“It healed me.” I wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a question. I was awed. I still couldn’t believe it. Relief washed down my spine and I exhaled shakily.
Minutes ago I had been accepting my death. But now, I was healed. I fought the urge to call Wyn and scream into the telephone receiver about what had happened, or storm out the door right now to track down Edmund. Instead I stared at my hand, disbelief at the tingling warmth that now occupied me taking over. I looked at my hand that had held my liquid magic not long before, the slime had dried into a film that coated my palm, but otherwise, nothing remained.
“Did you know it would do that?” I asked.
“I can honestly say I had no idea. I had assumed the bond was broken. But, to have a connection strong enough for it to repair the bond within a T?uha… I didn’t think that was possible.”
My skin prickled and pulsed as I flexed my fingers and toes. I had been lying down for the last week, mourning, and pining, and dying. I had almost given up hope of seeking my revenge on Edmund. I had tried to find comfort in the possibility of seeing Ryland in whatever life was after this. But now, I could find him, fight him. Now Ryland’s sacrifice could be worth something. I smiled brighter and threw myself at Ilyan, wrapping my hands around his neck only to get a face full of hair.
“Thank you,” I whispered. Slowly, his arms came around to encompass me.
“Of course, this means Ryland can track you easily now.” Ilyan had spoken offhand, but the few words were enough to shatter my celebration.
“What do you mean?” I untangled myself from Ilyan to stand in front of him.
“If your bond is strong enough to reseal your magic during a T?uha, then it is strong enough to track you over large distances. If he can do that, I do not know where, if any place, you would be safe. I can shield you as long we stay together and in one place, but for now, it limits you to the interior of this apartment.”
My jaw dropped, all my hopes of a celebration of good health dashed. Part of me wanted to yell at Ilyan for spoiling my joy, but he still had that devastated look on his face.
“So, are we trapped here?” I asked, finally able to process all that Ilyan was saying.
“Until I know how far he can track you. And until you are strong enough to fight him if he does.” I couldn’t help but notice that Ilyan’s jaw was a hard line. He didn’t seem to be celebrating my miraculous recovery at all. It worried me.
“Which will be how long?” I asked, my frustration rising.
“I do not know, Joclyn. Perhaps a year, maybe more.”
Four
I could hear the feet behind me; slow, steady, loud.
Edmund.
I turned a corner in the dilapidated house and squished myself against the burnt wainscoting, knowing full well it would not hide me, and perhaps only allow me to be caught faster.
I dreaded being caught; I dreaded the pain I would feel, the terror that would encompass me. But I also relished the pain. It was the only way I could be released from the nightmares that had haunted me every night for months.
They were always different, although the general theme of them stayed the same. Cail would chase me from the forest to the house where I would die at the hands of Edmund, Ryland, Timothy, or Cail.
I felt a heavy thud in my chest as the sound of the shoes grew louder, Edmund’s gait easily decipherable to me now.
Thump, whack, thump.
I pushed myself into the wall as he came around the corner, Cail following him like an injured dog.
I pushed my hands toward him, sending a stream of light, but the attack bounced off of him, causing him to smile more. I pressed myself against the wall, eyes wide as I sought escape, but knowing it was useless.
“Ah! There you are!” Edmund said joyfully like an old grandfather welcoming home a prodigal son, but it held no relief for me. My spine froze in terror and I hesitated a moment too long, allowing Cail to come up beside me and pin me to the wall.
I cringed away from the contact, away from what was coming, but it was no use. I could already hear the footsteps approaching.
A soft step on the left, a slight drag on the right. My mind must have been paying much more attention than I gave it credit for to have pulled this little detail of Ryland into my nightly terrors.
“We were worried you didn’t want to play,” Edmund continued lightly, as if I wasn’t being restrained. “We were worried we would have to chase you down all night.”
Edmund smiled and leaned toward me, I recoiled away from him automatically. With nowhere to go, I turned my head into the wall. A large lump blocking my throat at seeing Ryland slinking toward me, his eyes black, his beautiful face covered in a sheen of sweat.
“We didn’t want to chase you down, did we Cail?” I couldn’t pull my eyes away from Ryland as Edmund spoke. I stared at him as I tried to control the beating of my heart, the frantic mixture of panic and need making me dizzy.
“No, Master,” Cail’s voice was right in my ear, the putrid smell of his breath washing over me.