Joe winces as he tries to sit up. Haden crouches over Simon.
Blood pools out of the man’s mangled body. How he’s still alive is a mystery to me—perhaps it has something to do with his strange powers. I can only imagine the agony he must be in. The broken tones and notes that surround him sound like the embodiment of misery. “We can’t leave him like this.” I don’t know if I mean we should call for an ambulance … or something else … but I know there’s nothing any paramedic could do for him.
“You’re right,” Haden says. The tone that comes off him is a mixture of reluctance and determination. Strength and yet tenderness. Relief and yet … grief. It’s the sound of mercy.
I turn away, knowing what Haden must do.
The notes that surround Simon fade away into silence, and I know the deed is done. I turn back to Haden and offer him my hand—hoping to fill it with something that might make this empty sensation go away.
Haden picks up the pulsing amulet, almost dropping it, and reaches for my extended hand. Just before his fingers touch mine, a bright burst of light pulses out of the amulet in his other hand.
All the life seems to drain out of his eyes, and he collapses at my feet—his hand still outstretched as if trying to reach me.
“Haden?” I gasp. “Haden, what’s wrong?”
I grab his shoulders and shake him, but I get no response. His eyes are open and he’s breathing—but it’s like nobody is home.
“What happened?” Dax says, trying to stand. “I blacked out again. What …?”
“I don’t know. He grabbed this amulet thingy off the ground, and then there was this flash, and he just collapsed.”
“Amulet?” Dax stumbles toward us. He kneels next to me. “That’s no amulet. That’s a communication talisman.” He tries to pry it from Haden’s rigid grasp, but he pulls his hand back sharply as though the talisman burned him. “It has some sort of invisible shield around it.”
“What’s going on?”
“We have to snap him out of there,” Dax says, slapping his hand against Haden’s jaw. “We have to get him back here!”
“What do you mean? Where did he go?”
“This thing, it’s a communication talisman. It’s like a between-realms cell phone. Only instead of transporting merely your voice to the person who’s calling you, it transports your soul so you can converse face-to-face—like astral projection. Someone must have been trying to communicate with the owner of this amulet, but Haden answered the call.” Dax slaps him again with an urgency that makes me shake.
“Who? I mean, where is he, then?”
“This is Underlord craftsmanship. So my guess—his father. Haden’s in the Underrealm, and he probably has no idea what’s going on.”
“Can he get hurt there?” I ask. Haden’s father is the one person Haden seems truly afraid of. What would he do if he thought Haden had gone off the rails with his quest?
“Yes,” Dax says. “If something bad were to happen to him there … the connection between his soul and body could be severed permanently.”
He grabs Haden’s shoulders and shakes him with what strength he can muster. “Snap out of it!”
I could run right now, I realize. I could take off this very second. Haden isn’t here to stop me, and Dax is in no condition to follow. I could escape all this destiny nonsense. I wouldn’t have to be this Cypher or vessel or Anoich—something or whatever—if they couldn’t find me. I could choose to go.
I could be done with all of this if I just run right now.
I reach for the keys to the Tesla that dangle from Haden’s pocket. His body convulses in my grasp. His mouth forms what looks like a scream, but no sound comes out. Tears well in the corners of his wide-open eyes.
I drop the car keys and cup my hands under his chin. “Haden!” I say into his ear. “Haden, come back! I need you here.”
chapter fifty-seven
HADEN
“What’s your report?” my father demands. He rises from his ebony throne.
Report?
What’s going on?
How am I even here?
Where is Daphne? And Dax and the others?
A few short months ago, all I wanted to do was return to my home in the Underrealm—to leave the chaos and discomfort of the mortal world behind. I dreamed of my return. Longed for it. Now I am desperate to figure out why I am here—and how to get back to where I was only seconds ago.
“Have you found Haden yet?” my father says. He must think he’s speaking to someone else. My head is lowered, so he must not recognize me—or perhaps it’s because he never looks directly at a subordinate if it isn’t necessary.
How did I get here? And how do I get back?