Beyond the Between

by Anna Webb

  Allyra shook her head at him. “It’s like you don’t trust me.”

  * * *

  Allyra led them into the Tunnels, and the journey to the room was quick and without difficulty. They were untroubled by any Sentinels or any moving walls. Allyra paused at the wooden doors, and for a moment, fiery writing lit her eyes.

  Forget me at your peril, for I have lessons to teach for what is yet unwritten.

  “A room meant for you,” Jamie said quietly, acceptance in his voice. “So how do we open it?”

  “I have a key. I just need a moment.”

  Allyra took a few deep breaths, trying to steel herself against the weakness she knew was coming. She forced her will into calling the Tigers to her hand, picturing in her mind the shape she needed them to take on. Even though she’d been prepared for it, the waves of weakness and nausea that swept over her brought her to her knees.

  “Ally!” Jamie shouted, alarmed. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded in reply, gasping in giant mouthfuls of air and trying not to retch. The weakness stayed with her for longer this time, but eventually, it loosened its grip and she pushed the metal ring of the tigers into their indented shape, and the doors opened noiselessly. The tigers slithered back on to her wrist like a stream of liquid metal.

  Jamie followed her soundlessly down the corridor until they stood beside Alex’s and Mandla’s bodies. As ever, Alex looked impossibly handsome, elegant lines frozen in sleep. Her heart leaped at the sight of him, at the idea that she could soon be speaking to him again, touching him.

  “Is he dead?” Jamie asked, his eyes fixed on Mandla’s body.

  Allyra swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

  “How?” Jamie demanded.

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “He was alive when I was in the Between.”

  “Are you sure about this, Ally? Are you so sure that Alex Cairns isn’t dangerous, not to you, not to the rest of the Gifted community?” Jamie asked. “Maybe he killed Mandla when he’d served his useful purpose.”

  “Jamie!” she admonished sharply. “It’s not like that—Alex loved Mandla deeply. And yes, I’m sure. He’s not a danger to any of us.”

  Jamie’s expression hardened, but he nodded and glanced at his watch. “If you’re going to do this, we need to hurry. The Council meeting won’t go on forever.”

  “Right,” she said, glad for the distraction. “You remember the plan?”

  Jamie nodded. “You open the Gate, go through. I’ll wait and watch out for any approaching danger—whether here or arriving from the Between.”

  “Okay.”

  Allyra hesitated for a moment and then lay down next to Alex on the raised platform, careful to avoid his old and powerful ward. Collecting her thoughts, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then popped them open again. “Maybe I should put up a ward,” she said.

  Jamie shook his head. “There’s no time. And that’s why I’m here—I’ll watch your back.”

  She smiled. “I know. And Jamie—you can trust that I’ll do what needs to be done. I’ll close the Gate if I need to. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything through.”

  She flashed Jamie one last whimsical smile and closed her eyes once more. She had already started calling on her Gift, gathering colored threads in her mind, when Jamie called out once more. “I have to ask one more time. Ally, are you sure about this?”

  There was something pained in his voice, a desperate urgency. Allyra sat up briefly to give him a wry, reassuring smile. “I have to do this, Jamie. I’m sure.”

  Allyra closed her eyes and reached into herself, sinking into the warm embrace of her own power. She didn’t hesitate; there was no doubt in her mind. She had failed in many things, but of this, she was sure. Opening the Gate and traveling into the Between was one thing she could do. She focused on the weave of threads around her. First the green ones for the Earth Element, followed by yellow Air and red Fire. Last came the blue threads of the Water Element. She joined them together, binding and weaving until they formed a single glowing stream of silver. It was the key, and the power of her Gift opened the Gate, an undulating black doorway forming between the roots of the Fever Tree.

  The Gate was black and liquid, its surface constantly moving. She reached out to it, and in answer, black tendrils reached out and swallowed her whole. Blinding white light consumed her—impossibly vast and warm. But again, on the horizon, so far away that she could barely sense it, there was a hint of darkness and rot. Within the powerful grip of the Veil, her heart didn’t feel like her own, but had it been beating in her chest, it would’ve clenched at the knowledge of corruption in the Source.

