achieved but still didn’t quite live up to her impossibly perfect standards.
“We can’t fight each other,” Khloe says, arms outstretched. One palm faces Josh and Wren, the other Makai and Rhyen. “We have to fight for each other. For the Verity. For Eliyana. The Thresholds are draining, and we’re wasting time quarreling about nothing.”
Josh snorts.
Bad idea, pal. You’ve awakened the beast.
Khloe stomps to Wren, ducks beneath her wing, and points a finger in Josh’s smug face. “You knock it off. You’re lucky we brought you. Blood or not, you’re here, aren’t you? What does the reason matter? You killed Tide’s mom and you tried to kill me. A child! For that we should have put you in a fire pit full of venomous snakes. But instead, my brother brought you along. You might be a jerk, but we all know even your jerk side wants to find El. You should be thanking Ky, not yelling at him.”
Gotta hand it to her. Fire-slash–snake pit is a pretty creative sentence. Now it’s Rhyen’s turn for a snicker.
Oh, sheesh, not you too. Better watch out, Khloe’s on the loose.
She rounds on him. “Don’t you even get me started on you, big brother. You’re not even trying. You pretend like you are, but you aren’t. I know you miss her.” She takes his hand. My heart squeezes. “We all do. We love her too. Don’t let the Shadowalker win. You know how to be a brother. So be one.”
The clapping begins with Tide. It tips a domino effect that has everyone, even Miss Griffin, cheering in some way. Robyn roars; Wren flaps her wings and swishes her tail; Stormy hugs my little sis as if she’s her own.
“Enough is enough,” Khloe says, the momentum of encouragement egging her on. “We’re all going in there. We’re all going to see who needs our help. Then we’ll go our separate ways. Life is too short not to help people. Isn’t that why we want to get rid of the Void anyway?”
Wow. Eleven going on forty. Well said, Khlo. Well said.
She speed-walks to the entrance, turns before giving her final words. “Now let’s go, we don’t have all day.” Then she disappears into the dark.
Makai laughs. The sound is so happy I can’t help but smile.
“Well,” he says. “Looks like we have a Guardian Commander in the making.”
How can I argue? Khloe’s not wrong. And now I look like a major jerk. It’s not that I didn’t want to help the Nitegrans. I just know nothing is ever as it seems with my mother. Dead Fairies? It’s too much, a trail of crumbs my mother is counting on us to track.
Even so . . . I make the first move. But I can’t ignore the sinking feeling that takes over when I bypass Regina and the others and follow my sister into the hole.
SIXTEEN
All Alone
Shoved. Dragged. Pulled. Lugged. You name it. I’ve been forced into water enough times against my will it no longer disorients me.
Much.
I jerk my head up, down, left, right. The surface is at a diagonal. Body shifts. Legs kick. Arms propel. Not so difficult. Doesn’t hurt that I have expert swimmer’s experience now—
Khloe . . .
“Bet you’ve never seen a Shield do that before.”
She had gills. Could adapt to any climate. It’s how I made it into the Fourth Reflection without drowning. Another memory pinged by a current event. Maybe Jasyn should shove me into the canal more often. I’ll live with raisin skin and mildew clothes if they help me gain full use of my brain again.
Speaking of my brain, I probably ought to . . .
My face meets air and I gulp precious oxygen. I wasn’t under too long, but that doesn’t make a breath any less refreshing. My first vision of the Fourth flashes like a camera in my mind. The Lost City of Atlantis come to life. A legend proven true. Glittering green and gold glass—mirrorglass—stones embedded in the ground. A Siren for a countess. Guardians with tattoos featuring rolling waves. Joshua on the Fourth’s shore, at my rescue once again.
And Kyaphus.
He was the reason we were led to a dungeon. Why Joshua suffered the poisonous coral’s sting.
And Joshua?
Tears well and spill, splash into the canal and drift downstream, lost and forgotten like so many things. This . . . ache. This . . . pain. I miss him so much. How long since he’s held me? Since we last kissed? The more I think on it, the more the pain shifts. Because this longing I have inside? This love?
He’ll never feel as much for me as I do for him. Even attempted once to convince me he felt nothing at all. I know he cares. He cares so much he bestowed a Kiss of Infinity on me—twice. Yet even this is not enough. Whatever Kyaphus said or did to end up in his position, it apparently mattered more than any kiss from Joshua. Why else would the Void choose Kyaphus?
Maybe a Kiss of Infinity is nothing more than a story in some dreamer’s fantasy journal. A plot device created to add a twist. We all want to believe in something more. In a kiss powerful enough to heal or save or bind. What if I never became a Mirror? Who’s to say the Verity I think I feel isn’t just stomach acid? All the things I believed were real could be a bad case of once upon a dream.
Except I don’t know you, I don’t know me. Maybe I don’t know anyone anymore.
Water droplets stick to my lashes. I blink them away. My blouse is soaked through, which means it’s probably also see-through. Self-consciousness takes over for a split second and I drown in it, losing my last bit of fight.