Freddie hugged me tightly, and I clung to him, gripping his coat.
“Eliza, I don’t understand. How… how are you here?”
Apart from looking a little pale, probably due to the shock, Freddie was a sight for sore eyes. He looked leaner than I remembered, and his hair was longer on top, swept out of his violet eyes.
“It a long, crazy story, but I woke up on Aether.”
Freddie’s jaw dropped. “You’ve been there all this time?”
“Yes... and no. Like I said, I will explain properly later. I need…”
“Of course.” Freddie gripped my hand, still stunned. “I can’t believe it.”
“I know. It’s so good to see you. The last time I saw you… I’m just so grateful you’re okay. How is Maya?”
“She’s alright. She lost her leg, but she’s doing well. Thanks to you.”
The last thread of composure I was holding on to disintegrated as I remembered the state Freddie and Maya were both in on Bayronite. Tears wet my cheeks. “The crystal couldn’t help?”
“It heals wounds; it doesn’t regrow legs. Besides, it needs a special type of power to work. Another thing we have to thank you for.”
I stared at him blankly.
“You ignited the crystal before you, erm… left, and Jack healed me.”
Guilt choked me. I had thought I was saving them, but really I had abandoned them there. “Freddie, I was so stupid…” I hugged him again.
Someone cleared their throat behind us. When we broke apart, I saw the dark-haired girl waiting with a frown.
“Continue the patrol. I’ll meet you back at the camp,” Freddie said.
“But—” the girl started.
“Hallie, we don’t know who else saw the crash.” He gestured to me. “I need to take Eliza back.”
Still reluctant, but obviously sensing there was no point in arguing, Hallie took off.
“We should get going. Are you hurt?”
“Just my arm.”
“I can heal you, but we’d better do it undercover,” he said with a glance over his shoulder.
I followed him back to a battered jeep as the convoy left.
He helped me inside and covered my arm with his palm. White light lit his hand, and a warm glow heated my forearm as the pain faded away.
“Jack is gonna lose his mind.” Freddie shook his head, a small grin on his lips. “He’s not going to believe me.”
He took a radio from the glove box and flicked a switch. “Aussie One, Aussie One, do you read me?”
Hearing Jack’s self-appointed code name made me smile.
The radio remained silent.
“Base camp? Aussie One? Anyone there?” Freddie shook the radio with a grimace. “I can’t radio back to camp to let them know.”
“Surely Queen Ayla hasn’t found a way to thwart the great Freddie Foster?”
“Dead battery.”
“Oh. Well, yeah, there’s that, although I have to admit I thought you’d find some sort of Aethian power to get around that.”
“I’m working on it. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
He started the engine and spun the jeep around. When I had first met Freddie, he had been afraid to get back behind the wheel after a nasty accident. He’d forced himself to do it in order to get Daisy out of danger, and now here he was driving about in the pitch-black forest like a pro. A swell of pride rose in my chest at how far he’d come.
Freddie glanced over at me. “So…”
“So?” I said with a smile.
“Tell me what happened.” He fixed his eyes back on the road and shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re actually sitting here next to me. How is this possible?”
“I… I don’t know where to start. When I jumped through the portal, I woke up back on Earth. I was at uni, as if none of it ever happened. The Grey attack, Aether—nothing. It was my life, but without aliens.”
Freddie raised his eyebrows. “Aliens didn’t exist?”
“Oh they existed alright.”
As we rode through the darkness, I recounted everything to Freddie. He listened quietly, his eyes growing wider and wider. When I got to the part about Barnaby and the prawns, his eyebrows flew up. Once I finished, he let out a long breath.
“I know,” I told him. “I really thought that was it for me. That instead of dying, time had been folded to change the course of my life. And I tried to be grateful, honestly I did, but without Daisy, you guys… and Jack. Freddie, what if I had agreed to him wiping my memories? I would have just remained completely vulnerable in that tank for Queen Ayla to do who knows what to me!”
“Another thing we can add to the long list of ways she’s hurt us.” Freddie stopped the jeep and turned to look at me, his eyes filled with sadness.
I leaned over and squeezed his arm. “She’ll pay for all of it.” I had to believe that. A wave of fury swept through me. Everything she had done, everyone she’d hurt. I was back now, and I wasn’t going to let her get away with it.
“She will. Plans of vengeance can come later though.” He gestured to the tall wooden fence in front of us. “We’re here.”