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I cross my arms and let my sarcasm come through heavily when I say, “It’s nice to know you’ve already written me off for dead. Yeah, let’s just give up. Sounds like a great plan.”
“What would you have me do?”
“Well, feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to help, and it’s notyouwho’s doing this to me,” I reason. “Yeah, the bargain might be tied to you, but ultimately, it’s the bargain causing my illness. I think your presence is just a catalyst. Obviously, we know changing the bargain didn’t work the way it was supposed to, and I definitely don’t want to never exist at all, but—”
Ellister abruptly turns toward me, and I can practically see the lightbulb of an idea pop up next to his head, his eyes wide, his jaw slack.
“What?” I prompt. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m just remembering the words Ellister Number Two said to me—in his universe, there is no Hannah because the bargain wasn’t for a life. In theory, the illness affecting you doesn’t exist there becauseyoudon’t exist there.” He presses his lips into a thin line. “Obviously, Number Two didn’t mean to do it, but when he changed the deal, he created a place where we can escape this.”
“Good.” Perking up, I blow out a relieved breath. “That’s good. Let’s go there, then.”
His face falls again. “We can’t. I would need to go to the future, and I can’t do that without Glow.”
“Couldn’t we go to that universe in the past?” I make a swirly motion with my hand. “Just hop from this time to whatever time it is there?”
“That’s called a lateral move, and no, we can’t because that universe hasn’t been created yet. I went too far back in time here. If my calculations are correct, it’s 1913 in the human realm. The bargain doesn’t happen for another fifteen years. Do you understand what I’m saying? The alternate universe doesn’t split until the moment the bargain is changed. We can’t travel to a plane that doesn’t exist.”
“Well, shit. So, what we really need is Glow. How is it produced? Maybe we could make some.”
Ellister’s hard eyes clash with mine, and he snorts at my can-do attitude. “I wouldn’t know where to start. Everything I’ve learned about the process is secondhand knowledge from Vaeront. And even he hasn’t seen a Glow distiller in person. Merina drew him an instruction manual on how to build the machine, but it looked like a three-year-old tried to draw a house with smoke coming out of the chimney. Remember—she’s blind. And I suspect even if she wasn’t, the sketch would’ve been terrible. She has many talents, but an artist, she is not, and paying attention to detail isn’t her strong suit.”
“Describe it to me,” I say, determined. “What’s the machine made of?”
“Metal and fire. There’s a large vat on the bottom where the water boils, and on top it tapers off like an upside-down funnel. From there, the steam goes into a tube where it condenses.” He shrugs. “That’s the gist of it.”
“That’s not too far off from the way maple syrup is made,” I comment thoughtfully. “Essentially, we’d just be boiling a substance down until it becomes a concentrated form. How long does it take to make the amount you need to time travel?”
“Merina said anywhere from a few days to a week. The most laborious part is probably collecting the water; producing one gulp of Glow could require a hundred gallons of Day water.”
“Okay. Let’s assume we can make a successful machine. Factor in trial and error, let’s go with the longer estimation. A week. I’m not going to keel over in seven days.”
At least, I hope I won’t. Like Ellister said, we’ve had a lot of physical contact lately, and I don’t know how that’s going to affect the progression of the illness.
Ellister looks at me with a mix of disbelief and hope. “Do you really think you could do it? If I get you the right materials, could you build a distiller?”
“I have to try.Wehave to try. You’re not in this alone, and neither am I. If it’s our only chance, we’ll take it.”
Perching on the side of the bed, he sits just a foot away from me, and his nearness gives me pain-suppressing euphoria.
“I trust you, Hannah, just as you trust me. If anyone can do it, it’s you.”
“If we succeed, does that mean we’ll be moving to the human realm? I’ll get to go home? Be with my parents again?”
“Remember, your parents won’t know who you are in that universe.” Sympathy comes through the bond, and he reaches out like he wants to touch me. Then he makes a fist, sets it in his lap, and keeps his hand to himself. “Number Two said your parents are there, but they have a different child. Would it be too painful for you to see them, knowing they don’t know you? Because we could settle somewhere else.”
I consider the scenario for several seconds. The maple farm is my identity. It represents security and stability. Growing up, I took pride in the fact that the business had been in our family for so long, and I always knew I wanted to live my life there.
And I still can.
“I want to go. Being there as a stranger would be better than not being there at all.”
“All right, darling. Then that’s what we’ll aim for.” Sadness comes back to his face as he moves away from me. “I’m serious about the distance we need to have from each other in the meantime. I must stay as far away from you as possible.”
With that, he walks from the room, leaving me alone and aching.
HANNAH
