Unraveling

by Sara Ella

  Footsteps thud across the stone floor.

  I whirl.

  A baby cries. Another sigh. My brother is here. He’s okay. Have he and Mom been in Dahlia’s care this entire time?

  I move deeper into the cottage, past the front window shedding a miniscule amount of light. I run into a stool. Ouch. Why is it so dark? My pulse reaches my ears. Something’s off and it’s not the lights alone. “Mom, this isn’t funny anymore.” Dumb thing to say. Because Mom doesn’t play jokes. Not like this.

  As my vision adjusts, the faint outline of the furniture and floor plan becomes clear. But still no sign of my family. I search all two rooms. Nothing. When I return to the front, Ky and the others have piled into the entryway.

  “Is she here? Is Dahlia Moon here?” Khloe rises on her toes, stretches her neck.

  I shrug. Open my mouth to answer that no, no one seems to be home, but the desert sun has certainly induced hallucinations of some sort. Maybe the cottage doesn’t even look the way I saw it. Maybe I only imagined it was the one in Mom’s drawing. I’ve missed her. Much has crowded my mind these days, but I’ve never forgotten Mom and Evan.

  Shuffle. Creak. The crew shifts, turns their heads. A figure steps out from behind the open front door. A man, tall and dark, with black veins running the lengths of his arms, across his bare torso, around his neck, over his face.

  The crew backs away, giving him room. Everyone except Ky, who pushes Khloe behind him and draws his mirrorblade. “Em, if you were ever going to mirror walk, now’s the time to do it.”

  His comment throws me off. Does he really think I’d abandon the team?

  “Had to try,” Ky says in my head.

  I’m not going anywhere, I reply.

  The man moves toward me, stepping into the thin sliver of window light. I wouldn’t know him except for those eyes, cerulean blue and him as ever.

  “Joshua?” His name sounds as if I’ve spoken it in another language.

  He shakes his head. Bares his teeth. “It’s Josh now.” A roll of the neck. A crack of the knuckles.

  I knit my brows. “Joshua.” Now my voice is shaking. “What’s happened to you?”

  He doesn’t respond. Doesn’t try to hug me or talk to me. And I realize, even with his eyes, he’s not the same at all.

  One more step toward me, then he does a full 180 and rounds on Ky. “Hello, brother,” Joshua—Josh?—snarls.

  Brother? I can’t see Ebony, but a “What the bleep?” would be fitting right about now.

  “Reunited at last,” Josh says.

  Khloe steps out from behind her brother. Hands planted on her hips and stance wide, she says, “We’re not afraid of you.”

  The Ever draws his sword.

  “Joshua, don’t!” I sing.

  A glare over his shoulder. “I told you.” He spits to one side. “It’s Josh now.”

  Then he runs his blade straight through Khloe.

  I’m on my knees, scrambling to my younger sister’s side. Drawing her into my arms. Patting her hair. Her eyes roll into her head.

  Ky is frozen, blade held fast at his side.

  Josh wipes his bloody sword on his pants.

  I press my soaked face into Khloe’s curly mop. Whisper an inaudible, blubbering, “No.”

  Ebony is with me now, wrapping her arms around my quaking frame, resting her forehead on my shoulder.

  Like everything else, this is because of me. I look up at Josh now. He’s just staring at Ky. Waiting. Waiting for what?

  Lyrics to Passenger’s “Let Her Go” burn through me . . .

  “Everything you touch, surely dies . . .”

  No. This is not my fault. If I doubted my choice before, I sure as crowe don’t now. I find my voice. “How could you do this?”

  Josh doesn’t cast a glance in my direction. His regard is trained on Ky. Still he doesn’t budge.

  With care, I transfer Khloe into Ebony’s arms. It takes every ounce of willpower I have to rise, but I manage. The Verity is hard to notice, but I sense it, flickering like a dying flame in the pit of my soul.

  “Answer me!” My internal scream turns audible. The sound echoes through the small space.

  Josh gives no indication he hears. Not a flinch. Not a twitch.

  I pound my fists on his back, which feels rock hard against my touch. How did he get like this? How could he allow the Void to take him? I’m inclined to keep blaming myself. The Verity is meant to keep the Void at bay. But this isn’t on me. I won’t let it be. Joshua made his own choices.

