I wish I could say that his words moved me so much that I leapt to my feet and scrambled to find a way out, but they didn’t. I didn’t leap.
But I did stand.
I looked up at the pinprick of light that I knew meant safety. None of this was real, I knew, and it wouldn’t take the Chasm to get up there. It would just take a decision.
But the harder I tried to go up, the more weighted down I felt. The more I tried to let go of my fear, the more it clung to me. It leached my strength, and before long, I was back sitting on the floor.
Don’t give up, Em. You got this.
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t exactly use the Chasm to levitate myself. I wasn’t really stuck in a well; I was stuck somewhere in my mind.
What did you say to Crystle when you performed a Retrieval? Taren said. How did you get her out?
I told her that none of it was real.
None of what you’re seeing is real, he said urgently. You used the Chasm and you’re having some backlash, but that’s it.
He was right; this wasn’t real. My brain was jerking me around because I’d used the Chasm.
Good, Em, good.
I hadn’t realized I’d stood.
None of this is real, I repeated over and over. Soon I was lifted from my feet and rushing toward the light. Within seconds...
I gasped, bolting upright. I was in Sadah’s arms, Cole and the rest looking over me with expressions that changed from worried to relieved.
I love you, I said to Taren. And there is no chance I’m ever not going to love you.
I know, he said, me too. But it sounded good, right?
I smiled broadly and hoped he felt it.
I looked up to the sky, and seeing the Gateway shimmering in the distance, remembered that there was still more to do.
Is that—?
Yes, I said. It is. And we are getting through it no matter what.
I’ll let the Elders—
It’s not the one in Italy, I told him. I don’t know where it is on Earth. Cole called it the ninth Gate. You might want to talk to Master Dogan about that, I said, sarcasm in my sending. Wherever it is, we’re going through it.
Can you keep me with you? he asked.
I think so, I said. How are you even able to talk to me, anyway?
I’ve been practicing. I even meditate now.
Careful, I might start confusing you for Master Dogan, I said, and I felt his grin. We should be able to stay connected, but I might not be able to talk. I’m not sure what we’re walking into.
Be careful, he said. Don’t do anything—
Impulsive? I said, smiling. I’ll try.
Cole and the rest of them were waiting patiently, realizing I was having a private conversation, but once it was finished, the questions came.
30
“I’m telling you, we don’t need permission,” I said to Cole, who was still unconvinced. “I can open it, just trust me.”
We climbed to the summit, close to where the very tip of the mountain pierced the putrid clouds. Only there weren’t clouds anymore—not in this one spot. The Gateway glowed and pulsated with life. I reached for it, and just like that, we were connected. And then it opened, as easy as if I’d slipped a key inside of a lock.
The others gasped as the opening widened, revealing a blue sky high above. Tears streamed down Sadah’s face, and Grae looked up in wonder and delight.
“I can levitate everyone…” I said, not eager to keep using the Chasm.
Cole’s expression was a mix of emotion and awe. “We can walk,” he said. “You’ve done enough.”
He squeezed my shoulder, then threw his arms around me and wrapped me in a tight embrace. “Thank you,” he whispered. “I will never be able to repay you, but I will try until the end of my days.”
Then he released me and began helping the others take their final steps before freedom.
We emerged into a world—my world—filled with fragrance and light. Even though it was dusk, we all shaded our eyes. Had Cole’s people ever even seen the sun without a filter of red or black clouds?
“Where are we?” Cole asked. “Do you recognize this place?”
We were on an island, I could tell that much. There wasn’t much vegetation except for some scrub.
“I don’t know. There’s something familiar about it, but…” It was the color of the water. An azure blue I’d only ever seen in one place. Alexander’s mind.
Off in the distance I made out shapes that turned into people as they walked toward us, each wearing white.
“I do know this place,” I said, my heart near to bursting.
I’d found the Colony.
31
Soon enough, I realized that the people of the Colony encircled the valley and were approaching from all directions. I should have been afraid—these were the people that created Alexander, after all—but something about the way they carried themselves put me at ease. They moved fluidly, as one body, and the closer they got, the more I felt at ease. I wondered if they were doing some kind of brain voodoo, but my shield felt secure, and I noticed Cole seemed comfortable too.
When the circle was twenty feet away, they stopped, only three people—one man flanked by two women—continued to approach.
“Brothers, sisters,” the man said, “welcome home.”
The three stepped forward and began embracing each of us. There was a bit of stunned silence until I said, “Where is home, exactly?”
A woman who appeared in her early twenties, with dark hair and eyes, tilted her head and studied me. “You aren’t one of them. You are from this side.”
I nodded. “Yes, so can you tell me where we are?”
“Greece,” she said, which confirmed my suspicions about finding the Colony. “I am called Michele.”
“Ember,” I said, holding out my hand for her to shake. “We are really, really glad to be here.”
Michele shook my hand, but then pulled me into an embrace. I was so happy to be home that I went with it.
