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“Not exactly. Werewolves have the ability to shift between man and beast. These lycans are changed forever. Never again will they have the body of a man, but the mind will retain remnants of who they once were. I imagine that’s the worst part—knowing what you are, remembering what you did to become it.”
“Well,” Hannah sighs sadly. “Looks like they both got their kingdom, one way or another.”
HANNAH
“He didn’t even leave me a drop.” Ellister’s face is etched with devastation as he throws the empty flask, then he goes in to fix-it mode as he paces a bit.
Since he’s unwilling to let go of my hand or go very far from me, my body is being rotated as he drags my arm back and forth with his anxious walking. I kind of hate being on the floor of the arena. Too much shit has happened here, and I want to get away.
“I could make a lateral move back to Valora,” he continues. “We can produce more Glow. I’m not sure if your illness will resume where it left off or if it will start at the beginning. Either way, if you can survive for two more days—”
“We’re not doing that,” I say firmly. “We’re going home. To the farm. Our plan is still on.”
“Some Glow is still in my system from earlier, but I don’t have enough energy to make the jump.”
Squeezing his hand hard enough to make him stop walking and look at me, I lift my pocket watch from my chest.
The pocket watch that will never tick again because now it’s just an inconspicuous container that’s been holding the secret I’ve been keeping.
It dangles so innocently and covertly from my fingertips. “When the men came to take you away and I was hiding in the barn, I tried a little experiment of my own.”
Ellister’s eyebrows pinch together. “What experiment?”
“Waterfall mist. I poured what I had into the distiller, then I threw logs on the fire. I put so much wood under there, the flames went up the sides of the barrel. And then I opened the back of my pocket watch and I gutted it. I took out all the wheels and mechanisms. I applied the glue around any seam I thought might leak, then right before Zetipher and those guys could leave with you, I poured what Glow I’d collected into it and sealed the back shut with more glue.”
I look down at the antique, and I shake it a little, hearing the soft slosh of the liquid inside.
Ellister looks at me like I’m speaking another language, his lips tight and that adorable wrinkle on the side of his nose.
“Did you hear me?” I ask. “Ellister, I have Glow right here. Now, it’s not a ton, and I know if adding the waterfall mist was a risk. I honestly have no idea if it helped, but I figured if waterfall mist is basically a stronger version of Day Realm water, why wouldn’t it be more potent in its concentrated form?”
“You-you’ve been hiding Glow in your pocket watch all this time? Enhanced by waterfall mist?”
I shrug. “For back up.”
“You little genius.” He lunges for me, picks me up by the waist, and spins me around. “You crazy little genius.”
Setting me down, he presses a hard kiss to my mouth. When he grips me by the shoulders to put a little distance between us, he’s smiling at me like I hung the moon.
But we can’t celebrate yet. “It might not be enough. There’s maybe a gulp in here.”
Thinking, Ellister cocks his head. “I never thought about distilling waterfall mist, but it could give the Glow something extra.”
“Or it could ruin it.”
“I guess we’ll find out. We’ve got nothing left to lose at this point.”
The wind suddenly blows harder, bringing more debris with it. Sticks and twigs from dead trees start raining down around us, and Ellister raises his hand to collect the dust.
“Sand.” He rubs the gritty stuff between his fingers. “That means the damage has reached the sea.”
Suddenly, the ground starts to tilt.
Horrible cracking and groaning sounds come from the surface under our feet as the world slants.
“What’s happening?” I ask, shrieking when my feet start to slide.
Still carrying our suitcase, Ellister grabs me with his other arm as he looks around with wild eyes. “It’s flipping over. The Lost Land… it’s a mirror image of Valora. Everything is turned around.”