  And, like a true Shadowalker, he chose the Void.

  A sob emerges as I take a step back and yank at my hair. At long last I catch a glimpse of the Ever tattoo above his right shoulder blade. It’s barely visible, but it’s there. Beneath the blackened brambles. It’s simple. Beautiful. Perfect.

  Joshua’s seal . . . is a heart.

  It should’ve turned black like the rest of him.

  I clutch my own heart to keep it from falling out of my chest. The Void is everywhere. I shove away the image of Jasyn Crowe. This is Joshua. Joshua. He’s a good guy. Because beneath it all there must be a chance he can return. Our mission becomes more desperate than ever, Joshua added to the list of those we must save.

  The rest of the crew makes no move to attack. They don’t breathe. Don’t blink. Because after what’s just happened, no one dares get near Josh—the Void.

  Ky is the first to speak. A statue, his mouth scarcely stirring. “Wrong move, David.”

  “We’ll see.” He slips his hand into his pants pocket and withdraws a small bottle. It’s lovely, made of what is unmistakably mirrorglass.

  As he faces Josh—his brother?—Ky’s nostrils flare. A single tear escapes his green eye and slides down his cheek.

  Josh lifts the mirrorglass bottle and collects the tear, swishing it around and holding it up to the light. Then he turns and offers the bottle to me. “Drink.” His tenor borders on robotic.

  I recoil. “Excuse me?”

  “Drink, El. Or so help me I will finish off every last one of them.”

  In the past I wouldn’t have believed such a threat, not from Joshua. But now I bite my lip to keep it from quivering. I hold my ground so I don’t crumple. Mirrorglass reverses. What will this reverse?

  Josh brandishes his sword once more. He won’t do to Ky what he did to Khloe. The beating in the Fourth was one thing. Joshua can take the few punches he gave Ky then, because whatever happens to Ky happens to Joshua. That alone was my first tip Joshua’s not all right. No matter his hatred for Ky, Joshua wouldn’t hurt him and risk hurting me. But killing is different. And without Ever blood to restore him, Ky’s death would end all three of us.

  So Josh levels his weapon at Ebony.

  Second thought not required. When I saved her from becoming Soulless it was selfless. Now the act is for myself as much as for her. Whatever she’s done in the past, she’s my sister. And not just by blood either.

  I snatch the bottle from Josh’s hand, glaring as I tip it ceilingward. Ky’s tear slides from the glass onto my tongue. Flavors bounce and change, reminding me of the blueberry girl from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

  At first the tear is sweet. I taste our reunion on the Seven Seas. My confession in the catacombs. Our kiss on the Fourth’s shore.

  The tear turns sour.

  I’m transported to the night Ky kidnapped me. Knocked off my feet by his cruelty. By the way he so easily stabbed Makai.

  The taste melts to bitterness.

  Anger rises. Ky working for Haman. Ky taking me from the castle and leaving Mom behind.

  “Em.” He reaches for me.

  It makes no sense, no sense at all, but I withdraw from his touch. Emotions war. Love, anger, hatred. Which one is right?

  Ky’s face pales, the life and light vanishing from his complexion. Black veins climb up his bare torso, up his neck and slack jaw. I’ve never seen him look this afraid. This helpless.

  Josh alters too. Th
e Void drains from him, gradually receding into nothing. Because the Void inhabits the one who cares most for the Verity’s vessel. Whatever drinking the tear has accomplished, Ky’s love now far surpasses Joshua’s.

  I inspect my right arm, plain as the left now. The Void has vanished from me as well. Ky bears the full weight of it. And something inside me snaps. Even so I can’t bring myself to touch him, to hold him, to tell him everything will be okay. I’m glued in place.

  I fight against my invisible restraints. “What have you done?” The question is for Josh. I expect to find him gone and the real Joshua returned, but even without the blackened veins, his stare remains stone cold. Heartless.

  “A few more seconds should do it.” He folds his arms. Leans away. His gaze never leaves mine.

  A few more . . . what? “What are you—?”

