She pressed her hands to my cheeks, smoothing away the tears. “I know. But I’m always going to be beside you. No matter where you are.”
And with that, she shoved me backward into the River.
I fell back into the water, the yelling and gunshots becoming muffled when my head dipped below the surface. Bullets streamed through the water alongside me.
I didn’t have time to think, didn’t have time to wonder if the fae Queen’s haath phool on my hand would work, or if I would be sliced in half before I could blink. Instead, the current pulled me to the center of the River. I came up for air once, calling for Safiyya and my grandmother, but I couldn’t see through the blur of water over my spectacles.
Queen Azari’s bracelet and hand chain on my wrist grew hot, nearly burning my skin, and my scream was silenced by the River. But as fast as it turned hot, it became cool again.
I struggled against the current, but it already had me. I was held by the magic of the River, the border wallclingingto me as I fought to escape it.
It was like falling through an impenetrable spiderweb or sinking into quicksand. And I was quickly losing the fight.
Why was I fighting? I had been searching for this relic for so long the idea of finally being able to cross the River felt unbelievable.
You have to go now, Yaseema, or I fear there will be nothing left of us to come back to.
You will give us the hope needed to start a revolution.
My tears were hot against my cool cheeks, and instead of trying to swim back to my grandmother, I embraced the pull of the River and swam to its center.
Leaving them was like ripping my arm off, but Nani was right. Staying and not giving them this chance was even worse. If I could stop the famine, stop the Citadel, fight against the Empire in some way, I had to try.
For them, for my mother, for Astola, I needed to try.
The water in the center of the River was thick and languid and sticky, but as I began to kick and swim using my arms, the haath phool on my hand carved a path through it.
Until finally the wall seemed to release me with a lurch, and I spiraled in the water, my limbs not used to the lack of resistance after feeling like I’d just swum through yogurt.
My legs worked ferociously, kicking until I surfaced, my head popping up as I expelled a heavy gasp. Immediately I whirled around to see what was going on behind me.
But there was nothing there.
The side of the River I had just been on looked like a placid forest, with no one standing on the bank, no guns, no chaos, no fighting. I couldn’t even hear any sounds—not the shots, the Citadel soldiers screaming, or my nani shouting.
Just quiet against the rage of the River rapids.
I waited, staring out at the human world, which now felt blurred and unclear as if I had removed my spectacles. My heart lurched at the idea that I might never see my grandmother or cousin again, that they would be captured and executed, and this was the legacy I had left them with.
Treason, torture.
No.I thought to myself, balling my hands into fists, the cut of Queen Azari’s hand chain biting my skin. This would not be our end.
I was going to bring down this wall and destroy the Empire for everything they had brought down on Astolans. And I was going to do it with all the power of the fae.
I turned around, facing the fae world in front of me.
River water dripped from my spectacles and cleared my vision to reveal calm trees, and an abundant, lush forest. I had made it to Peristan.
I was in the land of the fae.
Part 2
The River
Chapter 12
Yaseema, you are too young to understand this now, but I needed you to know the reason. You should know why I won’t be there to see you press your toes into the dirt of the mango orchard anymore, or hear your sweet voice as I teach you our songs. Why I won’t be able to hold you to my chest, wrap you in my dupatta, and sing in your ear as you fall asleep.
