“I still have no idea what the medallion does,” Mickey muses. “It looks like it’s a part of something larger. Maybe it came off a weapon or a piece of armor.”
Torin speaks up from behind me. “I’ll bring Conquest back.”
I turn quickly, my stomach sinking as I wonder what he heard.
“I will do anything for a chance to keep you alive,” he says. “I can’t live through such great loss again.”
That tells me he heard it all, and guilt hits me since I tried to hide this from him. “I don’t know that Conquest will save me. I just… having him could stop Aemon from completing his plan.”
Torin nods, looking determined. Of course he is. He’s always prepared to do anything for me. “Then let’s go.”
“You’re just going to go?” Mickey asks, grabbing me. “No, please. It was so dangerous last time. This time won’t go any better.”
“What choice do we have?” Torin asks.
Mickey seems panicked while he clings to me, as if being a weight will keep me here. “No, let’s… let’s think this through. Please. Give me three hours. Can you do that? Please. I’ll come up with a plan. During those three hours, I need you both to relax and let your magic recover from yesterday.”
Then Mickey lets go of me and runs through the Door, nearly hitting Vero on his way in.
“What’s going on and why wasn’t I invited?” Vero asks.
“I thought you didn’t want to be invited to any of our stuff?” Torin counters.
“Well now I do,” Vero growls, like he’s ready to throw down right here and now.
Torin’s quiet for a moment before he says, “We’re going back into Aemon’s world to try to get Conquest and find a way to reverse the hourglass.”
“Will War be there?” he asks.
“We will not be seeking out a fight with War,” I say sharply. “Don’t you remember what I just told you? Why kill yourself and not even win? If you’d like to help me then I will take your help, but we are getting Conquest out and possibly finding a way to reverse the hourglass that doesn’t involve a fight with Aemon. Understood?”
He ignores me, but I have the feeling he understands. Vero might act hotheaded, but every time I’ve asked, he’s backed down and retreated with me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Riley
“His three hours was up fifteen minutes ago,” Vero grumbles.
“I know,” I say as I look at Torin and question whether I’m making a huge mistake. Am I risking everyone’s lives just to attempt to save a world? What if I can’t even get Conquest free? Or what if I do get him free and it was all a lie to use me?
Should we wait until we’re stronger to try to free Conquest? But will it be too late by then?
Torin smiles at me. “It’ll be fine. I know where the stable is, so I’ll create a Door there. We won’t have to go through everything we went through the first time we were there.”
“I wish you’d seen the mansion and could place us there—I know Conquest is inside it. I just… it was like I could feel him. Is this too much of a risk? Is it less of a risk to wait and see if Aemon finds a way to control Conquest before stepping in?”
“It could be too late at that point,” Torin says. “There is a reason the god can’t leave his realm for long; otherwise I’m confident he’d be here prepared to kill us. The protection I have on this place is currently quite weak. We need to stop him beforeit happens because I have little hope we could stop War in our present condition.”
Mickey comes busting through the Door, looking out of breath as he drags three people after him. One is Imani, one I don’t recognize, and the other I vaguely do.
“Okay. Here’s the plan. I had my undead scour all over our world to find this man. He can open Doors, although after opening one at age twelve, he was banned from doing so and hasn’t since. Hopefully, the magic is still there to do it. So the first step of the plan is for Riley to borrow his magic to create the Door inside Aemon’s mansion since Torin has never seen it.
“On to the second step. This woman is the one whose magic Riley used to connect with Kit so he can see. We know that his connection snaps when he passes through the Door to Aemon’s realm, so my thought is that once we’re through the Door, he can touch her there, relying on that as his main magic instead of the pendant which doesn’t work there.”
Pausing to take a much-needed breath, Mickey continues. “Finally, the third step. We know that Imani’s barrier likely won’t withstand either Aemon or War for long, possibly only even seconds, but if we can lure them outside the mansion, Imani can create a barrieraroundthe mansion, and those inside will have that time to get in, grab Conquest, and get out. Imani, the second the barrier snaps, you need to go through the Door. No being a hero for any of you. This is an in-and-out mission or we’re not going to come out with the same number of people we’re going in with.”
“Impressive,” Torin says.