  The flavor on my tongue vanishes at last. Bitterness turns to nothing. I’d never know I drank . . . What did I drink? I can’t . . . I can’t remember. My eyes close. Head hangs.

  A tap on my shoulder.

  I whip up my head. A man stands before me, darkness covering every inch of his skin. The only light he carries is in his eyes, one green and one brown. Who is he? He almost seems familiar, but why? I step away, take the most comfortable place in the room. The place that feels safe.

  The place beside Joshua.

  FORTY-SIX

  Josh

  I wouldn’t believe it unless I was seeing it with my own eyes. The Elixir worked. That old coot Rafaj wasn’t so insane after all.

  “Mirrorglass reverses, my boy.” Bony finger pointed, he explained further, “The stuff is plentiful, particularly in the Fourth, but to find an object crafted from it? That is a rare find indeed.” He hacked several times, and I was certain he might pass out before finishing. Fortunately, he didn’t. “There are few who possess a touch gentle enough to shape the small stones into something else, and even fewer who can tame a Dragon long enough to use its breath for melting. For it is not the glass itself that is rare, but the one who knows how to use it.”

  I listened intently, soaking in his every word. I knew my brother’s blade caused a reverse effect when withdrawn from a wound, but what would the bottle do?

  “Two ingredients are needed for the Elixir,” the old man croaked. “The bottle, as I have mentioned, and a single tear.”

  Seemed easy enough, but I waited, all too aware more was required than met the ear. No doubt retrieving the specific tear needed would be a feat in itself. I moved deeper into Rafaj’s cell. “Whose tear?”

  Knees wobbling, he rose, using the stone wall for support. “To unbind two souls, here is what you must do.” His finger lifted in the air, and then he stroked his pointed chin. “Using the mirror-glass bottle, collect a tear shed by the one you wish to be forgotten.”

  All right, that would be Kyaphus. Shouldn’t be too challenging.

  “It must be a first tear, and it must be one produced from a broken heart. That, I am afraid, is nonnegotiable.”

  The difficulty rose a level. Still, it was achievable.

  “Serve the tear to the one you wish to do the forgetting. Once it touches her lips, the process shall begin. It should be mere moments before they are unbound, failing to remember the other altogether.”

  Eliyana is stubborn, and I knew persuasion would be key. And I was right, of course, because here we stand. Not only did the Elixir swipe her memory, unbind her from my brother, but it erased the Void from my soul as well.

  “You idiot,” my good side says in my head. “The Void entered Kyaphus because he loves her most now. You’ve ruined everything.”

  I laugh at my own joke before I think it. I believe that was you. I put his voice on low, keeping it just loud enough, but not so much I can’t hear myself think.

  “I’ll fight you. You won’t win this.”

  On second thought I mute him completely. I’ll catch up with him later, fill him in on what we’ve accomplished with the Void at our fingertips. Kyaphus carries the full agony that comes with housing the darkness, leaving me free to control him and it. I get the power without the pain.

  El’s expressions shift between confusion, anger, fear, and longing. Lower lip trembling, she sobs his name. “Joshua?” Her hands quake. “Joshua, what’s . . . ?” Her head shakes and her eyes squeeze shut. “What’s happening to me?”

  I draw her in and caress her cheek with my thumb, acting as the man she believes me to be. “Everything’s going to be fine now.” The lie is too easy.

  She sighs and leans into my touch. But just as quickly, she recoils.

  I curl my fingers into my palm, and my fingernails pierce my skin. This is nothing less than what I expected. Rafaj warned me of the side effects, of her probable confusion, but I can handle it. With my brother out of the way, there’s so much I can accomplish.

  “Ember.”

  The sound of his voice curdles my blood, but I don’t act. There is no need.

  El faces him, her own expression a mask of confusion.

  “Ember.”

  If he calls her by my mother’s name one more time, I may be forced to pummel him. He’s no longer connected to her, which means a good beating won’t hurt me in the least.

  I grin at the notion.

  He reaches out.

  She does not move. Until she does.

  When she breaks eye contact, I know for certain I’ve succeeded.

  When she breaks eye contact, I know the bond is broken.

  When she breaks eye contact and places her hand in mine, I know she has forgotten him for good.

  ASIDE

  KY

  This can’t be real.

