Page 199 of Daughter of No Worlds

“Huh. It likes you.”

Her voice sounded far away. But I lifted my eyes and she stood directly in front of me, looking at me with a twisted nose and a strange sort of pride. An expression that, like so many of hers, I recognized as my own.

My chest hurt. Reality banged on the door.

But I wanted to be here for one more minute. Even though she was starting to float away, layers of her dissolving into mist.

“Tell me what revolting things this one does,” I said, desperate to call her back.

“I don’t think this one is revolting at all.”

A wind blew, somehow, even though we were inside. It pulled her hair into puffs of dust. I reached out with my free hand to grab her, only to pass straight through her skin.

The shed dissolved around us like shredded parchment, revealing a stormy sky.

“Stop,” I begged. My fingers closed around one solid handful of fabric at the edge of her sleeve.

She shrugged, a cheerful, ungraceful movement. “It’s fine. I’m sure there’s lots of interesting stuff out there.”

No. I wasn’t ready. There were still so many things I wanted to tell her — all of them, Atraclius, my parents, the twins…

I blurted out, “It wasn’t me. I need you to know—”

She let out a scoff. “Ascended above, shut up, Max. We always knew it wasn’t you.” She looked over her shoulder. “I’ve got to go. And so do you. Try not to be so scared of everything all the time, alright?”

I wasn’t ready.

But I opened my fingers anyway, and let her go.

* * *

Max.

My dream relinquished me in slow, agonizing bites.

Maaay-ucks.

Shit. I was dead.

We were both dead. Tisaanah and I, burned up together. There were worse ways to go, I supposed.

Maaaay-ucks-un-tar-ee-uuuusss—

First came the sound, my name in that melodic voice. Then came the pain, a faint buzz that sank into every inch of my skin, every muscle, every bone. And a faint tickling sensation across my cheeks.

I opened leaden eyelids.

Tisaanah’s face hovered over mine, her hair spilling against my face, backlighting forming a golden halo around her contours. She was so beautiful that she could not be human.

Definitelydead.

Apparently I said that aloud, because Tisaanah replied, “You are not dead.”

As I settled further into consciousness, the pain grew more intense. Well, that confirmed the truth of what she was saying. A dead man would probably feel less. I groaned. “How did we manage that?”

“I know only some of that answer. Some, you will have to explain to me, mysterious snake man.”

I chuckled. The vibration of it ached. “Mysterious snake man. You shall now always address me by this title.”

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