A minute later, the wheels started turning and I needed some answers.
“How is there a Gateway here and no Institute?” I said. “There isn’t one, right? An Institute?”
My studies had taught me there were nine Gateways. The locations were kept secret for the most part, even from Keepers and Guardians. I’d been headed on a worldwide Institute tour and only been told about our first stop in Italy. I’d known I’d be hitting five continents, but little else.
“Not an Institute,” the man said, who’d introduced himself as Aldous. “We have kept the Gateway closed. Until now.”
“How did I open it?” I said. “I knew that I could, but I don’t know why.”
“Because you are a hybrid,” Michele said. “Those with both human and Daemon lineage were the most trusted to open the Gateways because they bore allegiance to both races.”
I wanted to question her further—could I open all of the Gateways from inside the demon world—but before I could, an older woman spoke. “Please, there is time enough for questions, but you all need nourishment and rest. Allow us to provide that first.”
As if on cue, Grae began crying. I nodded, and we followed as they led up the gently sloping hill.
Once at the top, I saw that the land leveled out, and in the near distance were buildings laid out in straight lines. They were made of tufa, many standing three stories tall. To the left were sheep grazing peacefully, and to the right rows of crops waved peacefully in the wind.
It would be like any other small Greek village, except for all of the stuff floating in mid-air. An avocado tree seemed to shed itself of fruit—the lot of them gathering into a large woven basket—at the direction of a young girl leaning casually against its wide trunk. Close by, children played what looked like dodgeball, except the balls seemed to throw themselves.
Finally making it home was almost too much to take in, so I let it wash over me, filling me with a happiness I hadn’t felt
in a very long time. Which reminded me, I needed to find out the date. How long had I been gone?
I was about to ask when suddenly a bolt of pain shot through me and I doubled over. Next to me, Cole let out a groan, and I heard Grae begin wailing.
“What’s happening?” I said through clenched teeth.
Michele, who was holding me up at this point, said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know. We’ve never had anyone cross over before. Perhaps the change is too much for your system. Please do not worry. We have skilled healers and will take excellent care of you.”
Cole’s body convulsed. My skin began to prickle, then burn, and then it felt as though my entire body was an exposed nerve.
We’d crossed over. From the demon world.
“Is this a Sanctuary?” I said, barely able to get the words out.
“Yes, but—”
Back up! I sent, the pain too great to speak. Get out of the Sanctuary.
I stumbled backwards, and the instant I did, the fire lessened. I threw up, a terrifying stream of black mixed in with the bile. The others did as I had, scrambling backwards to safety.
I was still on my hands and knees, panting, but I said, “It’s the enchanted ground. Demons…when they cross over, it hurts them. They get out of it as soon as possible.”
“But you are not demons,” Michele said.
But that stream of black tar, however thin, made me wonder.
A few minutes later, I began to feel like myself again. Myself with the stomach flu, but at least I wasn’t on fire. I sent a feeling of calm through my connection to Taren, knowing that he’d have sensed some of my pain and be worried. The others seemed to be faring better, also. The Colony children were sent to fetch water and the healers circulated, offering drinks and cool washcloths.
“For your stomach,” a young man said, offering me a cup of something that fizzed. I drank it and belched, embarrassed but grateful.
“Well, the good news is that most of the world is not part of a Sanctuary,” I said. “So if we just avoid a few key places, we should be fine.”
“Good to know,” Cole said. He, like the others, had it worse than I did—throwing up off and on since we’d crossed back past the boundary. The black tar coming from them made mine seem like nothing to worry about. Almost.
“Is this the only part of the island that isn’t part of the Sanctuary?” I asked Michele.
“Yes,” she said apologetically. “Living as we do, apart from the rest of the world but so close to a Gateway, we’ve enchanted the entire island.”
Of course they would. Anyone would. And it wasn’t like I was planning to stay long. But I needed answers from these people, and, more importantly, I needed their help. With this many Daemons we stood a chance, even against the six remaining Roots and all of their minions.
“How about tents?” I said. “Got any of those?”
“Yes,” Michele said, smiling. “We can definitely get you some tents.”
32
Unlike how Kami Taylor and I had struggled for an hour during a sixth-grade camping trip, the Daemons had our tents up in no time flat. Of course, in sixth grade I wasn’t levitating things.
They lined the tents up with the same precision as the buildings below, staggered two deep and carefully placed to stay within the thin strip of flat ground that wasn’t part of their Sanctuary.
I’d been feeling weak, but some of the children came with baskets of fruit, loaves of crusty bread, and jars of olives. I scarfed down a healthy portion, instantly re-envigorated, but the others didn’t fare as well. Everything they ate came back up. I felt guilty, but I understood the problem. This just wasn’t their world. Yet. I was certain that with some rest and by going slowly, they would acclimate. I’d gotten used to the demon world; they could certainly adjust to life in mine.
It was going on evening, which was just as well, because as much as I wanted to pepper our hosts with questions, we all needed rest. And I had someone I needed to talk to.
