by Brandon Mull
Tessa was in the slipstream. He hadn’t anticipated her taking such drastic action to avoid capture. He had failed. It was over.
Her little body flowed along in the ether, arms flailing.
And Cole knew what he had to do.
He had no choice.
Impossible or not, he had to save her.
No matter the price.
Sheathing his sword, Cole ran with all his strength. He might be able to reach Tessa before the slipstream swept her out of range. Her body wasn’t traveling as fast as the whistling ether.
But she was going faster than he could run.
By the time Cole reached the edge of the channel, Tessa had swept by him. As he tried to follow, her lead kept stretching.
There was only one possible way to catch up.
Cole considered keeping the lantern, then shuttered and dropped it. Maybe Dandalus could protect it from Sando. If not, at least the Weaver’s Beacon would have a better chance of survival than it would in the channel.
Cole jumped in.
The shrill whistling of the slipstream gained the overwhelming fury of a hurricane. Beneath it, behind it, the gorgeous call of the Other sang of home. The mix was exhilarating and peaceful. He felt a tremendous urge to close his eyes and zoom to the source of that beautiful music.
Not yet. Maybe later.
He had somebody to rescue first.
Swimming forward, Cole caught sight of Tessa up ahead. As he stroked downstream, she resisted the current. Their combined efforts allowed him to gain on her.
“Tessa!” he shouted, the word lost in the howling symphony of the slipstream.
Head bobbing above and below the surface, Cole struggled to keep her in view. The slipstream blurred all around him, a streaky gale of fog and tinsel. It was hard to tell if he was floating or flying—the ether had more substance than wind but less than water. He refused to inhale the substance, grateful that breathing wasn’t necessary in the echolands.
Tessa drew near. Heaving himself forward, Cole wrapped his arms around her. They both sank. His feet began clipping the rocky floor of the channel. With their combined weight, he couldn’t get his head back above the surface. His feet kept striking the channel floor. Gritting his teeth, Cole absorbed several impacts until he slowed enough to plant his feet against some firm rocks.
Tessa clung to him. He held her close and leaned against the wailing might of the slipstream. It took all his strength to hold steady. He could feel that if he lifted a leg to take a step, he would be washed downstream.
Squinting against the fury of the slipstream, frantic music shrilling in his ears, Cole tried to get his bearings. The near side of the channel was a sheer wall. There would be no wading out. It would require a climb.
Looking up, he found that the slipstream wasn’t horribly deep where he stood. If he raised his hands over his head, his fingers would break the shimmering surface.
“Let me go!” Tessa cried, her words barely audible. “I’m not afraid!”
“I have to save you!” Cole yelled back.
“It’s too late!” Tessa shouted. “Nobody returns from the slipstreams.”
Cole saw a shape leaning out over the surface of the slipstream. Distorted as it was by the rushing ether, it took Cole a moment to recognize the form as Sando. His shapecrafters were holding one arm so he could lean out over the ether, his free hand outstretched toward the surface.
Cole felt a thrill of excitement. If he could lift Tessa high enough, Sando would be able to pull her out. Maybe she could still survive this!
When Cole tried to speak again, he found he had used up all his breath on his previous shouts. He didn’t need to breathe to live, but air was still necessary to push words out. Ducking his chin, Cole inhaled through his nose and discovered the ether was breathable. Inside his nostrils, it felt much more like air than water.
“You have to live!” Cole hollered, unsure whether she could hear him.
“They’ll use my power!” Tessa replied, her words barely audible. “I don’t want more people to get hurt!”
“Dandalus doesn’t think anyone can use your power!” Cole yelled. “And I agree! I saw Thunder. I’m handing you up!”
“Let’s float away!” Tessa called out. “All this will be over!”
“No!” Cole insisted.
“It felt right to jump in here!” Tessa cried.
“It felt right to save you!” Cole replied.
