AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Most of the tents have been erected again, so I head straight for Dax and Allison's quarters. When I march inside withouteven bothering to ring the doorbell, I discover Grant and Erin are there too.
"How did it go?" Grant asks. "Did you see Gabriel?"
"Yes. He's alive and basically okay. But things are about to get much worse for both worlds."
"Tell us everything."
I explain what I learned during my brief visit to the castle. But that's only the beginning. I need to share my plan for stopping the regeneration of the apocalypse, but Dax has a few questions first.
"If you couldn't see Sefton," he says, "how do you know Gabriel wasn't hallucinating? He is trapped inside an Echo machine."
"Can't give you a concrete reason. I trust Gabriel, and I know he actually saw Sefton's quantum ghost."
Dax nods. "Good enough for me."
I hesitate, but only for a few seconds, before I suck it up and tell them the rest. "Any moment, the machine will ramp up and restart the alchemy of worlds. We don't have much time to prepare, but I know what we need to do."
Allison, who had been relaxing on a cot, suddenly springs forward, her gaze pinned to me. "You have a plan?"
"Yes. It will probably sound one hundred percent insane, but please hear me out before knocking it down or duct-taping me to a chair."
"We only duct tape men to chairs," Grant says. "The ones who act like jerks."
Allison rolls her eyes at Grant, then looks at me. "Go on, sweetie. Tell us your plan."
"Here's the short version." I square my shoulders and lift my chin. "We invoke the Tria Prima to take control of the machine and the Echo."
A furrow forms over Allison's nose. "The Tria Prima doesn't exist anymore. It consisted of me, Dax, and Sefton. But I severed our quantum entanglement on the day Sefton died."
"You three were the original Tria Prima. I'm talking about forming a new, stronger version that doesn't involve a wacko who loves dark magics."
"That's interesting," Dax says. "But even a new Tria Prima would only involve three people."
Standing my ground before these four people, my friends, takes all the gumption I've got. For two months, I've let everyone else do the hard jobs. I was treated like a delicate princess. But that ends now.
"The new Tria Prima," I say, "includes three couples. The triangle will be formed by those groups, not individuals."
"Couples?" Erin says. "You can't mean…"
"Us. You and Grant, Dax and Allison, and me and Gabriel. We are the real Tria Prima."
Dax gives me a skeptical look. "But the triangle that initiated the apocalypse was three individuals. What makes you think three couples can initiate a new Tria Prima? Especially when Gabriel is being held hostage by a machine."
"You let me worry about Gabriel." If I told them how I intend to ensure our side of the triangle holds up, they would never let me do it. But I'm a grown woman, not a child, and I make my own decisions. "What I need from you three is your total commitment to this plan. If you don't believe in the Tria Prima, it will never work."
Erin approaches me and lays a hand on my shoulder. "Tell us more about it. Knowing how you came to this conclusion will help us understand."
"Okay." I realize I've been clenching my hands, and I force myself to relax them. "I came to the conclusion that we need a new Tria Prima because I had a revelation while I was studyingthe journal. Remember I said I could feel the text on the pages? Well, I believe the journal was giving me subconscious clues. Once I understood that, I could more easily see what the Echo needs me to do."
"But the Echo kicked you to the curb, sweetie. Why would it give you clues that might help you destroy it?"
That's another part of my plan that I'd intended to share after I convince them to participate in the most important part. "Let me finish telling you about the Tria Prima first, okay?"
"Sure. I'll zip it." Erin smiles with her lips closed and makes a zipper motion across them. Then she winks and returns to Grant, where they both sit on chairs.
Dax rarely sits down during these kinds of discussions. He prefers to stand behind the others with his arms folded over his massive chest. And that's what he's doing right now.
"To form the new Tria Prima," I say, "we all need to be on board. I know this is a big ask, but let me lay out the scene for you. Dax and Allison were, and as far as any of us know still are, the Anchor and the Catalyst. Erin and Grant are the Lifeblood and the Heart of the Echo, while Gabriel and I are two halves of the Brain. Don't you see? The Echo laid out this plan before we ever set foot in the other world."
