“What happened?” I asked.
Kallie steadied her breath, though she still sounded shook. “I tried to locate the merfolk key, but the magic is too strong. My visions shifted, and I saw… I don’t evenknowwhat I saw, really. It must’ve been the merfolk key, but it was like I was looking into the past. I saw a woman steal the key from a vault somewhere in Atlantis. It was almost like I was lookingthroughher eyes. Then Marcus appeared… but he wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“You were trapped inside the vision,” Marcus whispered. “I got you out.”
“Could this woman have been the assassin in the story?” I asked.
“I think so, but the spell wasn’t supposed to take me to the past,” Kallie said. “I was supposed to be able to find the key as it is today.”
I pressed my lips together. “We know the keys are protected by magic, so maybe the spell had to change, because that’s all it could give you.”
“Then I have to figure out who this woman was, and how to access her memories again,” Kalie decided.
Marcus wasn’t on board with that idea. “You’re not doing that spell again. It’s too dangerous.”
Kallie staggered out of his arms and picked up her grimoire. “There might be other spells I can use. I’m going to keep looking for clues. If I can see into her memory once, then I can do it again. If we’re lucky… we just might find out where she hid the merfolk key.”
“We should rest before you try again,” Marcus suggested.
Marcus and I helped Kallie to her feet, and she swayed. “You’re probably right,” she admitted. “But we’re starting back up at it tomorrow.”
She could be just as stubborn as Ava. Our lack of progress made me feel worse that she wasn’t here with us right now.
Ava was the heart and soul of this team. She always managed to piece things together quicker than the rest of us could. She saw patterns and clues we didn’t. I was convinced the three of us weren’t getting anywhere close to the merfolk key without Ava’s help.
No matter how badly I wanted to escape the Institute, it was clear we weren’t going anywhere.
CHAPTERSIX
AVA-MARIE
It felt like a fucking eternity before I was finally—finally— released from the infirmary. My ten weeks were up, but I’d had to spend a couple extra days there beyond what we’d planned, because the damn inferichite bracelet was slowing down my recovery.
I wasn’t completely in the clear. I still had to go back for physical therapy several times per week— ugh— and I was on a constant rotation of painkillers, yet at least now I had some breathing room.
But I was out of that damn bed, and that was all that mattered.
I couldn’t wait to get back to my life. I knew Charlie had missed going to class with me and meeting up with me in the cafeteria for lunch. Sleeping apart from each other for over two months without end was absolutely grueling.
It was over now, so I told myself that I never needed to stay in that hospital again. For any reason.
“About damn time,” I grumbled as Charlie wheeled me out of the hospital. I drew a deep breath. “Fresh fucking air.”
“Now that you’re free, where do you want to go?” he asked.
Psh. I wasn’t free. Not really. We were still prisoners, as the Warden liked to remind us every fucking day.
But at least in the Elementai greenhouse or the Atlantean pool, we could pretend things weren’t so bad.
“Anywhere, as long as it’s far away from this place,” I stated, flinging out an arm. “Lead the way!”
Oberi walked by my side as Charlie pushed my wheelchair through the school. It was such a different dynamic… I’d always been the one leadinghimaround. Nowhehad to navigate forme.
It wasn’t easy. I told him where to go, but I was terrible at giving directions, and him pushing me around was kind of equal to Charlie driving a car. He bumped my wheelchair into two corners, and rolled over a cat’s tail. He nearly ran Oberi over, who barked and shouted a few obscenities at us.
Fucking all, Charlie, who can’t walk, Ava or you? Oberi snapped at him.
“Just go forward,” I instructed.
