{Ishkur | Bridge | A Few Minutes Earlier}
“What do you mean, Tameka went back to Enki?”
Sagan was glad Kyle was breaking the news to Xelan instead of her. The Seamswalker was failing, barely holding it together. There were too many conduits open and millions of people evacuating through them. No amount of blood could replace good rest and recuperation.
Plus, Kyle assured them, “Razor was helping her.” He offered this information hesitantly, like he wasn’t sure if he could trust it.
Sagan saw his point. She struggled to believe Razor was actually helping them—
“Look!” Andrew called out and pointed at the center of Ishkur’s bridge.
A screen appeared. The soldiers and Children of Gait rescued by Sagan’s sweeping conduit moved closer to see. Pax tucked in beside his dad. Razor’s screen displayed Silence fighting Remorse.
Beside Sagan, Korac’s brows went high, impressed with Silence’s craftsmanship.
Transfixed, Kyle muttered a private comment aloud. “That’s my girl.”
Light beamed down on the Primaries in a glorious column, backed by Razor’s exhilarating score. Only…
Frowning, Xelan used Pax’s hand to point. “Did you see that?”
Kyle swallowed loud enough for Sagan to hear across the gangway.
Andrew whispered, horrified, “Was that flash Tameka?”
At the same moment the blast connected, a streak of black and blue knocked Silence out of the column of light.
Without hesitation, Korac gripped Xelan’s shoulder. “Remember.”
She’s not dead.
“I remember.” Xelan picked up Pax and let the boy twist a finger in his hair. He glanced down at Sagan. “Can you?”
Kyle and Andrew looked at her expectantly, but Korac knew. He didn’t even glance at Sagan for confirmation. She hated to admit it, but… “I only have enough left in me to rescue Rayne.”
Andrew frowned. “What about T.a.o.?”
Kyle said, “I just tried. The comms are down.”
Sagan hated the stress in Xelan’s eyes as he searched hers. She’d do anything to alleviate her guardian of this decision, but it was his decision.
Rayne or Tameka.
Pax squeezed his dad’s hand and gave a bounce. “Did mommy leave me again?”
Sagan’s heart broke. How was there so much left to break?
Into the vacuum, waiting for an answer, Xelan said, “No, Pax. She went to run an errand, and she’s on her way back. Until then, would you like to meet Auntie Rayne?”
Again, the little bounce. “Oh, yes! She has castles in her dreams—”
Coffee grounds encroached on Sagan’s vision, and when she took a step, it felt all airy.
One round trip. Please. A little more…
She opened the conduit and the founding team stepped through—
Into blinding white light.
The heart of Enki smelled like a family beach—all sunscreen and surf.
While Xelan shielded Pax’s eyes, his son cried with glee, “It smells like ice cream cones, daddy!”
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All of them hid their faces from the glare.
Did Sagan accidentally take them to the sun? No… This was right where she left—
Rayne.
The light receded into the King of Earth and Cinder. It wasn’t her magnesium field either. This phenomenon abated into the seams of her making. It was her nacre, expanding inside her. Through her.
“Rayne!”
Sagan flew to her, ready to Seamswalk to Ishkur—
Stopped.
A firm hand gripped Sagan’s bicep and kept her from going to Rayne’s side. She turned back, gasping, “Xelan?”
His eyes were Atramentous and shining. He said nothing. Only shook his head.
Even Pax sniffled quietly beside him.
Beyond the father-son pair, Korac stared unblinkingly at Rayne, eyes narrowed inquisitively. He called, “Sprite?”
Sagan could see Kyle was itching to fly forward as he asked, “Rayne, can you hear us?”
Andrew asked, “Why would the light make her deaf, Kyle?”
The other young man scoffed, “Get off my ass, Andrew—”
Gesturing at Rayne, Andrew argued, “I’m just saying, Story Taker, it doesn’t look like anything is wrong with her ears.”
That escalated things. “Well, Conscience, why don’t you flip that coin of yours and fix this before I shove it up your—”
“I’ll miss this.”
“Rayne.” Sagan made to fly toward her again, but stopped at Xelan’s words.
“What do you mean ‘you’ll miss it?’”
The words sunk in one syllable at a time. Miss. Absence. Loss.
Grief.