  The siren call filled her, entreating her to let go, to give her power over to the Source, to be part of something greater and more. It felt impossibly hard, but she focused her will into remembering who she was and why she was here. She pushed through and stepped out, back into the Between.

  Chapter 41 – Allyra

  She recognized the room immediately. It was the one sunk deep into the center of Sanctuary Hill. The one where she’d left Alex.

  The entire plan had been built on the premise that she would find Alex quickly. Though time moved differently in the Between, she’d agreed with Jamie that she would stay for no more than ten minutes in the Between. Jamie would shoot a spark of Fire down her hand as warnings of the passing of time. It was the perfect signal—everything her body felt, she would feel too here in the Between.

  There was no time to lose. Allyra readied herself to run and cast one quick glance around the room.

  The worst day of her life. It was strange how she could remember every moment of that day. As if the horror of those memories gave them greater power, sinking their tentacles deeper into her mind, creating a dark webbed mass that she would never truly escape. It had been an ordinary day, a warm one with the promise of summer in the air. It had been utterly unremarkable up until that moment she arrived home after a day at school. She’d walked up the gravel path toward their house, up the gentle slope, chatting easily with Emma and Jamie. As they crested the rise, she’d seen Juliette Thiessen standing at her front door.

  It was the look on Juliette’s face that stopped Allyra dead. Juliette’s normally warm features were frozen, pain carved into every inch. Allyra hadn’t needed words to know that something was terribly wrong. Her feet had become as frozen as Juliette’s face, rooted to the ground. And slowly, like a crack spreading across glass, her heart had shattered—sharp, broken pieces of it seemingly floating through her veins, carving into her until she felt nothing but pain.

  In that moment, she’d known her father was dead.

  She felt the same spreading pain and horror now. Her feet felt leaden, but she forced them into action.

  Alex was slumped on the ground, his back against the wall but his head hanging forward. He was wearing the same linen shirt he’d been wearing the last time she saw him. She remembered its faded color, more gray now than its original blue. The sleeves were rolled up, showing the dragons tattooed on his right forearm. But her attention was drawn to the unbelievable whiteness of his skin. Marble white. Deathly white.

  She pushed her fingers feverishly into the crook of his neck, over his icy skin, searching for a pulse. It was slow and weak, but at the feel of it, Allyra let out a shaky breath. She moved her hand gently under his chin and lifted his head. “Alex?”

  His eyelashes fluttered, dark against the pale canvas of his skin. It took a little time for his eyes to open, and when they did, the blueness of them was no less startling. But the crystal sharpness was missing, replaced instead by a cloud of confusion. He looked up at her and smiled slowly, the sad poignancy of it making her heart freeze in her chest.

  “Allyra,” he said softly. “I’d hoped to see you one more time.”

  Alex reached up toward her face but grimaced as his side stretched. He let out a how hiss of pain but continued to move his fingers toward her face. He stopped short a hair�
�s breadth from touching her skin, tracing a line in the air over her face.

  “I missed you,” he said. “I don’t suppose I’ll ever know if I did the right thing.”

  “Then come back with me and find out,” she said, taking hold of his hand and pressing it to the side of her face.

  He snatched his hand back violently, almost as if touching her skin had somehow burned his. He shrank away from her, horror dawning over his elegant features. “You’re real,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

  Pain deeper than any physical kind lined his face, but clarity started to return to his eyes. “Please no,” he begged. “You can’t be here. You shouldn’t have come back.”

  Confused and alarmed at his reaction, she tried to reassure him. “I did what you asked,” she said. “I know who you are. I know you didn’t betray your position as the Elemental High Master. The Betrayal wasn’t your fault. You saved me for a reason, now come back with me and finish what you started.”

  A veil fell over his features once more. “Mandla’s gone,” he said, choking over the words. “My part in this is over, I’m fading, I can’t protect you anymore.”

