“Tell me,” I say, because I know there’s more; I can see it in her eyes and feel it in my gut. I think, deep down, a part of me has always known it.
“Ms. Chancellor, tell me!” I demand, but before she can say a word, Alexei appears in the doorway and says, “The helicopter is here.”
He and Dominic pick up Jamie’s stretcher and rush him up the stairs to the embassy’s roof. The wind is strong here. I can hear the flag flapping, the chain pinging against the metal pole. Overhead, the helicopter’s blades keep whirling, not slowing down. There isn’t a minute to lose, I know.
“Get in!” Dominic orders Alexei, who doesn’t argue. He’s sitting by Jamie’s head like an anchor, refusing to let his best friend drift away. “Both of you,” he tells me, but I look back at Ms. Chancellor.
“You have to go with him, dear,” Ms. Chancellor says.
“Tell me!” I demand one final time.
The Scarred Man is the only one who’ll meet my gaze. For years, I saw his face in my nightmares, the shadow in my dreams. Three years ago he came to my mother’s shop, but that wasn’t when this started. No. Our path was set ages ago, wrapped in a blanket and carried away. A secret hidden for centuries.
“Grace Olivia,” the Scarred Man says, “you are the lost princess of Adria.”
Before I can ask a question, say a word, Dominic pushes me into the chopper then follows, slamming the door.
I feel the helicopter rising, floating above the embassy. It’s like this secret has been weighing us down for years and now, without those lies to tether us, my brother and I are floating free, weightless and directionless like balloons released into a strong wind.
The embassies recede. The great wall of Adria grows smaller and smaller. And smaller. It feels like maybe I’ve jumped again, but this time I do not fall; I just keep rising.
Behind us, the sun is coming up over Valancia, casting the city in its golden glow. Ahead of us, the blue waters of the Mediterranean stretch out to the edge of the earth.
I hold my brother’s hand. I look into Alexei’s eyes. And we keep flying.
Suspended somewhere in between.