68 #2
“What? I can’t decide whether you’re actually insane, or I’m in some wild dream, or whether this is truly happening.”
“Want me to slap you and prove you’re not dreaming?” I offer half-heartedly, but the joke falls flat.
“I dare you. That still leaves the insane option.”
“Yeah, can’t rule that out. I mean, I’m a mortal girl who got dragged into a fae world…but look here.”
I beckon Blair over to the wall and crouch down, pointing at the mural.
“I finished painting this the other night but didn’t realize what I’d painted. I think the campus actually wanted to show us something.”
I point to the image of a column surrounded by the symbol of a wave, and behind it, a dark fold.
“See? That column is the symbol of a temple. And the wave might stand for a river. So this could be Avandal. And the last image is a dark rip, right? Like the one we have up there. A rip between worlds. And now look.”
My fingers slide to what lies behind it.
Blair gasps when she spots the tiny dragons flying over what looks like jagged mountains.
“Fuck me,” she breathes. “Hard.”
“Yeah. Right. I think we can actually fly through the rips.”
I get up and stalk toward the door, bag in hand, Aris already waiting.
Blair just stands there, her amber eyes flicking to me. “Melody, that’s damn fucking insane. This is just a painting.”
“The campus wanted me to see this, Blair. I trust it.”
“You’re trusting a building?” she asks, flinching when the windows slam shut behind her in an angry, invisible wind.
“All right, sorry,” she mutters, glancing up. “But you have to admit, that sounds dangerous. Besides, everyone knows rips kill you.”
“No. No one knows . Everyone thinks they know. I did a lot of research, and none of the books actually say you die if you fly through one. Quite the opposite. A lot of them claim they’re portals to the nine hells.”
“Yeah, I mean—nine hells, hello. That’s not comforting. And let me guess, no one could prove it because no one was reckless enough to try.”
I shake my head. “No. I’ve been near one with Caryan. They’re not all deadly. So—are you coming, or do I have to go alone? Because Caryan is bad, Blair. Worse than we thought…”
My voice trails off when I think of last night. Of the way he laughed. Smiled. The way he’d been almost real. Alive. Normal.
And I’m about to ruin it all by running again.
But maybe it was just another trap. Something he did to win me over. To make me complicit.
Maybe the oracle spilled nothing but lies.
Maybe we could fix this. Maybe I could just talk to him. Tell him everything. And he would understand.
But then my gaze falls to the stone I’m suddenly holding in my palm, without even remembering taking it out of my pocket.
“There is no other way, little one,” Aris cuts in, and I realize he’s been reading my thoughts because I let my shields slip.
I yank them back up.
Then I grab the door handle and push it down.
My skin prickles with anticipation. Something is going to change today. It feels like the cogs of fate have finally started turning, and I can feel their momentum. Something too big for me to grasp is unfolding, and somehow, I’m part of it.
And I have to go now.
“Can you tell me where you even want to go?” Blair asks behind me, hopping on one leg while tugging on her boots. She curses, then grabs a bag and randomly stuffs her clothes inside.
“I was hoping you’d tell me,” I say quietly, opening the door. “You’re more familiar with the fae world.”
She’s behind me in seconds.
And suddenly everything feels very real.
We’re actually going to run.
We jog outside, Aris beside me, Blair trailing close behind, braiding her hair into a crown even while moving. The practiced ease of it tells me she’s done this a thousand times.
The hallways are draped in black now, no trace of the ball remaining. Eerily empty. Most of the students must still be asleep or hungover, disturbingly unbothered by the queen’s death.
And somehow, I envy them for that.
For their normal lives.
For a few months, I thought I could be one of them. Just studying. Learning my magic. Having fun.
Gods—just last night we walked through this hall in our dresses….
We dart outside into the warm, bright day.
Aris shifts without waiting, as if he’s just as itchy and nervous as I am.
We scramble onto his scaled back, Blair settling behind me, and he launches into the air.
I shake off the memory of last night and force myself to focus on the present. But when I glance toward the lake where Caryan and I stood only hours ago, our magic dancing together before the whole campus, something in my chest splinters.
Wind rips tears from my eyes—we’re going that fast—Aris’s wings pumping hard as if he’s afraid someone might stop us, and my own heart races at the thought.
What if Caryan sees us from a window?
Would he stop us?
Would he suspect what I found out?
Yeah. He’d know exactly what we’re up to the moment he noticed the two bags clutched in Aris’s claws.
“Caryan?” I ask down the bond to Aris.
He just grunts in confirmation. He’s worried too—that Caryan might see us.
My heart squeezes tight with nerves, and I glance back over my shoulder at the university. Toward the balcony room where he’s undoubtedly about to announce the queen’s death.
Then I force myself to face forward.
The rip hovers ahead like something nightmarish, suspended in the air. It really looks like torn fabric.
Vast. Ugly. Dangerous. Glittering with darkness.
“What the fucking hells is your plan exactly?” Blair snarls behind me, her claws digging into the leather at my shoulders as we fly straight at the invisible veil protecting Avandal.
I lift my hands and send my magic crashing against the bristling wall of wards and spells I can sense even from here, commanding it to part for us.
It does.
We slip through before it knits itself back together behind us.
The rip gapes like a waiting mouth right in front of us.
“You’re going to kill us. Are you insane?” Blair shouts into the wind.
“Hells, yeah,” I snarl, ducking low against Aris’s scales.
Aris doesn’t slow.
He dives headfirst into the rip.
And we fall.