“I haven’t even thought about it. I was trying to figure you guys out, actually.”
“What about us?” he asked, ditching his stick while he readjusted to face me.
“I mean, isn’t it strange? You don’t know me at all one day and the next day you’ll follow me straight to hell?”
“Wrong,” he said, shaking his head. “You don’t know us at all, but we’ve known you your whole life.”
“Youallhave?” I asked, surprised at his admission.
“Age means nothing, you know that. But if we’re keeping track, you were a baby when you were sent away, but we watched them take you. Greeve handed you to your new mother the day your family left the southern kingdom. He lit your real parents’ funeral pyre.”
No wonder I’d felt so drawn to Greeve. As if he were an old friend I’d somehow forgotten. “I had no idea.”
“I think the big piece of the puzzle you’re missing here is Fen. If Fen woke up right now and told me to go swimming in that creepy lake, I’d do it. I’d walk right over these haunted bones and leap into the water. He’s my brother. I’d do anything for him. But he’d do anything for you, Ara. That’s his destiny. We’re just the lucky baggage.”
“But that’s the problem, isn’t it? You’re here because of him, not because of me, and he’s here because of destiny, not actual choice. If I do something reckless, it’s not just my own life at stake. It’s the four of you also.”
“No one’s got a choice here.” He stood and stretched. “You’ve got to let that guilt go. The dracs believe that nothing is a coincidence. I’m here and you’re here because we were meant to be. Wren was right. This isn’t just your journey, so stop thinking like that. It’s our journey.”
“For being the funny guy, you’re full of wisdom tonight.”
“I’m funny because it’s needed. You can’t take life so seriously.”
“I’ll keep that in mind the next time you’re ear fucked by a banshee.”
“You have a sick sense of humor,” he said, chuckling. “And I like it.”
I’m not sure how, but eventually I ended up falling asleep. I felt myself teetering on the cusp of Nealla’s nightmare when pain hit my stomach. My eyes flew open, and I was face to face with the wrinkled face of Aibell staring me right in the eyes, her staff in my gut.
“Wake child. The clock has stopped.”
I sat up and looked around. The Mists were pushed back even farther than they had been last night, and a clear path had been made through the sea of bones.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Nothing yet. Nothing happens when time is obstructed.”
“What am I to do from here?”
“First, you must release the book into the water, child. Go alone and do not touch the water. It is made of souls and you’ll never find yours if it’s lost in the chasm. You must make a blood sacrifice to the water, the Soul Repository.”
“If you could come here, why didn’t you just bring me? Why make me go through all of this?”
“The journey is important.” She looked to Fen. “I am one. This war will take more than that. Greater things must happen.”
“Anything else I should know before I keep going?”
“Plenty,” she said before disappearing.
“Old hag,” I yelled, just as the hold she had on time released and I woke everyone but Kai, who sat with his knees to his chest watching the bones. As if it was a game we played, they all jumped to their feet, weapons ready.
“Sorry. Sorry. Just Aibell here to crash the party.”
“Where is she?” Greeve searched the horizon.
“Oh, she’s gone now. She came to be a pain in my ass and then off she went.”
“I see she left us a path.” Fen stepped forward.