Three of the healers slept in tents among us in case they were needed during the night. The other Daemons left us, with promises to return in the morning.
I settled into my blanket, delighted that even though I was still sleeping on the ground, for the first time in almost two months, it was the same ground he was on.
Taren?
He was there in an instant, as if he’d been waiting for me.
I’m here, he said, his sending strong, like he was sitting right beside me.
Me too, I said. I’m really here. I’m back home.
Not yet you aren’t, he said. Not until you’re back with me.
I smiled at how true that was.
I want to try something, I said. It wasn’t anything Cole had taught me, just something I really wanted to work.
I went to the place in my mind where Taren was and traveled along it until I felt I’d crossed half the distance between us.
Can you meet me here? I asked.
He didn’t answer, but I felt him getting closer until there he was, standing right in front of me. His amazed expression must have matched my own, and both of our eyes were brimming with tears. He went to grip my face the way he always did when he kissed me, but even though it looked like we were standing in front of each other, we weren’t. I shivered as his hands slid through me.
“Whoa,” Taren said, feeling what I did.
He took his hand and placed it an inch from my cheek, our energy mixing and merging, sending sparks into the air around us. Then he tilted his head down to kiss me, letting his parted lips hover in front of mine. Electricity danced between us, and it was all I could do not to gasp.
Finally, when I felt like I might float away, he stopped kissing me and looked deep into my eyes.
"I can’t believe I’m finally here,” I said, then looked around. “Wherever here is.”
He smiled and went to brush hair from my eyes, but instead his fingertips rippled through me, sending shivers all the way to my toes. He must have felt it too, because his breath caught.
“These past nine days have been the longest of my life,” he said.
“Nine days?” I said. With everyone getting so sick, I hadn’t even thought to ask the date. “It’s only been nine days for you?”
“Yeah,” he said. "How long has it been for you?”
“Almost two months,” I said.
“Two months?” he said, his eyes wide. “My God, Em, if I’d known it had been that long I’d have come down to get you, I swear. Two months… How did you survive down there for that long?”
“Better than you’d think,” I said. “And it’s OK. I put my time down there to good use."
“Yeah, well, I’ve been useless without you,” he said. “Ask anyone.”
“These tell a different story,” I said, my hand hovering over fresh bruises on his arm.
“I’ve been working out my demons, in the practice yard,” he said, flashing a wry smile.
“Me too,” I said with a grin. I raised my shirt to show him the discoloration on my ribs.
“Who did that to you?”
“Cole, but it wasn’t his fault—” too late, I looked up to see his eyes dark with fury.
“Cole did this?” his voice was quiet, intense.
“It wasn’t his fault,” I said again. “I made him—”
“There is nothing you could do that would make a real man do that to you.”
“You practice with Kat,” I said. “I’ve seen you strike her dozens of times.”
“Kat is a Guardian,” he said.
“Where I’ve been, everyone had to learn to fight. Cole thinks having separate duties—”
“I don’t give two craps what Cole thinks,” Taren said, his eyes blazing.
This was going all wrong. I had to explain, but I couldn’t—not then. He wasn’t going to hear me.
“Taren,” I said, putting my hand an inch from his face so that our energies mingled. His eyes met mine and softened a fraction. “I don’t wan
t to fight. Please. I can explain everything, but not now. Right now, can’t we just be happy that we’re together? Everything else can wait.”
“OK,” he said finally, his jaw unclenching. “It can wait. But this Cole and I are going to have words.”
Something in the way he said it made me suspect it wasn’t words he was after, but I tried not to dwell. There would be a reckoning; I still had to tell Taren about the kiss—I did, didn’t I?—but none of that mattered in that moment. In that moment I was with Taren. I was home.
Taren and I stayed together for hours, filling each other in on all that we didn’t know and needed to. He was still in Italy—which was so close that I wanted to hop in one of the boats tied to the small dock on the island, but I couldn’t abandon Cole and his people. Not now, in a world that was foreign to them, that their bodies seemed to be rejecting. Taren felt the same, determined to come to me, but once he’d told me about Antonio and his fading Mark, it reminded me of Crystle, and how we couldn’t let the same thing happen to her or anyone else. We agreed that his place was back in Los Angles, and that I would come as soon as I could.
Finally even astral me got sleepy, and we parted, each of us retreating back to our bodies. Even so, he was still there, a glowing ball of warmth in a corner of my mind. I fell asleep, so tired I didn’t dream, not even of Taren.
33
Morning broke, but I didn’t get out of bed. Couldn’t get out of bed. It was as if lead weights rooted me to my blankets. I wasn’t in the demon world anymore, but I was in a pit of hell. Did that mean I definitely was bipolar, or was this my version of the sickness that the others were feeling?
Hours passed, but still I didn’t leave my tent. I just stared at its walls, ignoring the moans of pain coming from the tents next to mine.
The Gateway Trilogy: Complete Series: (Books 1-3) Page 48