“That doesn’t mean . . . ,” Tessa started. The slipstream shrilled in his ears throughout her pause. “Well, maybe.”
“Someone can still save you!” Cole called, happy to hear her wavering.
“He’ll take me to Nazeem!”
“Get away! Be strong! Make their plans backfire! Get rescued!”
“All right!” Destiny relented.
“Let go of me!” Cole yelled.
She released her hold, and Cole heaved her upward. Sando leaned farther forward, Tessa’s arms broke the surface of the slipstream, and suddenly, she was pulled up and away. In a blink, Sando and Tessa were no longer in view. Only the whooshing ether remained.
Without Tessa weighing him down, Cole immediately felt more buoyant. The slipstream tore at him, threatening to carry him away. He hooked one foot beneath a large rock on the floor of the channel, leaned into the current more, and struggled to think heavy, immovable thoughts.
A blizzard of ether lashed at him relentlessly, howling around him, interlaced with the heart-melting melody of the homesong. If he tried to take a step, he would be swept away. He could barely maintain his present position. If the current surged just a little stronger, he would be washed away.
Might somebody throw him a rope? Lower a branch? Extend a wing?
He kept glancing at the jittery surface, but no saviors appeared.
It was just him and the slipstream.
Maybe he should let the current take him. At this point, wasn’t he resisting the inevitable? Wasn’t it just a matter of time?
But somebody had to save Tessa. And so many others. He had to hold on.
There seemed to be power in his defiance. He felt a little more firmly anchored to the channel floor.
He had to think. Maybe there was a way out of this. He wasn’t going to suffocate. He wasn’t going to get tired. He might be able to stay put for a good while. If he lasted long enough, maybe somebody would help him.
He needed to live. He had to see his family again. He had to help Dalton and Jenna find their way home.
As Cole embraced those thoughts, once again he felt a little more firmly planted against the turbulence. The sensation of the ether was changing. The windy fluid still mostly whooshed around him, but now it felt like some of it flowed through him. As he paid attention to the sensation, it gradually increased.
Was the slipstream really penetrating him? It made him feel intangible, like a ghost. Like his very substance was diminishing.
The call of the Other rang more clearly than earlier. In fact, as the ether passed through him, he could almost feel the homesong inside of him. When he focused on the call, a greater portion of the slipstream slid right through him. Having the ether stream through him reduced the drag, making him feel a little more stable. But it also felt like he was disappearing. Was he being washed away one particle at a time? How long before nothing was left?
“No!” he cried, his voice small against the banshee chorus. A memory stirred. When had he heard wind like this? The terminal void behind the cloudwall! He wondered if the swirling maelstrom might be composed of this same ether.
He hunkered a bit lower and leaned into the current a bit more. The slipstream hardly seemed to flow around him anymore. Yet the current still threatened to carry him away. The pull was reduced, but not as much as it should have been if he completely lacked substance.
Cole began to feel hot inside. Although the ether penetrated his body, something within him resisted the shrieking gale, causing incredible friction. The heat became uncomf
ortable before Cole recognized the scalding element as his power.
He was feeling his power! It had been so long! He had barely learned to recognize it before it was blocked. He had never gotten to enjoy it. And he couldn’t enjoy it now as it continued to burn hotter.
What was going on? Would he burst into flames?
His entire body began to vibrate. The friction against his power was becoming more powerful than the pull against his body. Would his soul get ripped out? His lifespark? Was this how that felt?
Cole gritted his teeth. He wouldn’t let the slipstream take him. Since he could feel his power, Cole reached for it. The effort caused physical pain. It was scorching, white hot, unfit to be used.
And then he could no longer hear the song of the slipstream. It was replaced by the homesong in a fullness he had never experienced. The current kept pulling but seemed remote. More important was the heavenly music washing over him. The peace coursing through him. The sublime assurances.
