Calendula floated to my shoulder, and I twisted my neck to look at her. “I thought you didn’t like the shoulder perch?”
“I understand tonight is tough for you.” She sniffed. “I’m trying to make things easier.”
I smiled. “Did anyone ever tell you you’re the greatest shadow sprite a girl could have?”
Her chest puffed out proudly and her cheeks tinged gray. Gray. She wasblushing.
I faced the scry, stepping up to the solid dais beside Caleb. Heat roiled in waves from within, warm against my cold skin. Tendrils of blue light snaked out, and I wondered whether it would feel as it looked, like stepping into clouds and nothing.
Kilian punched in a set of coordinates on a keypad affixed to the scry, and its whirring increased in tempo.
I looked over my shoulder to where Lana was entering the courtyard, hand in hand with Septimus. Rayna waited for her with Echon, just before the arch. Kilian took a step back from the scry, mouth set in a grim line.
Perhaps it was the ache in my chest, or the pain in his eyes, but words tumbled from my mouth. The promise I was not sure I could keep: “I’ll come back.”
With the image of him branded in my mind, I stepped through.
CHAPTER 21
Stepping through the scry did not feel like stepping into air. It was hot and muggy, like wading through thigh-deep water. Or gelatin.
It was over in a few seconds. The scry grew silent behind us, its insides dulling to a dark gray. The portal would reopen in exactly an hour. Time was already running out. Calendula shivered gently on my shoulder, and I knew it was not from cold.
The stretch of land Caleb and I stood on was warm, unlike the cool air at Valhan House. It reminded me of the summers on Serila. The grass was patchy and dry, as if it hadn’t seen rain in a very long time.
When I looked out, I could see nothing but empty land. There were no other candidates in view. The scry had deposited them further along the boundary.
As for Caleb and I, we stood quite close to Cosanus. I could see a thin line of salt yawning across the dry grass for miles.
“We should just stay out here and wait for the hour to pass,” Caleb said.
Wecoulddo that. It wasn’t like there was anyone out here to make sure we crossed over into Cosanus and endured whatever horrors were waiting on the other side. Maybe the others would stay on this side of the border.
But I couldn’t. This Trial – finding the weapon – was important.
“You don’t have to come.” I shrugged. “But I’m going.”
I took a step toward the salt and Caleb groaned. “I can’t just let you go in there alone.”
“Then come with but decide quickly. We’re running out of time.”
He made an irritated noise and then I heard his hurried footsteps behind me as I crossed over the boundary.
As soon as I did, it was clear I was no longer on Lortan as I knew it. Sweat pricked on my nape. The field of grass had disappeared. What stretched before us now was scorched ground, a desert of cracked soil, uneven with dips and swells, some far higher than others. Though the moon hung low overhead, the heat was sweltering. Dusty sand stirred in a warm breeze, billowing across the top of my shoes, and I blinked against the small grains in the air.
“We’re here now. Which way should we go?” Caleb scanned left then right. There was nothing but abandoned land as far as I could see.
“Can you feel anything?” I asked Calendula.
The tiny sprite shuddered. “There is nothing left.”
But the night sky was out, the stars in full, unimpeded view. I looked up toward the gentle curve of Mahleia, the northernmost star. “Let’s carry on straight ahead and see what we find.”
Caleb set a hard pace, his strides long and measured – but I had been training for this too. Running each day and building my strength so that I could keep up. Calendula’s foot bobbed nervously at my clavicle, and I whispered, “Are you okay?”
She made a faint noise that was halfway between a yes and a no. “There is so much death here. I can feel it.”
The land certainly looked dead, but aside from that there were no rotting carcasses or skeletal remains visible.