  Why is she standing beside him?

  Why is she holding his hand?

  I know the Void consumes me, but I’m still me. Nothing’s changed. I fight against the darkness, shutting out the heinous thoughts threatening to win me over. I’ve practiced this for years, since Tiernan gave me my first taste of evil.

  “Let me out!” Kyaphus, otherwise known as my evil twin, bellows.

  Shut up, I tell him, pushing him deeper. I’ll handle this.

  I take a step forward, and Ember moves closer to his side. It’s not that she looks happy to be there. Quite the opposite. Her face is like a ghost’s. She’s terrified. But the difference is she knows him. He’s familiar. It’s me she doesn’t recognize.

  “David, what have you done?” The words release on a growl. I’d raise my knife, but if she doesn’t know me, she doesn’t know my blade won’t kill him either. Starting a fight would make things worse.

  “Only what was required.” He removes his hand from hers and places a protective arm around her shoulders. “I saved the Callings. The Reflections. The Void is no longer intertwined with the Verity. Which means everything should return to normal soon.”

  My throat constricts. “At least heal her then.” I gesture toward Khloe, who lies in Ebony’s arms, bleeding, but not quite gone. “Please.” I hate to grovel, but if it’s what’s required to save the only family I have, so be it. “She’s innocent.”

  David raises his right brow.

  Em looks up at him.

  When he cuts his palm on his sword, letting his blood drip onto Khloe’s wound, I know it’s only a show. A way to prove he’s the good guy. I don’t care about his reason though. I only care that my sister survives.

  Time ticks like a bomb ready to explode.

  Khloe’s eyes open and she gasps.

  My chest grows tight, but a relieved sigh escapes.

  The problem may be rectified for now, but our goal remains the same. The Void must be ended for good. Only then will we truly be free.

  I glance at my crew, searching for someone who might stand by me. Of all people, it’s Flint who joins my side. Ebony helps a bloodstained Khloe up, supporting her as they hobble over. But Gunner backs away and out the door. I watch him run, disappearing from sight.

  My gaze finds Ember’s then, except she’s not Ember an
ymore. She’s El again. She stares at me with vacant eyes. I think of how much I love her. I think of her song. But it does me no good.

  She can’t hear me anymore.

  FORTY-SEVEN

  Dusk Is Falling

  That man with the mismatched eyes won’t quit watching me. He’s kind of creepy, to be honest. Ebony tried to convince me I know the guy, Ky something or other. I just shook my head and asked her to leave me alone. Maybe I can’t trust her after all.

  Maybe I can’t trust anyone.

  I step outside through the cottage’s back door. Dusk is falling over the canyon, but it’ll be hours before the temperature cools off enough for my taste. The house sits on a cliff. And behind it, a rope bridge spans at least a mile-wide gap between two flat-topped hills. Below, a gorge looms, river rushing around the menacing rocks. Mom says it’s Elang Creek Threshold and leads into the Sixth, a quick escape in case she needed one from Isabeau.

  Isabeau. Right. I attempt to organize my thoughts, remember the things I seem to have forgotten. But my brain is scrambled eggs, and while some things are easy to recall, others are . . . well . . . not. It’s as if they’re blurred, present but with a sort of film covering them. And don’t get me started on the pieces that have vanished altogether. Tracks scratched off a disregarded CD.

  Like, where were we before we found Mom?

  She, baby Evan, and a guy by the name of Tide (who I recognize but hardly know . . . I think?) were gagged with hands and feet bound in a hollow space beneath the kitchen floor. Ebony threw her arms around Tide and he hesitated only a moment before embracing her and lifting her off the ground. Joshua claims he arrived only moments before we did, so he didn’t have time to release them. His story seemed valid. He may have deceived me in the past, but he wouldn’t lie about this. What reason would he have?

  Last clear memory I can muster, I was in the Fourth, skipping rocks with Ebony at the seashore. And that in and of itself is weird. When did Ebony and I become friends, and why? I know we’re on good terms now, but the context is warbled. Then there’s the girl, the one Joshua saved with his Ever blood. Where did she come from, and who does she belong to? She looks at me a lot, too, though it doesn’t bother me as much as the creeper’s.