Somewhere deep inside he knew and loved the homesong. He adored it completely and instinctively. Was this how an orphan might feel, reunited with his mother, her beloved voice and smell reviving dormant memories? Cole had lost everything—his home, his family, his friends, his future—but this song promised restoration. Peace and joy and an endless abundance that included all he believed he had lost.
This song had been sacred to Cole since before he was born. His life had been an illusion. This music was home.
And the music was only a promise! What would it be like to actually go there? Why was he resisting? Why wasn’t he rushing toward this greatest of all destinations?
The searing heat of his power blazed inside of him. Noticing it helped the homesong recede slightly. Was his power charring him from the inside? Was he turning to ashes? Maybe that was why the slipstream gushed through him, as if he were a hologram.
The homesong resurged, more hopeful and joyous than he could absorb. Why not embrace it? Why not get lost in it?
Tessa.
Mira.
Dalton.
Jace.
Jenna.
Hunter.
People needed him.
The call of the Other decreased in volume. He could hear the slipstream again. It physically tugged at him a bit more.
Sando had taken Tessa. Mira was imprisoned at the Fallen Temple. Jace and Joe were at Gamat Rue. And it was all his fault.
The slipstream was going through him less, flowing around him more. His power was cooling, the friction decreasing.
Dalton was counting on him to return. He had promised to find Jenna. Somebody had to stop Stafford Pemberton and Nazeem. He needed to get home to his family and to help the other kids from his neighborhood do the same.
The homesong would have to wait.
The slipstream howled around him, tearing at him, but no longer sifting through him. The call of the Other remained present but not overpowering.
People needed him. They needed his help. They needed his power.
His power.
He felt it clearly. Not hot anymore. Not catching against the slipstream.
Not gone.
His power was there more clearly than he had ever felt it, even when he had used it in the fight against Morgassa, even when the Founding Stone had helped it awaken. After all this time, it was back.
And he was stuck at the bottom of a channel, on the fringe of the echolands, the fury of the slipstream threatening to peel him from his position at any moment. Cole could envision himself hurtling along the channel, a rag doll in a tornado.
But his power was back.
The glow of it gave him confidence.
And now he knew what to do.
Cole drew the Jumping Sword and pushed some of his power into it. Flames danced along the blade, bright even in the frantic blur of the ether.
He pointed the blade at the surface of the slipstream, angling it toward the near shore of the channel.
“Away!” he shouted.
And away he flew.
CHAPTER
32
THUNDER
Cole erupted from the slipstream, soaring up over the field beside the channel. The Jumping Sword always knew where he was pointing, but in his excitement, Cole had aimed too high. He rose about thirty feet over the field, then slowed at the apex of his flight before plummeting down.
Fortunately, Cole was no rookie with the Jumping Sword. As he landed, he pointed to a spot up ahead, shouted the command word, and greatly reduced the impact by taking a second smaller jump.
After coming to a stop, Cole looked around, his sword ready. He could still distinctly feel his power, and he knew that with the Jumping Sword he could give Sando a much better fight.
But Cole saw no sign of Sando, Tessa, or the other shapecrafters, not even as specks in the sky. How long had he been stuck in the slipstream?
Cole sheathed the Jumping Sword. At least he was alive. He had never been so relieved to feel the ground beneath his feet or to see the sky overhead. He had almost left this world behind.
While Cole had chased Tessa inside the channel, the ether had carried him almost back to the wooded sanctuary where Dandalus lived. Though he felt embarrassed about losing Tessa so quickly, Cole figured he should check with Dandalus before going after her.
After his first step back toward Dandalus, Cole heard a distant whinny, accompanied by faint, thrilling music. He stopped, then turned.
In the distance, Thunder raced toward him from the direction of the cliffs. Cole gritted his teeth. Why couldn’t the Mare have appeared earlier? He and Tessa might have outrun Sando.
Of course, he could still use a ride.
“Cole!” called a voice from behind.
