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Footsteps crunched behind me and a familiar sigh soon followed. “There you are. I’ve been searching for you for hours.”
A tear slipped down my cheek, but I didn’t know why. My heart just…hurt. “Hi, Nellie.”
She sat down beside me and held out a canteen of water.
“I’m not thirsty,” I said with a hollow ring to my voice.
“It’s a hot one today,” she said gently. “You need to drink.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Too bad. Remember our deal?” She placed the canteen in my lap and leaned against the tree behind us.
I released a heavy sigh before turning my watery gaze on her. She was a blur of colors through the tears, all russet and burnt orange against the brightness of the sky. “I’m to listen to you when I feel this way.”
She leaned in and brushed the tears from my cheeks. Her kind smile was like an anchor back to life, back to the sun and away from the shadows of my mind. “That’s right. Just do what I ask you to do, and you’ll feel better soon.”
That anvil weight dragged down my heart again. “But what if I don’t want to feel better?”
“Well, then my question would be, why don’t you?” She pointed at the canteen. “Drink up first. Then answer.”
I did what she told me to do because I didn’t have the energy to fight against her. Besides, she was right. We’d agreed, years ago, to do this. It was a familiar dance. Something inside me would break, and Nellie would pick up the pieces. It was as constant as the eversun.
After I tipped the water into my parched mouth, I tried to conjure an answer that made sense, but I came up empty. “I don’t know, Nellie. I just…don’t. There’s something wrong with me.”
“And do you know why you feel wrong in the first place?”
“No.” I shook my head and furrowed my brow. “I don’t even know how I got here.”
She pressed her lips together and turned away.
Frowning, I sat up a little straighter. We knew each other so well that even the slightest change in her posture could tip me off to what she was thinking. “Wait a minute.Youknow why, don’t you?”
“So do you.” She palmed my face and dropped her forehead against mine. The scent of fresh apples filled my head. “When you’re ready, you’ll understand. But I can’t tell you, Tessa. I’ve tried before, and you block me out. So, I won’t push you like that ever again. You’ll know when you’re ready to face the truth.”
I blew out a breath and pulled back. “That’s not fair. I need to know what is making me feel this way.”
“I agree. And I hope you’re ready to face it sooner rather than later. But I’m here for you in the meantime. For as long as it takes.”
All I could do was shake my head. None of this made any sense.
Leaves crunched in the distance, and Nellie’s back went straight.
“Tessa!” Father’s voice drifted toward us. “Nellie! Are you girls out here?”
I opened my mouth to call out to him, but Nellie clamped her hand over my lips and shook her head. Frowning against her palm, I stayed still until the sound of his footsteps faded. Then Nellie leapt to her feet and took off through the woods, motioning for me to follow.
My breath was ragged by the time we reached the edge of the chasm. Wind whistled up from the deep, twirling the strands of my long golden hair around my shoulders. Nellie smiled as she tipped her head back to face the sky. She seemed to glow from within, as if she held more of the sun than the sun itself.
“What was all that about?” I asked after I’d caught my breath. “Why did we run from Father?”
“I just want it to be you and me today,” she said. “Look at the chasm and all those gemstones.”
I stared down into the Great Rift, my heart pounding. A thousand jewels glimmered beneath the sunlight, as if they contained a touch of Oberon’s fire. According to legend, they did. “Gemstones, yes. But shadowfiends too. We’re dangerously close to the edge.”
“The beasts won’t come up this far,” she said. “We’re inside the barrier where it’s safe. Not out there.”
I lifted my eyes from the shadows of the chasm to gaze out into the mists. They crept along the opposite cliff, pushing and prodding at the invisible barrier that Oberon had erected centuries ago. It kept us safe from the horrors of the Mist King, though I’d often questioned just how safe we truly were.