With her heart in her throat, Sagan cried, “Rayne?!” Korac was there instantly and pulled Sagan into his warmth while she repeated Xelan’s question into her General’s chest. “Why? Why will you miss us?”
Rayne’s voice harmonized in three pitches, soft and sad. “I can’t go with you to Ishkur.”
“No.” Kyle blurted, and Andrew grabbed him around the waist as he continued, “No. You have to.”
Korac kissed the top of Sagan’s head and rubbed soothing circles on her back, but she couldn’t stop crying. Rayne was so bright and so fragmented. Sagan shook her head against him, saying, “No. I won’t leave you. I’ll drink another chain and sweep you into a conduit—”
“We have to,” Xelan said.
Sagan’s mouth fell open, as did Kyle’s. Even Korac stared hard at Xelan’s back, with his eyes flicking between them. Only Rayne could see his face, and whatever was on it made a bright tear streak a shadow down her cheek.
Softly, Xelan asked, “How long?”
Rayne swallowed against a spasm of pain which racked her entire body before saying, “Ten minutes.”
Elden, no. No, no, no—
“Say goodbye, amos. Don’t waste a second or you’ll regret it for the rest of your long life.” Korac gently pried her away from him. He cupped her chin and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll wait for you here.”
Without thinking, Sagan’s wings took her close enough to Rayne that it hurt to open her eyes, but Sagan stared through the blaze. Andrew and Kyle flanked her, both looking as miserable as she felt.
Elden, why?
“I’m sorry,” Rayne said with so much sincerity, as if she of all people had anything to apologize about.
Sagan shook her head. “No. Don’t. You’re saving us from so much wrong in Enki. Who knows what else Imminent stored here? I only wish Tameka…”
When Sagan couldn’t go on, Kyle finished for her. “She saved Silence when Remorse died, and she’s on her way back.” He gave a half-hearted smirk, pained as it was. “We’ll never hear the end of it from her. Remember how long she went on about missing the plane crash in Siberia?”
How could Sagan forget? It was outside Enki’s conduit on Earth. Amid all the wreckage, it was the same day Sagan had learned about Korac and Xelan.
She spared Wingmaster a glance, but couldn’t see his face. He was staring at Enki’s south pole with his hair shading his eyes. Pax mirrored his father. It was a precious second wasted, and Sagan refused to waste another. She met Rayne’s eyes and let everything go. “I love you, and I will always love you. Korac’s in my heart, and we’ll raise Echo together, but you came first in my life and always forever after. So, please—Please… Don’t make me say goodbye.”
If Sagan had been standing, her knees would’ve buckled. As it was, she went completely slack, exhausted almost to the point of passing out. During the outpouring of her words, the boys flew a step back, giving her privacy. Now they seemed poised to catch her for a fall without gravity.
Tears poured shadow lanes down Rayne’s beautiful and fractured face. “I wish I’d gotten the chance to see her. You two will raise one spectacular and capable little girl. But I can’t stay, and that’s why I’m sorry—” Her face twisted in pain, and the light surged brighter.
Bright enough to force them back toward Xelan, Pax, and Korac.
In a fast burst, Kyle said all at once, “I’m sorry we never fully reconciled, and that I found my wings without your permission. I’m sorry for everything, Rayne. I’d hoped to earn your forgiveness before either of us saw an end. More than anything, I wanted to see you happy.”
Andrew added, “And a hug. He hasn’t shut up about the hug.” After Kyle shot him a truly nasty look, Andrew said to Rayne, “You were a pillar in my confusion, a guidepost to find my way. Always, you chose the path of goodness and family. There will never be anyone like you, Rayne. And I know that for certain.” He held up his Probability coin as proof.
The King of Earth and Cinder trembled with sobs and anguish, crying from eyes fixed forward while her body was torn asunder. There was pain in them, sadness, and love. There wasn’t a trace of fear.
Sagan would never forget the moment she let the boys pull her back and let Xelan and Pax fly forward. The sinking feeling of permanence, and the spiral of the indefinite what-ifs. What if she swept Rayne away now? What if Korac fed her his half-Aegis blood? What if something in Ishkur could save her?
What if…
What if…
When Xelan finally looked up, Sagan knew.
No more what ifs.
No more Enki.
No more Rayne.