The creatures pursued me. While some were distracted by their fallen comrades, more ran past them to get to me. Yet none of them caught me.
Their screeches made me continue forward, stumbling, falling, and rising again. It wasn’t until I stood in the strange twilight of the terminator zone that I risked a glance back and saw them. I screamed and fell back on my butt before I realized they weren’t coming any closer. They didn’t dare step into the light.
I stared in morbid fascination as every time one would attempt to step past the shadows, they would howl in pain as their flesh smoked.
I’d never seen a wrao in the light, and though what they were in could hardly be called light, what I saw was horrifying. They looked like a mix of wolf and human, with humanoid bodies and large, protruding jaws like a wolf’s. Glistening green skin stretched too tight over enormous skeletons at least seven feet tall. Large black eyes sat above the elongated snout, reminding me of spider eyes. I scooted back as their frenzy increased, and sulfuric blood oozed from numerous wounds.
When I locked eyes with one of the creatures and it bared its jagged, black teeth, I scrambled to my feet and dashed through to the light.
I did it, I thought. My weary body forced me to my knees then onto my stomach. I did it. I should be thrilled to be alive. Instead, I only felt more afraid. I could still hear the wrao screaming from the darkness. They would kill me if I went back inside. But in Sol? I didn’t know who or what might want me dead. It could be anyone. It could be a friend.
I wanted to sleep. To luxuriate in the warm ground beneath me and the light surrounding me, but I was desperately thirsty, and there was no time to waste. I rolled into a seated position and pulled off my pack. I dug inside for a water flask and drank the entire thing without opening my eyes.
A shadow fell over me, and I looked up to find Archibald, Serantha’s Servant standing over me.
He crouched down in front of me, and I flinched, though I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I’d known this was a possibility, that they’d be monitoring the terminator zone and would catch me as soon as I reentered Sol.
But I had hoped.
His clothing appeared worse for wear, though his skin still looked healthy. How long had he been out here waiting for me? Why’d they send him instead of guards?
“Peace,” Archibald said, his silver-flashing eyes peering intently at me. “I am not here to hurt you.”
I narrowed my eyes. Of course, that’s what a foe would want you to believe.
“I can take you to Finn—someplace where you will be safe from the Prem’yera’s guards.”
“I don’t trust you,” I finally said. My voice was crackly. There’d probably been too much screaming lately.
Archibald nodded once. “I understand. Sera said you would feel this way.”
I cocked my head. “Sera?”
“My apologies,” he said with a bowed head. “That is what I called my mistress. I suppose I have grown a little nostalgic since she passed.”
I frowned and sat up straighter. “What? She . . . died?” I knew she was dying, but a part of me had hoped I’d get to see her again.
He regarded me solemnly then nodded once. “Two days after your exile.”
“Oh,” I said. “Poor Finn.” I couldn’t imagine how he’d dealt with that. He’d always been close to his mother and to lose her just days after losing me . . . well. I wasn’t positive what I meant to him, but I knew he had cared, and Finn was a sensitive man.
“Indeed,” Archibald said.
I squinted at him. “What do you mean?”
Now, he cocked his head at me. “Only that this time has been difficult. For almost everyone.”
“Almost everyone?”
Archibald looked over his shoulder at the horizon. “Everyone innocent.”
“Oh.” I stared out toward Sol as well, still unsure whether I trusted the Servant, but knowing I had to do something.
When he stood and reached down a hand to help me up, he said, “Will you let me take you to Finn? He is waiting for you.”
Ignoring his hand, I scrambled to my feet and pulled on my pack. “Waiting for me?” How could that be? How would he even know I’d return?
Archibald started walking, and I followed a few steps behind. We’d gone maybe ten feet when I stopped. “Wait.”
Archibald stopped and turned to face me.
“Where are we going? You better not be taking me back to the tower.”
His eyebrows rose. “Of course not. If anyone saw you there, you would be executed on the spot.”
“That’s what I thought,” I mumbled. “Then where are we going?”
Archibald looked toward the horizon again, then back to me. “I believe we will find him on Birch’s ledge. That is where he is at the moment.”
Now, it was my turn to look surprised. “The ledge? But why?” And then after a moment’s thought, “And if you can track him, he can’t possibly be safe there.” My fingers curled into my palms. I did not know how I’d best a Servant, but I’d seen the faces of the wrao, and nothing could scare me more than that.
“Oh.” Archibald shook his head as if disappointed with himself. “Serantha gave him a packet like yours. It contained a locator—just as yours did.”
