Her stare sweeps over me again as I pull on Hector’s cloak over the surcoat.
“Sol…” She whispers, her voice low. “Your…”
“I know.” I run my hand against my stomach, feeling the slight bump, the evidence I have refused to put into words before now. A part of me thought if I refused to accept it, it wouldn’t be true.
Over the last few days, it has gotten a lot harder to deny, though. Especially when I haven’t had my moonblood in several months.
“Oh, Sol…” Everly’s face pinches into a frown. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say nothing.” I clasp my hands together. “At least for now.”
Her frown remains, carved into the lines of her face.
“Right now, we need to focus on getting to the pool. Then, we can talk about everything else.” If I don’t focus, I will crumble apart like a sandcastle caught by a rogue wave. Then I’d be useless. And frankly, I don’t want to be useless.
A sigh slips from her as she stares down at her hands. “There’s something I haven’t told you yet.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t have any bloodstone. I lost mine a few days ago.”
I let out a jagged breath and clutch my hands to my stomach. It cannot get any worse than this. It cannot.
“Do you have any?” she asks, her voice tentative, hopeful.
Despair creeps through me as I stretch out my arm where my bloodstone threads used to rest. “I did until last night.”
“Oh, Sol.” Everly’s hem billows around her legs as she paces back and forth. “I don’t know what to do.”
Everything the Seer said to me mocks me now. Every prophecy. Every word I didn’t understand. All those things the Seer said about Mother. The tree that grows in reverse. How I must go backward, and Hector must go forward.
Being in the past has only escalated my darkness. It hasn’t mended anything. And now, I’m stranded here, stuck forever in the past.
Her eyes lower to the bag sitting near my feet. “You may want to tie that back to your waist, so you don’t lose it.”
“Thank you.” I grab the bag and attach it to my belt.
When I finish, a thought strikes me, something I should have remembered sooner. I pull the bag open and feel for the marbles Mildred gave me. After a moment of rummaging, I grab one and remove it from the bag.
I hand the marble to Everly. “Do you think this is bloodstone?”
She rolls it between her fingers. “Maybe.”
Please, Olah.
I desperately need to leave this place.
Everly turns to the river. “Follow me.”
A thick cloud swallows the moon as we approach the dock. I shiver and quicken my steps toward the lone torch positioned on a post. Faster and faster, I walk, my footsteps echoing against the wooden planks, my heart pounding.
This is it. The moment I have been waiting for, longing for, desperately needing.
As Everly strides further onto the dock, I follow her, hope still pounding in my chest. Hope to finally leave this place and to renew myself.
Moonlight shimmers on her curly brown hair as she kneels and dips her hand into the water. After a moment, she pulls her hand out, and I gasp at the fish caught between her fingers.
How did she do that?