  “No,” she said firmly. “You need to come back. An Ancient has made it past the protection of the Veil, and the corruption is starting to spread. Whatever future destruction you’ve seen is starting. I—”

  She stopped abruptly, and she flinched at the sudden bolt of electricity jolting up her right hand. It was Jamie’s first warning—five minutes down, five more to go.

  “You still don’t understand,” Alex said weakly. “It’s better, it’s safer if I die—here.”

  Another jolt of electricity shot up her arm. The second warning. She frowned in confusion. It was too soon. Somehow, she only had two more minutes.

  “We need to hurry,” she said before flinching yet again. The third and final warning—one minute left. Time was passing faster than she’d expected, or worse, something was desperately wrong. “Please, Alex,” she begged urgently. “You need to come back. I need you.”

  He smiled wryly but shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.” He brushed his hand along the side of her face, lightly touching her lips with his thumb. The tigers throbbed in her wrist, sending a weakness flooding through her veins. She gasped.

  “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I never meant for you to share my pain.”

  “Please,” she begged.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “I don’t need your apologies. I need you,” she insisted. The weakness was spreading, chilling her blood.

  He pulled her toward him, and for a lingering moment, he brushed his lips against hers.

  Moonlight and forgotten dreams.

  Then he pushed her away with more strength than she’d expected. “Go!”

  Allyra stumbled toward the Gate, ice building upon itself until she could barely move. The Gate wavered. She was losing her grasp over it. She lurched and fell into it.

  And returned to her body.

  She opened her eyes to the familiar green of Jamie’s eyes. A slight movement behind him caught her eye. Her mind felt jumbled and confused. Nothing was turning out as she planned.

  “Emma?” she said, her voice sounding distant and indistinct. Allyra shook her head, trying to dispel the fog clinging to her thoughts. The weakness she’d felt in the Between had followed her back. She tried to move but found that she couldn’t. Still confused, she looked down and found the source of her weakness. Her wrists were bound behind her, shackled with iron.

  “What is this?” Allyra demanded. “Jamie? Emma?”

  “Close the Gate, Ally,” Jamie said quietly.

  “Why have you bound me?” she asked again, struggling against her restraints. The Gate was still open but only barely. Her grip over it was fading.

  Emma slapped her across the face, hard enough that it snapped Allyra’s head sharply to the side. “Close the damn Gate,” Emma said coldly.

  Jamie grabbed his twin’s wrist. “Emma,” he said tersely, “that’s not necessary.”

  He turned back to Allyra. “Please, Ally, close the Gate. This is for your safety and everyone else’s. You promised me nothing would get through. Now I’m holding you to it—Alexander Cairns cannot be allowed back into the world.”

  Her strength was failing, the iron cutting her off from the bulk of her Gift, but she strained against it, shaking with the effort of keeping the Gate open. She knew in her heart that this would be her last chance to get Alex back. Jamie and Emma were more than friends; they were family. And if she’d lost even their support, then there would be no more chances.

  “He’s right, you know.”

  All their heads snapped up at the sound of the new voice. She would recognize it anywhere—Marcus.

  Jamie looked at his twin, alarm clear on his face. He reached for his sword. But his twin was faster. Emma grabbed hold of his arm and twisted him around, closing iron cuffs around his wrists.

  “Emma?” Jamie said in pained confusion.

  But when Emma looked up again, her eyes weren’t the color of cornflower blue. They were yellow.

  “Emma?” Jamie said again, horror combining with stunned disbelief.

  Footsteps rang over the marbled floor—moving closer. More than one set. Allyra closed her eyes, shivers running over her entire body as she put every last shred of her Gift into holding the Gate open. Her plans had changed now. She knew now there would be no returning to the Between, but there was still hope.

  Alex, she begged silently in her mind, please.

  “He’s right, you know,” Marcus repeated, his voice much closer this time, but still, Allyra refused to look up. “Alexander Cairns can never be allowed to return.”

