CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO—A DISTANT ECHO

Nothing.

Silence.

That was the void.

A complete unending nothingness.

Until something sounded, an echo reverberating in the far distance, so faint that it was hardly perceivable—even to a jinni.

Jessamine’s eyes snapped open.

She uncurled from her fetal-like position and glanced about. Even though the void was technically her home, at least where her own territory was concerned, her reaction was very much a physical one, due to her nature as a jinni—having a physical form unlike a spirit.

“What…?”

She was aware of the general direction that echo had come from, but having not listened for it in her infinite solitude, she hadn’t been ready to fully take it in.

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If she chased it down, she could miss its mark, never to find whatever, or whoever, that had been.

Please let it be Shiro, she thought, in silent prayer to the unseen gods. But even if it wasn’t Shiro, it could be another—and right now that would be enough.

And then another echo reverberated through the nothingness.

She was ready for this one.

It was clear.

A shockwave of some kind, probably due to a magical battle.

“I’m coming!” she exclaimed, and flew through the void at incredible speeds. She was still tired from her expenditure of magical energy.

Hopefully that energy had found Shiro, and hopefully it had saved him.

More echoes came as she crossed the void, her heart pounding in anticipation. Should she find nothing where these faint disturbances came from, she might be even further lost than she was now.

Once discovering that her tether had been broken, evaporated from her place of anchor—from the lamp—she had wandered about in search, panicking.

When Jessamine had realized she wouldn’t find her way back, she had stopped, remained still and didn’t move.

To prevent herself from wandering too far.

The chances that Shiro had found the lamp, and had found a way to enter the void, using the lamp as an anchor point, were not high, but they were higher than some random beings or spirits being here, battling over some unknown reason to her.

Shiro!

I’m coming!

Wait for me!