Chapter 45 #3
Seconds blend into minutes that morph into thirty. I go from concerned to terrified, and after a while, all I feel is irritable anger—a festering sting working its way through me.
My voice breaks the silence, jarring enough that Pax flinches. “I’m going back.”
He grabs my arm. “Just wait, Cal.”
“I’ve waited long enough.” I tug out of his grip, taking off across the rocky ground.
“Callan, wait.”
I don’t.
“Callan,” Pax warns again.
There’s a high-pitched ringing in my ear when I make it to the bottom of the hill.
“Son.”
I come to a reluctant stop, hands fisting at my sides as I turn to face my father. I’m not angry at him—I’m angry at the situation. I’m angry because I’m the one who put her in it. I’m the one who allowed her to go.
It was me who was hellbent on finding these people, and I didn’t really care what it took. I don’t regret this mission, and I certainly don’t regret who we’ve saved, but I do regret that she had to take on the most dangerous part of it. I regret that it isn’t me in there instead of her.
And if she never comes out, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
“Can’t you feel her?” my father asks, pulling me back to the present.
“Feel her?” I parrot back. “What do you mean, feel her?”
My father points at my chest. “The Lure, son.”
One second, my anger is hot. Boiling. And the next, it’s ice fucking cold.
I look down at the metal chain disappearing into the front of my vest, and realization dawns on me with such force that for a moment all that exists is the tarnished silver around my neck.
I sent her to you, you know? It was the only option we had. The only way we could guarantee she’d find the right people.
I’d felt it. The pull. Like a song I couldn’t remember the words to. A whiff of a scent that I couldn’t place. A nagging sensation that I knew I should know, should remember, but I never could.
It clicks now, like a roll of film that was just developed. A memory slotting into place, pulled forward by one. Single. Word.
Lure.
“Okay, Cal,” my father takes my hand, pulling me to face him. He’s so tall that even as he crouches before me, I have to tilt my head back. “I’m going to hide this time, and you’re going to use the Lure to find me.”
I nod fiercely, a giggle bubbling up my throat in anticipation of the game.
“You can’t ask anyone for help, okay? Follow the feeling in here,” he puts a large hand to my small chest, “it will lead you right to me.”
I nod again, too excited to wait any longer, and I hear him chuckle as I hurry to cover my eyes.
Screaming out each number, I become more aware of the heavy chain around my neck the farther he gets from me. I count as many numbers as I know, screeching when his time is up and I’m free to chase after him.
The sun beats down on my shoulders as I move wildly through the hedge maze, never wasting more than a second at each turn. I follow the tug in my chest, letting it pull me along the path. It tightens as I move deeper into the maze, winding up around my heart.
I sprint through the opening in the maze and down through the gardens, and when I come to the wide trunk of an oak tree, I smile so wide my cheeks hurt.
“Boo!” I jump over the roots, throwing both arms out, pretending there’s magic coming out of my hands.
Strong arms scoop me off the ground, and I erupt in a fit of giggles, a deep laugh mingling with the sound.
“Very good, Cal.” My father laughs some more. “Very good.”
I look up, and whatever my father sees on my face drains all the color in his. “Oh, Cal. I told you about Lures. I taught you how to—”
“I was four years old.” My voice is raw with disbelief, worlds away from the carefree nature of the memory.
I hadn’t even learned to spell my own name. I couldn’t yet tie my own shoes. Knowledge of the Lure was buried so deep in my brain that I’d forgotten about it entirely.
“We didn’t have a choice,” my father explains, and all I can do is stare back at him. He opens his mouth to say something else, then closes it again. When I remain silent, he shrugs, repeating with less conviction, “We didn’t have a choice.”
I scrub a hand over my face, pressing my fingers into my eyes until they ache. I focus on my inhales. One after another. Knowing damn well they won’t settle me. There’s too much buzzing through my head. Too many things racing through my thoughts, moving too fast to catch. Too fast to chase.
“Cal,” Pax says calmly.
I force down another deep breath.
“Callan,” he says again.
Removing my hands, the early morning light burns into my retinas, and it takes me a second to focus on his face, but when I do, I realize he isn’t looking at me.
My heart pounds as I turn, whirling around so fast I nearly lose my balance.
There, cresting the hill, slowly making her way to the top in one perfect piece, is Lucina.
Worry pinches her dark brows for only a moment, softening as soon as she sees us standing here. Waiting for her. Just as we said we’d be.
Her hair wildly frames her face, having fallen out of whatever braid she’d put it in, and despite the dirt smeared on her cheeks and the wear on her clothes, she smiles. Full and wide.
Triumphant.