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“Do you know where we’re going?”
“I think so?”
“That’s not as reassuring as you think it is,” Dare shouted back.
The chariot arced over the top of the jagged mountain ranges, revealing the dark water of the strait that separated the mainland from the Isles of the Blessed. The strange, empty stone castle stood at the top of the island, the rest of the small patch of land covered in lush vegetation.
I expected the horses to swoop downwards, depositing us on the patch of grass outside the castle.
They didn’t.
They swoopedup.
Dare cursed, scrambling up and dipping his knees so he could hook his forearm over the front of the chariot. We were almost parallel to the ground, and I copied his position even though I felt lighter and not as prone to flying off as he appeared to be.
“What is happening?!” Dare yelled, the horses climbing at a rapid pace toward the purple sky. The wind bore down on us, and Dare had to bow his head, but I could keep my eyes trained upward. I saw the shimmery patch of sky we were aiming for. It was a tiny, rippling square, and it already looked like it was on the move, shifting about the sky. The horses followed it, turning at an angle I wouldn’t have thought possible for horses to turn out, but theywereflying, so what did I know?
“I think we’re going to fly through the sky,” I called out, realizing I hadn’t answered Dare’s question, and he was still huddling from the wind.
“We’re going to what—” Dare began, but his words were cut off as the chariot plunged headlong into the glimmering patch of sky.
The upperworld came into focus slowly, one hazy detail at a time.
I could hear wind. There was sun on my face, and it was warm. Borderline uncomfortable, actually.Sunlight.
There was that lingering sense ofknowing, that familiarity that made me confident that I knew what it was, but I hadn’t been prepared for the way itfelt. I groaned out loud at the delicious sensation on my skin.Oh yeah, it was definitely a good call not to stay in the underworld. Was the sun always so hot?
I licked my lips—I had lips!—and tasted salt.
Also, I was very hungry.
Definite ups and downs to having a corporeal body.
“Bullet? Are you alive or not?” a feminine voice said hesitantly, poking me in the shoulder. The baby babbled, and I cracked an eye open to finally put faces to the sounds I’d been hearing before I’d gone to the underworld.
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, as though they’d forgotten how to function properly. The first thing I noticed wasblue. Whatever this structure was, it had no roof. Three sides looked to be stone walls, though it was hard to see the material underneath with such thick vines growing up the sides. To my right were two rows of columns, densely packed so that I could only catch a glimpse of the greenery beyond.
A rather disinterested-looking woman peered down at me with red and purple eyes and a fat, gurgling baby on one hip. She pulled her sheet of silvery blonde hair to the side, nose ring glinting in the sunlight. The baby was reaching for me, and though my arms felt heavy and weak all at once, I instinctively reached back.
“Oh, thank the gods.” The woman deposited the baby on my chest, and I wheezed at the sudden weight, holding the kid steady, so she didn’t fall off since whatever I was lying on was quite high off the ground and uncomfortably hard at my back.
Was it… an altar?
The word rattled around in my head, though I didn’t knowhowI knew it.
“I have done arelentlessamount of childcare while you’ve been napping,” the woman groused, loudly setting a ceramic jug and cup down on a nearby table and pouring some water. “Don’t get me wrong, shit wasverydire in Milton, and my house was starting to collapse around me, so your god friend swooping in and bringing us here was a good thing. I might go so far as to say I’m grateful, even.” She sounded not-at-all grateful. “But having no help with the baby and keeping you alive has been extremely exhausting for me.”
“I’m… sorry?” I hedged. I was wearing some kind of underworld-style black toga thing, and the baby grabbed my necklace, pulling on a golden bullet that I apparently wore on a chain, attempting to yank it clean off my neck. Huh.That was an interesting choice of accessory.Did I wear it because my name was Bullet?
“I don’t know if babies should play with that,” I told her seriously, my voice raspy from disuse, but her lip wobbled when I tried to take it away, and I immediately caved. “What’s your name?”
The woman approached with a cup in hand, passing it to me and giving me a strange look. “That’s Quinn.”
“Quinn. Cute. What’s your name? Where’s Dare?”
Her frown grew more pronounced. “I’m Rogue,” she said slowly. “Remember? You’ve known me almost your whole life?”
She shook her head slightly, looking annoyed. I held onto Quinn with one hand, pushing myself up with the other until I was sitting, avoiding Rogue’s gaze for some reason. What was this sensation? Guilt, perhaps? I felt bad that I didn’t remember her, especially when it sounded like she’d been really suffering to keep me alive.