  “Ally, I’m sorry,” Jamie called out, struggling against the Revenant that used to be his twin. “I only ever wanted to keep you safe…”

  A laugh of pure hysteria threatened to bubble from her throat, but she forced it down. Finally looking up, her eyes met Jamie’s frantic forest green ones.

  “I know,” she said sadly. “It’s okay, Jamie, I forgive you.”

  Marcus laughed, an ugly sound, hollow and empty. It echoed off the marbled walls. “You humans, so easy to manipulate.” He glanced at the army of Cleaners standing beside him, a sea of black and silver. “Close it,” he told them.

  Her hold over the Gate was tenuous, and as four Gifted Cleaners started to work against her, the threads slipped through her grip like a handful of mist. The Gate slammed closed.

  Her body heavy with exhaustion but no less defiant, Allyra dragged her eyes up toward Marcus. But it was the person standing next to him that caught her attention, her heart seizing in her chest, her rebellious words dying on her lips.

  Jason.

  Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

  She’d been betrayed by everyone. Jamie unwittingly, but Jason…

  He was standing to Marcus’s right, his back perfectly straight and his expression hard and frozen. At the sight of him, any fight she had left drained away. She sagged, but her eyes never left Jason’s indigo ones. “No…” she whispered, almost soundlessly.

  But Marcus heard her. “Yes,” he said smugly, almost gleefully. “Like I said, you’re all so easy to manipulate. Throughout history, your art and literature have extolled the power of love—the greatest human emotion. But it is also what makes you weak.

  “Of course, I was a little worried when you didn’t immediately fall for Jason’s charms. But through darling Emma here, I found another way. Jamie’s love for his sister, his love for you. So easy to twist into something darker.”

  Marcus sighed as he ran his hand lovingly over Emma’s face. “I’ve been here for a long time, but she might just be my greatest accomplishment. It wasn’t easy to break her. She was strong, she fought me for every inch. It took months. Months of torture. In breaking dear Emma, I found my true calling, it was the purest pleasure. She is exquisite. In her mind, I found all the information I needed.”

  “No,�
� Jamie moaned.

  “Shut him up,” Marcus snapped at Emma.

  Emma slipped a short dagger from her belt, her face icy and unyielding. No trace of the girl Allyra had grown up with.

  Before Allyra could truly comprehend what was happening. Before she could react. Emma thrust the dagger deep into Jamie’s gut.

  A scream of rage and madness tore from Allyra’s throat. Like a wild animal, she fought against the iron cuffs on her wrists, tearing against them until blood ran down her fingers and dripped onto the white marble floor beneath.

  It seemed to happen in slow motion. Everything in perfect focus and painful clarity. Jamie’s body dropped to the ground. A pool of blood formed around him.

  Red, the color of love.

  Red, the color of blood.

  Red, red, red, everywhere.

  “Jamie!” Allyra screamed. “Jamie!” His name tore from her, as if the sound of her voice might make him whole again.

  Four Cleaners took hold of him and dragged his still body away.

  Her throat was raw with screaming, and tears of helpless fury ran down her cheeks. She lunged toward Marcus, a single thought consuming her mind.

  Kill him.

  Nothing else mattered anymore. Nothing else would ever matter again.

  She managed to slam her body into his, knocking him to the ground. Her arms were still bound behind her, but she found strength she didn’t know existed and pushed her knee into his throat until he choked and gurgled, desperately pushing back against her.

  Rough hands pulled her from Marcus. More Cleaners. Without thinking, she fought against them, kicking them away as best she could until one of them delivered a sharp blow into the side of her head. White lights exploded in her eyes followed by blooming dark shadows. The Cleaners slammed her down, forcing her to her knees.

  Marcus got back to his feet and rubbed his throat. He shook his head, pulling his lips into a mirthless smile, a thin gash across his face. “Stop fighting, Miss Warden. This is what you were always meant to do. This is your destiny,” he said, his voice hoarse after her attack, having lost its usual silky oiliness.