‘Where do you go when you do that?’ I asked.
‘Where do you go?’ Uri replied.
‘I don’t …’ But I stopped. I did go places when I tapped into the ability we called Sight. I moved away from my body and went to the places I needed to.
‘Oh,’ I said.
‘There is one more thing,’ Nox said. ‘When you cross the realms, you’ll need an anchor.’
I thought about the times Uri and Nox had crossed the realms. They had only ever come one at a time, the other always having to stay behind to work as an anchor.
‘How does it work?’
‘It must be someone more than human and near to your body, and one with whom you share significance. Their very existence in your world allows you to be drawn back there when you are ready, though it isn’t pleasant for your chosen anchor,’ Uri said, giving a rare twitch of his nose.
‘Significance?’
Nox turned his back to me and began to walk away down the long corridor. ‘Love, blood,’ he glanced over his shoulder at Uri. ‘Insufferable hate.’
I caught an uptilt at the corners of Uri’s mouth. ‘One that invokes the passions.’
‘Soul?’ I asked.
They didn’t answer.
‘Lincoln?’
Was what we had strong enough?
Still no answer.
‘Would our souls have to be bonded?’ I called out.
To this Nox chuckled and threw a hand over his shoulder as if to say goodbye. ‘Excuses, excuses.’
They were gone.
I bolted upright in the bed.
My wide eyes fell on Lincoln’s. He was standing in the doorway, his expression guarded and intense.
I pushed the hair back from my face. ‘How long have I been asleep?’
And how long have you been standing there watching me?
He swallowed. ‘A few hours. Not long.’
I nodded, still getting my bearings. Lincoln shifted as if he was going to leave.
‘Linc, do you hate me? Do you think I’m weak and cruel to you?’
‘No. Why would you …’ But then his eyes dropped.
‘Did you think I was the only one allowed to struggle with this? Come on.’ I gave him a quirky smile. ‘To be honest, I’m kind of relieved.’
He looked up, caught my expression and raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, yeah?’
‘Totally. It’s been kind of crushing my self-confidence. You know, me falling all over you all the time, and you seeming to have it all together.’ I was teasing now, kind of.
Lincoln grinned. ‘Well, I guess we’ve solved that problem then.’
‘I believe so.’
He just shook his head as I laughed, but his green eyes said only, Thank you, and hazel ones replied only, Of course.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
‘I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time.’
Oscar Wilde
After ordering Lincoln to sleep, I headed out to walk the perimeter just as he had. Everything was silent. When I returned to the cabin I subconsciously reached out to him with my powers and felt his heart beating rhythmically.
Home.
When I found the sandwiches he’d left in the fridge – which he’d obviously turned on – I snorted a laugh but fell on them gratefully then gulped down a glass of milk before heading out to do another patrol, just to be sure. I wasn’t about to let anything slip by on my watch.
While moving through the woods, pushing out my senses to scan the area, I thought more about what Nox and Uri had said. They’d brought Phoenix into this. They did that all the time. And yet I was sure, despite their unhelpful crypticness, that they actually did want Lilith defeated.
So why are they trying to turn me back in Phoenix’s direction? After all he has done. Knowing he can so easily end me?
Maybe because he hasn’t.
When Phoenix had broken into the Academy and we found him, he’d seemed almost relieved. Like he had been waiting for us. And down in the tunnel – he definitely sensed me and still, he’d fed us the information that helped us save that other child. Not to mention my dreams. Was there another reason, apart from taunting me, that he’d entered my dreamscape?
Yes, he did take the other child away that night in the tunnel, but did he have a choice? With Olivier watching over him, could he have really done anything else at that time that wouldn’t result in the boy being harmed?
The thoughts swirled in my mind but I kept coming back to the same thing – the look in his eyes. He’d looked right at me as he let go of a burst of his own emotion. It had felt so real, so haunting.
He couldn’t have faked that.
He’d come looking for me tomorrow night. He had my mother. He knew I’d do whatever I was asked. Lilith would know that, too. They must be laughing.
If you leave as much as a window open I’ll find you before then.
I stopped dead.