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I nod because new knowledge comes my way. With more clarity. Faster.
It’s like there’s a telephone wire between Ellister and me, and everything he’s ever been through is flowing from his touch and embedding into me as if I lived it myself.
I’m getting glimpses of the past and the future all at once. I know facts I couldn’t possibly be aware of—events and places I’ve never seen firsthand.
With a strange realization, I see Ellister’s magic. His power. His purpose.
The bargain.
Through Ellister’s view, I see my great grandfather at eight years old, sitting in his bed in the dark while fidgeting with the pocket watch. I recognize the desperation and the fear on his face as he makes a deal with a stranger. A deal to better his life—at the cost of mine, a hypothetical child who doesn’t exist yet.
The bad faerie man.
All those times I joked about Ellister not being human, I was right. He’s strong, ancient, and definitely not of Earth.
“Am I hallucinating?” I ask, just to be sure I’m not experiencing some weird visions because of the drugs in my IV.
“No. You’re not crazy or imagining things. What you’re experiencing is real. It’s a side effect of the bargain. During this part of the process, the siphoning of memories is a two-way street.”
“Where you live now,” I start, “isn’t where you’re from. I keep getting flashes of a location with no color, but the timeline is off. It’s all zig-zaggy and confusing.”
“That’s the nature of the Lost Land. Time gets jumbled there.”
“It’s a bad place,” I conclude from the drab visions and Ellister’s somber tone.
“It is.”
“And I’m going there?”
“You and me both.”
“We’ll be together?” My heart flutters at the thought.
“If Vaeront allows it.”
“Ah, yes. Your mysterious boss.”
“You see him?”
I nod. “The pompous ass in the robe.”
Despite the tragedy all around us, Ellister chuckles. “Oh, Hannah. Only you could make me laugh at a time like this.” He gets serious again, and he glances away with shame. “You’re about to find out who I am, and when you do, you’ll never look at me the same way.”
As I continue to grasp his hand, some of his most recent memories shine through. These are fresh and bright. The hours he spent with me were the best of his entire existence, and what’s flattering is how he sees me. He wasn’t lying when he said I’m beautiful to him.
His view of me is so pure. I sense the instant intrigue he had for me the second he saw me. The sympathy and regret over realizing I was sick. The adoration and affection he quickly formed for me, and how he reveled in every single second of my presence.
Love. There’s undeniable love surrounding my image.
The next memory bleeding through feels ancient, and it’s more colorful than the ones I saw from the Lost Land.
In front of the backdrop of a starry sky, there’s a woman.
She’s beautiful. She has long, shiny dark hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. At first, I think she’s Ellister’s sister, but within the next second, I know she’s not because of the lust. The attraction. The wonder of falling in love.
Ellister was committed to this woman. He would’ve given everything up for her.
Quickly, the strong feelings and unadulterated dedication are washed away with a flood of grief and bitterness. There was a betrayal. A trick Ellister didn’t see coming. The details of what transpired next are blurry, but there’s blood and… emptiness.
