THE TWENTY-FIRST

 

I awoke as we reached the factory. Apple slid from the sleigh first and shed her olive-green cloak, pulling a handful of bangle bracelets from her pockets. Porethius dropped from the sky, slamming onto the front step with Cane in her grip. He detached himself and wheezed. But he took a long breath and straightened, smoothing down his mahogany hair before opening the doors. He staggered to a stop the moment he entered—Apple almost walked into his back.

A young woman stood in the dimly lit main room of the factory, her honey-blonde hair pulled to the side in a twist. Apple’s gasp filled the chocolatey air as everyone flowed in.

By a mountain of rose-chocolate squares, Holly Kissing’s hands were clasped behind her back. Or Scarlet Strange’s hands, rather.

“You got out,” Cane said to her.

Scarlet shifted her footing and nodded. “I brought this.” When Scarlet pulled the ruby-red drum from behind her back, Cane huffed a dry laugh, but my lips parted.

“Kingsblood.” The Red Prince met Scarlet in the middle of the room. “I’m merrily ubbersnugged,” he whispered, receiving the drum and handing it back to Kaley, since I already held the Crown of Pines.

I blinked at the items in our hands, hardly believing they were real. Kaley cast me a subtle smile that said it all: that two Trites had managed to do something we had no business setting out to do.

Almost.

My gaze shifted to Zane. I watched the electric-eyed Patrolman scuff his pecan hair and lean his Patrol staff against the wall. He glanced into the empty factory balconies, and I imagined he was thinking about the young Rime souls in raven-black who used to fill them.

 

 

I didn’t remember which halls I’d used when I searched for somewhere to nap. My bones felt on the verge of cracking, my muscles threatened to liquify. I could hardly think about anything but sleeping.

When I awoke hours later, a glittering, blue ceiling stretched above me with a copper chandelier of raindrop-diamonds dripping from glassy threads. I stared at the artwork reaching down the walls, depicting an array of white animals: antlered creatures, doves, lions, deer, and polar bears.

I laid my head back down and breathed a sigh of relief, inhaling the comforting smells of chocolate and nuts. When a shuffle sounded in the hallway, I sat up, smoothing down my hair. I cleared my throat to alert whoever was out there that I wasn’t sleeping anymore.

Apple appeared with a deep-brown smile and a twinkle in her eyes. She carried a tray of treats. “Good morning, friend.” She placed the tray on the coffee table.

“Thank you.” I rubbed my eyes. Then I rubbed my eyes again. It didn’t seem possible to still feel tired, but my body wanted to lay back down.

I took a handful of truffles and popped one into my mouth. “Mmm,” I moaned. “I wish I could have these with me all the time.” I eyed another.

Apple smiled. “I’m always just a season away, friend. I’ll wrap some and send them with you for when you have to leave.”

I slowed my chewing and dropped my gaze to the tray.

A raven-black jacket appeared in the doorway. Zane’s eyes were that same muted tone as before, and I made a face. “What’s gotten into you?” I asked, nodding to the truffles. “Eat something. You look like you’re about to tip over.”

“I’m fine,” Zane said. “We need to talk.”

I glanced at Apple, but she only shrugged. So, I stood and wiped my mouth with my sleeve, stifling a laugh when Apple scowled.

Zane led me through a network of spindled metal hallways and into the large, hollow main room. The sound of the chocolate waterfall filled the space. Kaley emerged from another hall; a backpack slung over her shoulders. I realized she was coming with us when Zane went outside, and she followed.

“Good grief, you two. What’s going on?” I asked the moment we met cold air.

Zane glanced at Kaley. “Trite?” he said.

Kaley studied me. In my sister’s forest-green eyes, I saw a look I didn’t understand.

“We had a good plan, Helen. We got two out of three Triad pieces. But I also have my own plan,” she said.

I huffed a phony laugh. “Okay. What’s so bad about your plan that you had to keep it from me?” I stole a glance at Zane but he was quiet.

“Helen, I watched you burn out for months. And even after coming back here, you’re still not better. I think what you need is rest.” Kaley swallowed. “Even Lucas knows when to go on sabbatical.”

“What are you saying?” I hugged my arms to myself.

My sister took a deep breath. “You tried to force your way back here when you weren’t supposed to.” She took one of my hands in hers. “But this isn’t just about that. It’s also about Eliot.”

She lifted her hand, palm up, and I felt a tug in my spirit. It dawned on me what she was offering to take, and I pulled my hand from hers, horrified. My gaze fired to Zane, but he was looking off.

“I’ll give it back in a little while,” Kaley promised. “But you need to cut off Eliot’s bond.”

“And Zane’s in the process!” I called back, unable to fathom this idea.

“Yes,” Zane finally spoke, dragging his electric eyes to me. “And mine.”

“How can you even…” I shook my head, clasping my fingers around the orb that had belonged to me for three of the most important years of my life.

