Black. Nothingness.
Between surrounds us, yet we still have our shape. We still have our glass, and void. The Prismatic is next to us, and the stone summoning circle is beneath our feet, but otherwise we’re alone in the dark. Like the base of the stadium was consumed by a dome of darkness.
This is different from other times we’ve been Between. We flex our hand, our bones of glass and sinew of ink. We can definitely still feel. Still move.
There’s motion near the Prismatic.
“Get off me!”
Gillow grunts as they fall out of the ship and go rolling. Zyneth jumps after them, feet landing inches from their head.
They both pause to look around in surprise.
“What is this?” Gillow says, scrambling back. “Where are we?”
Zyneth steps around them, half a pace in our direction. They look at us. “Are we Between?”
“Almost,” we say. The thread of light emanating from my soul now shoots off into the dark, like an arrow toward a target. I know where it will take me: I just need to take the first step.
Zyneth glances one last time at Gillow, then strides over to us. “Talk to me,” he says. “Where do we go from here?”
We didn’t mean to pull Zyneth into this as well, but it was the only way to cut us off from the ocean and stop the Prismatic from leaving. We need to talk to him—just us.
Before we allow our minds to separate, however, we check with Echo.
Spell duration?
Since we’re not completely Between yet, we aren’t sure if Echo will be able to reach us. It’s difficult enough to reach her through the void’s interference. Luckily, she answers.
[Five minutes and twenty-seven seconds.]
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Not much. Not nearly as much as we want. Void requirement?
[No further void is required to keep the spell active: However more would be required to sustain it longer.]
We don’t need the predator’s help to keep the path open, then. Good. We have diverging goals at this point, anyway.
“Zyneth,” we say as the void pulls away from us. “We—I—wait a moment.”
As the predator’s mind separates from mine, I catch a glimpse of its plans. It’s looking for the rest of itself—a way to free it from my inventory. Since my inventory is a pocket of Between, I guess it’s hoping to cut out the middleman and shred its container from the inside. I don’t know if that will work, but if I’m able to get back to Earth before then, it won’t matter.
Of course, I only have five minutes and counting.
The predator leaps away into the black, leaving only the small scraps of Attuned void with me.
“What the fuck?” Gillow cries, pressing themself against their ship. “What is all of this?”
“A portal,” I say. “The threshold of it, anyway. And as long as you don’t follow me, you’ll stay on this side. When it closes, you can go home. With Zyneth.”
“But what are you,” they cry. “What was that—that thing?”
Isn’t that the million dollar question. “A predator. And if you don’t want to find out exactly what it’s capable of when it gets back, I suggest you get back in your ship and wait there.”
Gillow doesn’t need to be told twice. They scramble through one of the Prismatic’s windows, disappearing back into their ship.
Good. As much as I’d love to exact my revenge for trying to kill Zyneth—and me—I don’t have time to deal with Gillow right now.
“It left?” Zyneth asks, keeping a suspicious eye in the direction the predator vanished.
“Yes,” I say. The thread of our bond trails behind it like a leash, fading into the dark. “But it will be back—with the rest of it, I suspect.” I think I could take hold of our bond and yank it back, if I really wanted to. But it would fight me the whole way, and by then the spell would be up. “I need to move fast. I only have five minutes.”
“Why?” Zyneth asks. “What will happen then?”
“The spell will end,” I say. “And if I’m still here, the predator will be, too. Only then I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop it anymore.”
Zyneth’s mouth presses into a thin line. He must understand what this means—that five minutes from now, if I get what I want, we’ll be worlds away. Will he protest? Suggest yet another alternative?
“What can I do to help?” he asks.
My heart bursts and breaks all at once. “Come with me?” I ask. “Not all the way. But at least, to the brink.”
“I’ll go as far as I can,” he promises.
I can’t delay any longer, yet I hesitate. Even counting down the days until we’d arrive at Emrox—as days became hours, and those have become minutes—I thought I’d have more time. Somehow, it always felt like there’d be more time.
“Kanin…”
The timer keeps ticking.
I stand up straight and hold out my hand. Zyneth takes it. It’s now or never.
Following the faint thread of the Location spell as it pierces the dark, I picture Earth, picture home, picture my body, and step into the black.