Page 87 of The Light Between Worlds

I know this place.

64

TREES ARCH OVERHEAD AND RAIN BEADS ON MY HAIRlike jewels. I stand for a moment in the shadow of the woods and look out at the spit of grey sand before me, the froth of grey waves, the long stretch of grey sky. Over the sea the clouds give way and the moon gleams on water that stretches to the horizon.

I step out of the shelter of the wood and onto damp sand. Stopping to look over one shoulder, I see scudding leaves swirl together, forming the shape of a girl. She raises one hand in greeting and with a gust of wind, is gone.

Waves weep against the shore as I walk along the water’s edge. Ahead and above, Palace Beautiful perches on its lonely cliff, panes of glass and wet slate glittering. Smoke rises from the chimneys and the warm glow of lamplight spills from a few upper windows.

I climb the winding path up the cliffside, and in the wildflower meadow before the gate, Cervus is waiting. He seems smaller than he once did, and greyer around the muzzle, but he’s still rust-red and holds his head proudly. When I look at him, a wide and hollow ache opens up inside me, a longing for truth, for peace, for home.

“Little one,” Cervus says, and his voice is a wild Woodlands sound, a song in my blood and bones. “Why are you walking the worlds alone tonight?”

He wears his antlers like a crown of silver beneath the moon, and his eyes are bottomless dark wells.

“Where is my sister?” The question every inch of me has been asking for months on end rolls off my tongue. There’s power in the words, an invocation compelling truth from the one who answers.

Light dapples Cervus’s strong flanks, and that clean forest smell fills the air. I’ve known him through years and lives, and he’s never seemed so otherworldly.

“A Woodlands heart always finds its way home,” he says.

Taking a step backward, I put distance between us. “That isn’t an answer. I want to know where she is now. I want to know what happened. Ineedto know.”

“Are you certain?” His voice is gentle, but the question frightens me.

I wrap my arms around myself, trying to hold in the things I feel, standing here in this place I never thought I’d see again, speaking to a creature who ought not to exist.

“I’m—” I begin.

A soft voice from the dark gateway interrupts me.

“Philippa.”

And the thousand pieces of my heart begin knitting together as Evelyn steps out of the shadows.

There’s a stillness about her, a confidence I’ve only ever seen in the Woodlands. She’s bareheaded and her hair hangs loose downher back, a fall of gold in a world of silver. I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful.

“Evelyn,” I breathe. I pick my way across the meadow and stop before my sister, suddenly afraid that if I reach out and touch her, all this will vanish.

“What happened?” I ask, and Evelyn smiles, blinding as the sun.

“I crossed between the worlds, Phil. I’ve done it once before.”

She and Cervus have always been this way—enigmatic, cut from the same mystic cloth. When I hedge, it’s to hide how ordinary I am behind all my bluffs and glamour. When Evelyn and Cervus won’t give an answer, it’s because they know no one else sees the world quite the same way they do.

With my question still hanging between us, I gather my courage one last time. I put my arms around Evelyn and she is solid and real.

“Oh, Evie,” I say when I can get the words out. “Imissedyou.”

She hugs me back and presses a kiss to my cheek, and I’d nearly forgotten this version of my sister, the one who’s whole and well and radiates joy.

“You said we weren’t coming back,” I say to Cervus. “You told us on the beach.”

He lowers his head in assent. “I said I could not call you again. But your sister has a Woodlands heart, and found her way home.”

I hold both of Evelyn’s hands in my own, reluctant to release them. “It’s been six years since we first left the Great Wood. Ev stayed in our world all that time, and suffered. We all did. Why are we herenow?”

“I wanted to come before,” Evelyn says. “But there was alwayssomething holding me back. A bit of me wanted to stay and find my feet, if only for your sake and Jamie’s, and Mum’s and Dad’s. So I gave it one last try, without you, and—oh, Philippa. I just couldn’t manage. We don’t fit together anymore, your world and I.”