“It did?” I nearly screeched, jumping back a step and staring at my palm as if I might tear it off. As if that would do any good.
Archibald’s soft chuckle drew my attention. “I am sorry, Preferido. I am making a mess of things.” He took a step forward, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. His cuffs were frayed, and I was once again reminded that he’d been standing out here in the desert for weeks. “Only I have the key to the locators, and I have not connected to the databank since I received it. No one knows of the packets Serantha prepared for you and Finn. And only I know where either of you are. Though Finn may have others with him; I cannot be sure. I know he does not have Dominic—he is powered off.”
I stared at the Servant for a long moment, processing his words.
“Okay,” I finally said. “Okay.”
I started walking and Archibald fell into step beside me.
We walked in silence, veering to the right and into the sharp outline of the edge of the land. When we reached the cliffs, still far from Birch’s ledge, I asked Archibald to stop. The Xel suit did a wonderful job of keeping me warm, but I no longer needed its help. I felt like I was turning into soup inside it. I knew that couldn’t be true—my nanites were constantly monitoring my body temperature and keeping me cool—but I didn’t want to be dressed like this when I saw Finn again.
I stripped off my pack and then my suit, leaving me wearing the thin, gray underclothes of the Xel. From inside my pack, I pulled out the chebri that Chrislen and Slellen had made for me. I shoved the suit into my pack and stood before putting on the wrap.
As I tied the long sash around my waist, Archibald picked up the pack and slung it over one shoulder. “That is a most interesting garment.”
I looked down at it and smoothed my hand over the design. “Thank you. The Xel gave it to me.”
We began walking and Archibald asked, “The Xel?”
I smiled at him. “The people who used to inhabit this place.” I turned in a circle, my arms spread wide, showing the entire world. “They call this world Xellorian, and they are the Xel. They escaped to Obscuridad when they discovered the pathogen couldn’t survive in the dark and cold. Now, they live in this incredible underground city carved out of the rock.”
“Fascinating,” Archibald said. “Please, tell me more.”
At first, I wasn’t sure what else to say, but once I got started, I found I had plenty to share—and I told Archibald everything. If my trust was misplaced, I was well and truly in for it, but I didn’t think that was the case.
I’d been so immersed in our conversation about the Xel that when Archibald stopped, it took me a moment to realize we had arrived. He seemed to step off the side of the cliff until I discovered the narrow steps carved into the side of the mountain. I didn’t know if they’d always been there, and I just hadn’t noticed, or if they were a recent addition, but they were terrifying. I clung to the rock wall as I carefully side-stepped down the stairs while Archibald traversed them as if he did it every day. I was pretty sure this was his first time too.
Eventually, we stepped onto a ledge, and I bent over, my hands braced on my knees, as I tried to catch my breath and calm my racing heart. Nanites were awesome and all, but there wasn’t much they could do if the reactions were emotional.
It wasn’t until I was bent over that I realized I felt him. Finn. I quickly straightened. He wasn’t there, but the feeling that he was wouldn’t leave me. I shook my head. We didn’t share a bond anymore, so of course, I couldn’t feel if he was near.
The conversation with Archibald had kept me from obsessing over seeing Finn again, though my heart had been beating to the sound of his name for the last twenty minutes. Now, my heart fluttered like a tiny bird caught in a cage, and I felt short of breath.
What would I say when I saw him? What could I say?
Part of me wanted to punch him for letting me go. The other part of me wanted to fall into his arms and let him make everything right again.
Neither option would solve any of the problems facing us.
So I tried to calm my body and mind, telling myself that we had to work together to help the people. Without Fiarre—my heart cracked every time I thought of him— I’d have to rely on Finn, and maybe Archibald, to figure out a way to administer the treatment Kadothen had discovered. That was what was important.
“Wy.”
My body jerked to a stop as if someone had put an invisible barrier in front of me. I hadn’t seen him there a moment ago. I wasn’t prepared.
But there he was.
Finn.
My Finn.
He stared at me, his eyes devouring me, making me feel all the things I’d fought so hard against these past weeks.
I opened my mouth to speak.
Finn took one long stride and clasped me to his chest, wrapping his arms all the way around me, holding me so close it felt as if he had curled himself around me, as if he couldn’t get close enough—wouldn’t get close enough—until we were one.
And it wasn’t just him. I pressed into him until our thighs touched until our feet were side by side, and when I turned my head so I could lean into his neck, he caught my mouth with his, instead.