Chapter 64
CHAPTER
CHARLEY
My skin was stinging. No, burning. No, freezing.
I woke, shaking uncontrollably. From cold, from pain, from a horrible sense of loss. It was the only thing that came with me through the gate.
When I opened my eyes, a crowd of guys in parkas and goggles were bent over me; they wore helmets on their heads and confusion on their faces. And in some cruel twist of fate, the land around me was brilliant, arctic white. Stark naked, I lay cushioned on fine powder that burned like fire.
I lay on Thad’s snow.
Thad! Every cell in my body cried for him, but there was no answer, just fading echoes. I’ll find you, Charley! I promise!
But you can’t, my heart cried. Because I took your gate, your chance to escape. And now you’re stuck, condemned to Nil forever.
The men spoke quickly, murmuring in a foreign language I made no effort to understand.
I didn’t care what happened to me. I was fractured, shattered and incomplete.
And there was no way to put me back together, because the part of me that belonged to Thad was gone, brutally ripped away as I passed through the gate.
I closed my eyes, willing the men to walk away. Leave, I cried silently. Leave me here, on Thad’s snow. He should be here, not me.
Just … leave.
But they didn’t.
Hands lifted me, and gently slid my arms into soft sleeves full of warmth. I heard a zipping noise, and warmth spread across my chest. Damp socks slid over my feet, followed by pants that moved up my legs. The hands handled me like I might break.
They didn’t know I already had.