Chapter 2
The City That Forgot the Sky
The light did not take Liora anywhere else.
It erased the place where she had been.
For one moment, she could still feel Kael's hand gripping hers. The next, the apartment floor, the shards of glass, the window, and the sound of the creature beyond the gate vanished like a picture washed off paper. Her body was hurled into the void. There was no up or down. No air to breathe.
Only Kael's voice reached her from far away.
“Don't let go—”
Her hand slipped free.
Liora fell.
She slammed into something hard and wet. Pain shot from her shoulder to her waist. Mud seeped into her palms as she tried to push herself up. Above her, the sky was deep purple, filled with two moons: one round and pale, the other shattered like glass suspended among the clouds.
Liora held her breath.
She wasn't dreaming.
The air smelled of iron, wet earth, and flowers that were far too sweet. In the distance, stone towers rose from behind the fog. They were exactly like the ones she'd seen in her dreams for years—including the long crack in the tallest tower, glowing red like an ember.
“Are you hurt?”
Liora turned.
Kael stood a few steps away. His coat was torn at the shoulder, and blood ran from the wound at his temple. He looked paler than before, but he was still holding his short sword in a ready position.
“You knocked me down,” Liora said.
“If I hadn't pulled you, the rift would have eaten you.”
“I'd rather be eaten by a rift than kidnapped by a stranger.”
“Then don't hold my hand next time.”
Liora got to her feet with difficulty. “I didn't have a choice.”
Kael stared at her long enough for Liora to realize he was looking at their hands. Her fingers still felt cold, as if the remnant of that light hadn't completely left her skin.
“In my world,” Kael said, “Evelyn used to say that too.”
That name filled the space between them with something sharp once again.
Liora looked around. There was no road, no house, no sign of life except the red glow from the distant tower. “Is this your alternate universe?”
“The outskirts of Ardhana.”
“This place is in my dreams.”
“It isn't the place that's in your dreams.” Kael sheathed his sword. “You're the one who remembers it.”
Liora was about to ask a question when a chime sounded from behind the fog. Slow. Rhythmic. Like a small bell struck by an unseen hand.
Kael immediately tensed.
“What is that?”
“Don't move.”
A second chime rang out.
The fog between the trees split apart. A woman walked out. She wore a white dress whose hem brushed the mud without getting dirty. Her hair was long and wet, covering part of her face. A cracked silver pendant hung around her neck.
Evelyn's pendant.
Liora took a step back.
The woman raised her face.
Evelyn's face stared at them.
But her eyes were completely black.
Kael drew his sword. “Don't listen to her voice.”
The woman smiled.
“Kael.”
That single word made Kael's sword tremble.
“She isn't Evelyn,” Liora said.
“I know.”
“But you still want to get closer.”
“I know.”
The woman took another step. Every time the soles of her feet touched the ground, tiny flowers sprouted from the mud, then rotted away within seconds.
“Kael,” she called again. “You've brought her home.”
Liora felt something move beneath the skin of her arm. Thin blue lines appeared from her wrist, forming the same pattern as the cracked mark on Kael's chest.
Kael saw it.
His expression changed.
“Don't touch her,” he told the figure.
The woman's smile widened. “She's already touched the gate.”
The ground beneath them trembled.
In the distance, the tallest tower made a sound like a giant's breath. The red crack across its body widened, and the purple sky split along a white line identical to the rift in Liora's room.
Kael grabbed Liora's arm.
This time, Liora didn't pull away.
“What is happening?”
“The gate is opening from the inside.”
“Aren't you its guardian?”
“I'm the guardian of the gate that's left.”
“And the others?”
Kael didn't answer.
The figure resembling Evelyn suddenly shot forward. She moved too fast to be called running. Kael shoved Liora aside and blocked the attack with his sword. The impact sent black light spraying into the air. The ground around them split apart.
Kael was driven backward.
The woman tilted her head. “You're still protecting the person who killed her.”
“She isn't Evelyn!”
“That's exactly what frightens you.”
Black claws lashed out.
Kael blocked the first strike, then the second, then the third. With every clash, the mark on his chest glowed brighter. Blood dripped from his palm, but he didn't let go of his sword.
Liora saw an opening between their movements.
She didn't know where the knowledge came from. She only knew that behind the figure was a faint door-shaped shadow, and at its center was a knot of red light. The knot pulsed in time with her own heartbeat.
“Kael!” Liora shouted. “Strike the red mark behind her!”
Kael glanced over. “You can see it?”
“Just strike it!”
Kael ducked as a claw swept over his head. He spun, stepped on a fallen tree trunk, and leaped over the figure's shoulder. His sword struck the red knot.
A scream filled the forest.
It wasn't a woman's scream. It wasn't a creature's scream. It sounded like thousands of people crying out from a place impossibly far away.
The figure wearing Evelyn's face cracked from neck to waist. White light burst from the splits in her body. Before she vanished, she looked at Liora.
“He will remember,” she whispered.
“What?” Liora asked.
“That you asked him to kill you.”
Then the figure shattered into ash.
Kael dropped to one knee.
Liora ran to him without thinking. She caught Kael by the shoulder before his body could collapse completely. Blood was flowing more heavily from his palm.
“Kael.”
“I'm fine.”
“You're bleeding.”
“Then I'm still alive.”
“Do you always answer like that?”
“Usually people stop asking after they hear my answer.”
Liora tore off the edge of her shirt and wrapped Kael's palm. She could feel the man's muscles tense beneath her touch. Kael watched her face but didn't pull his hand away.
For a moment, amid the strange forest and the split sky, they were silent.
Then Kael said, “Evelyn could never see the gate's knot.”
Liora tightened the cloth. “I'm not Evelyn.”
“I know.”
“Then stop comparing me to her.”
Kael lowered his gaze to the bandage on his hand. “I'm trying.”
The answer was too honest. Liora couldn't find anything sharp enough to throw back at him.
The chime of a bell rang again, this time from the direction of the tower.
Kael stood. His face was guarded again, but his body swayed slightly.
“We have to go to Ardhana.”
“Why?”
“Because the whole city will soon know you've arrived.”
“And they think I'm Evelyn's killer too?”
“No.”
Kael looked at the two moons in the sky, then at Liora.
“They think you're Evelyn, returned from the dead.”
In the distance, the city lights flickered on one by one. They weren't electric lights, but thousands of blue flames appearing along the walls. From beyond the city gate came the sound of a war horn.
Kael held out his hand.
Liora eyed it suspiciously. “What's the reason this time?”
“The road to the city passes through the Shadowless Forest.”
“That doesn't answer me.”
“If you walk alone, the forest will think you're dead.”
“And if I'm with you?”
“The forest will think you belong to me.”
Kael said it without a teasing note. That was exactly why Liora's chest felt strange.
She stared at the hand he held out. The hand that had saved her earlier. The hand that had once held Evelyn's in a photograph. The hand of someone who might kill her once all the answers were found.
At last, Liora took it.
“If the forest tries to kill me,” she said, “I'll blame you.”
“Go ahead.”
They began walking toward the blue light beyond the fog.
Liora didn't see the woman standing atop the tallest tower between two black bells. Her face was identical to Liora's and Evelyn's, but her eyes weren't black. They were golden.
The woman held a single red thread connected to Liora's chest.
When Liora and Kael disappeared into the forest, she slowly pulled the thread.
Inside Liora's pocket, the cracked silver pendant opened by itself.
The photograph of Evelyn inside had changed.
Now the person smiling beside Kael wasn't Evelyn.
It was Liora.