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The vessel was lying where we dropped it in the grass. “You want it?” He asked.

“Don’t you need it?”

“Nah, when the shit got real there, grandmother gave me one to get away. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I already had one because I was her grandson, the heir to the throne. I might have given her a heart attack.”

“Okay then, I think so, yeah. I would like it. Just in case.”

We picked up the weapons and the boxes of things that had been forgotten in the rush and put them all into the back of my Mustang.

Lastly, we hugged each other good bye.

“Here are the truck keys. Just come get it whenever.”

“I’ll do that. And thanks again Tyler, I mean, Archie.”

“If you see Da, tell him I liked fighting alongside him, that was cool. He should let me do that more often.”

I nodded and smiled. “I will, and if you see my husband tell him I miss him and to please come home.”

Archie walked away.

I got into the Mustang and drove it to the beginning of the woods, the edge of the trees and then I watched where he stood on the dock, looking down at the vessel as the storm built around him, dark and wind and flashes of light — his hand went up, goodbye, and though I tried to watch to see how it went, visibility went to zero. It was impossible to see — then without a doubt he was gone.

57 - KAITLYN

Ibarely remembered the drive to Amelia Island. My mind was alternately spinning and fuzzing over with sleep. I stopped for drive-thru twice. Once for breakfast and coffee and once for a Coke and while I was at it some French fries. Both times I thought about curling up in the seat and sleeping in the parking lot, but I really wanted to get home. I had to sleep. I had to figure out what just happened and how to fix it. I had to⁠—

The vessel was on the seat beside me. I was terrified it would hum to life and rip me away somewhere or that men on horseback would jump onto my car and sword me to death. It was like having something that was both lifesaving and very very deadly in my care. I had no idea what to do with it or how it would behave.

I had told Zach to move our house, but that was only yesterday afternoon. It was only the next morning. He was probably still at the hotel on their honeymoon. I really wanted to go home and curl up on my bed.

I needed to be able to smell Magnus on the sheets.

To see his toothbrush in his cup.

God, where was he? How would I get to him?

My grandmother always told me to stay in one place if I was lost. Was I lost? Or Magnus?

I took a big swig of coffee.

So much had happened since we left. Days and days of drama and intrigue, from Lizbeth's birth to Magnus’s capture, enough awful for a lifetime.

I wondered where Quentin was — he wouldn’t know how to find our new house. And if Zach and Emma were still on their honeymoon....

I pulled the car onto the highway and called Zach.

“I’m back.”

“Awesome,” He spoke off phone, “Hey Em, Katie is back.” He returned to me. “Quentin just called, we’re in the car taking me to rent a truck. He’s apparently got a bunch of ATVs to load up? Then I’m headed to pick him up on the beach near Peter’s Point. You with Magnus?”

“No, he didn’t make it back, he’s in the future and there’s so much to tell you about, but mostly I need to sleep and I don’t know where to go.”

“Let me see...” I heard his hand tapping on the dash, a sure sign he was thinking.

“We’ve been at the hotel, I could book you an extra room?”

“Could you call Hayley? Tell her we all need a spot to rest? I need it to be near the beach though, just in case…”