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“Yeah, weknow. Though we heard a lot of wailing to the gods.” She cackled.
“You really are a menace,” I muttered to her with a chuckle.
Reaching up, she cupped my face, dragging me down to her level. “I am so glad you are back. But now that you are safe, I want to kill you. Did I not warn you? The power that lay ahead?”
“And if I recall, you said if we went, not all of us would return. Well, we’re all still here.”
“With that tone, I’m about to make it one less.” She patted my cheek hard, her voice going low. “Though physically we might all be here, not all of us fully returned.” She stepped back as if it was choreographed, Annabeth standing a few feet behind her. Air evaporated in my chest, agony knotting my throat. The happy buzz I was on crashed down into dust.
Annabeth had always been thin and petite, getting more so as the disease grew. It had been less than two days since I’d seen her, but the difference in her was stark.
Her skin was so thin her bones protruded from them, and her face was gaunt, resembling the necromancers we crossed paths with. I felt it at the time, but now I saw the results of their power. They had felt her death so near, sucked vital energy from her, leaving her nothing more than the walking dead.
“Anna…” I barely got her name out. She struggled to walk to me, her bones jabbing me as I wrapped my arms around her. There was nothing there to hold, just a skeleton.
Sprig crawled onto her shoulder, curling up against her neck, his silence telling me how serious he knew this was, how devastated he was as well.
Tears burned in my eyes, sliding down my face as I held her, my hand running over her limp, dull hair. “I’m so sorry.” A sob distorted my sentiment, and it took everything in me to not fall to the ground. “I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t stop apologizing, knowing I failed her too. And in that, I was failing Lexie all over again. The guilt over letting the nectar slip through our fingers gnawed at me, and now it was too late.
“It’s not your fault.” She tipped back, her blue eyes peering up at mine with a strength I could never fathom. “Please do not blame yourself. I will be so mad at you if you do. You are not to blame for my cancer, just as you are not to blame for Lexie’s death. So please, for me, stop punishing yourself and let yourself be happy.” She swallowed, struggling to talk for long. “I have learned more than anything to appreciate everything and live the fullest, happiest life… otherwise you’re just wasting time. And time is the most precious thing we have that no magic can change.” She took another halted breath, her fingers stroking through Sprig’s fur, needing his warmth. “I do not regret one moment of my life. The ups and downs… finding a love I never imagined I would have in my wildest dreams.” She looked back, smiling at Cooper, taking his hand. He appeared like he was going to lose his shit too, while she held us both together like a rock. “What I’ve experienced is more than some people get in their whole lives. I’ve been so lucky.”
Her appreciation, gratitude, and outlook on all this were more daggers in my heart.
“I will get you home,” I vowed. “I will get you to your family.”
“Youaremy family, Croygen. Stop separating yourself like you don’t belong. You do. That’s not something time or space can ever change. No matter how long you are gone.”
Yanking her back into me, I had to bite down on my molars, hearing them crack, to keep the sobs from wailing through me. I was terrified of what would happen when she finally passed—to me and especially to Cooper.
The only thing that took my attention was a man standing several yards away, his small statue almost a pillar along the masts. Pulling back from AB, I stared at the man, recalling seeing him last night before I passed out.
It was the guide who got us through the fae doors.
“You?” I stepped toward him, confusion wrinkling my forehead, glancing at Scot and back to the man.
“He delivered your message.” Scot was next to me, explaining. “He is the entire reason we were able to get to you in such a short time.”
Understanding cleared out my fuzzy head, putting it all together. “He brought you guys through the fae doors.”
“He brought us to Budapest, where weborrowedthis ship.” Scot motioned to the small sloop we were on. “Cooper spotted the flag when we were sailing in. Was able to get our attention, told us where to find you guys.”
My throat still tight, I bowed my head in gratitude at the man. “Thank you.”
“Haoyu.” He gave me his name.
“I thank you, Haoyu.”
He returned the head bow, his face staying expressionless.
“Whatever we can pay you, I’m sure you want to get home when we reach our next port.”
He dipped his head again.
“Where the hell are we, anyway?”
“Few hours from Belgrade,” Scot answered.
“There is a fae door near there,” Haoyu said.