Cole turned to find Dandalus approaching through the trees. A radiant cloud swirled inside the Warden of the Light, somehow perceivable through his clothes and skin. Cole knew from his experience at the Founding Stone that the glimmer was Dandalus’s power. Cole scrunched his brow. Why hadn’t he noticed it before? The luminous power was plain enough now to be distracting. Hoping Dandalus might have some advice for him, Cole trotted over and met him at the edge of the grove.
“I see you have a visitor,” Dandalus said, glancing beyond Cole at the oncoming horse.
“Better late than never,” Cole replied.
Dandalus raised his eyebrows. “I don’t imagine Destiny’s power typically arrives late.”
“But I lost Tessa,” Cole said. “I feel so stupid.”
“Are you serious?” Dandalus asked.
“I was in charge of her for less than an hour and she got taken,” Cole said.
“You were unbelievably heroic, Cole,” Dandalus said. “You saved her life.”
“And brought her a message that let Sando follow me,” Cole said.
“A devious ploy,” Dandalus said. “I noticed the message but thought nothing of it. I assumed you would give it to her later.”
“You couldn’t sense Sando tracking it?” Cole asked.
“He must have used shapecraft. That can be hard for me to detect. Or he might have just used the obligation of delivery to follow you, which is basically impossible to discern from outside the agreement.”
The hoofbeats drew nearer. Thunder neighed.
“Come fully into my sanctuary,” Dandalus said, backing up. “We don’t want to risk being overheard.”
Cole stepped from the turf of the field onto the clover of the grove. The outside music instantly stopped, but he could still hear the approaching hoofbeats.
“Take heart,” Dandalus said. “The Mare brought you here and has now come for you. You may not have strayed far from whatever scheme Destiny’s power intended.”
Cole frowned. Could that be true?
“You have your power back,” Dandalus pointed out. “And by very unusual means.”
Cole thought about that. “I wouldn’t have gone in except to rescue Tessa.”
Dandalus grinned. “Who would attempt such a feat? Th
e choice to enter a slipstream is sacred in the echolands. Once a person goes in, they do not come out.”
“People don’t often survive?” Cole asked.
“To my knowledge, it has never happened,” Dandalus said. “If you weren’t both living echoes, I doubt it could have happened. Even so, it was only made possible by your very strong will to live and your formidable power. Your will and your power helped ground you against the pull of the ether. As you held your ground, the slipstream pulled the impure shaping away. In miraculous fashion. Your power was hideously mangled. It is now completely, impossibly healed. I can no longer tell it was ever damaged.”
“At least I’ll have my Jumping Sword again,” Cole said, patting the hilt.
Dandalus gave a soft laugh. “Yes, but Cole, your ability extends far beyond energizing objects. That is a novel side effect compared to your full potential.”
“Really?” Cole asked.
“Can’t you feel it?” Dandalus asked. “Of course you can, but you’ve never really tested it, so you’re unaware of the possibilities. Cole, were it not for the threat posed by Nazeem, I might be your biggest enemy in the echolands.”
“You?”
“You naturally have raw shaping ability,” Dandalus said. “Since we rearranged how shaping functions, only the torivors have wielded such power here. The shapecrafters fake it in a limited way by maiming their power and the power of others. But you have it, Cole, and you have it here, as a bright echo. This is the original home of raw shaping. Your power will be stronger here than anywhere. Once you master it, you could undo much of what we’ve done.”
Cole swallowed. “So why am I not your enemy?”
“Because of the threat we face,” Dandalus said. “And because I can see your mind. Unlike the torivors, you don’t want to ruin the Outskirts or the echolands. You don’t want to rule here. You want to help. And we need help.”
Thunder gave a soft whinny.
Cole turned to find the horse standing at the edge of the field. Lost in the conversation with Dandalus, he had almost forgotten about her arrival.
“Hi, Thunder,” Cole said.
“Thunder?” Dandalus asked. “Ah, you felt the name, and Tessa confirmed it.”