“Trite, as long as Eliot is pledged to the Beast, he’s a link between you and Nightflesh.” Zane bit his lip, reaching to push my messy hair out of my eyes. “I need to fix you, Helen. This is how I do it.” He dropped his hand.

“Edward said that the greatest form of love is to lay down one’s life for their brother—or sister. You’ve been taking care of me long enough. For once, let me take care of you,” Kaley said, open palm waiting.

In my mind’s eye, I saw the Queen of the Pines’s door between worlds, creaking open and letting the light of Sylvia’s hallway spill through. I didn’t know if it had been real or an illusion, but if she had offered to give me that door, I would have taken it. Shame on me, I knew I would have.

Stinging warmed my eyes. I felt like I had years of sleep ahead of me to make up for the months I’d lost. I lifted the glass orb whose gold and ivory centre brushed up the sides, still blemished by that dark, smoky crack from the collapse of Wentchester Cove.

“I just want to sleep,” I admitted.

“I know,” Zane whispered.

I stared at my sister’s outstretched hand. And all the tension I had stored up in my shoulders began to drain. Though it felt like giving away a part of me, I unclasped the necklace and passed over the important treasure that Harmony Hucklebunk-Reyes had once given to me.

“This transfer of responsibility is official,” I rasped, recalling those first words a Rime Folk had said to me in the streets of Waterloo.

Kaley’s fingers wrapped around the glass sphere. Her brows tilted in, her eyes becoming distant. She whispered something, and I looked at Zane, then back at her. I leaned in to try and hear. “Kaley?” I didn’t know what she was doing, or what she was looking at. It was like she forgot where she was. But a second later, her eyes darted back to me, and she blinked. Then, she smiled.

I was about to ask who she was talking to when the sharp blast of a horn filled the air, causing us to whirl. Those in the factory spilled out the front door; Old-Jymm dug out a spyglass and held it up, squinting out across the horizon.

“It’s the train!” he yelled.

“By the sharpest wind, what is Cornelius Britley doing all the way out here?” Apple asked, tugging a pocket watch from her dress folds. I recognized it as the one Timblewon stole from the ringmaster at the circus. “And so dreadfully off schedule…”

The train was moving faster than I’d ever seen it; wind off the engine blasted over the snowdrifts as it rolled to a stop, violet sparkles littering the ground. The moment the gears stopped spinning, the golden-arched doors swished open, and I made a face.

“Emily?”

My friend emerged beside Cornelius Britley, who kicked out a metal staircase attached to the train.

“Helen!” Emily rushed down the stairs. Her chest rose and fell as she pursed her mulberry-purple glossed lips. “I know this is bizarre, and you told me to stay away from here for my own safety or whatever. But…it’s your grandma.” Emily tapped her long, painted nails together as she paused to catch her breath. “She’s in the hospital, and I didn’t want anything to…well, you know. I didn’t want something to happen while you were gone.”

My lungs constricted. I saw it all over again—Grandma in Sylvia’s hallway, dropping her cane. But it couldn’t have been real. Everyone I knew who went to the hospital either died or fell into a coma; my grandmother was too alert for that place.

“So anyway, I didn’t want her to be alone, and obviously I don’t know her that well so it would be weird for me to go there,” Emily went on.

I closed my eyes. “I have to go,” I said.

“It should be you, Helen,” Kaley agreed. “She’s always been closest to you.”

“You’re not coming?”

Kaley slid the orb necklace over her head. “I have something important to do.”

Stifling my objections, I grabbed my sister’s hand. “Make sure you’re back across that intersect before it closes,” I said.

“Wait…Helen…” Zane appeared in front of me with a wild look on his face. “I just…” His fist came against his mouth like he was trying to shut himself up. “It’s too bloody soon. I thought I had you for another ten plus two days,” he blurted through his fingers.

I took in his bright, Rime eyes, memorizing how he looked this year so I’d never forget. “Bond or not, I’m going to miss you until it hurts,” I said, and Zane’s shoulders dropped.

The factory door slapped open again, and Apple flew down the stairs carrying an armful of boxes bound with ribbons. She handed me the assortment. “Now, they’re all labelled, of course. And don’t eat them all at once—that’ll muddle your stomach. And—”

“I’m sorry but I promised the train guy this wouldn’t take long,” Emily butted her way in, taking half the boxes.

Apple sighed and cast me a glossy-eyed, dark chocolate smile. “Safe travels.”

Cane and Scarlet watched from the stairs with Fred and Lucas. Lucas cast me a wink.

It was hard to believe that these few were all who stood between Nightflesh and his rulership over Winter. I’d never forget this moment. I’d never forget these faces.

“Come on,” I said to Emily before I changed my mind.

With my arms full of truffles, I boarded Cornelius Britley’s train, ignoring the cries and objections of my heart as I left Winter’s greatest fight in the hands of those at my back.