Page 150 of Requiem of Silence

The World After. Tana.

She turned in a circle, disconcerted, then looked up to the portal hanging ominously overhead, quiet now, empty of spirits. She’d left Tana there. She’d have to go back and find her.

A woman on the other side of the street called out her name.Kyara refocused and then cringed to find Ella running toward her. The woman’s face was dirty, her dress ripped in places and blood was caked on her knuckles. But she smiled radiantly at Kyara when she stopped before her.

Then her smile turned to confusion as she looked around—searching for her daughter. Kyara’s throat felt like someone had shoved hot spikes into it. She had no idea how to tell the woman that her husband was gone and Tana was somewhere in the World After chasing him.

But then Benn Ravel stepped to his wife’s side, carrying Ulani on his hip. Kyara gasped.

“What’s happened?” Ella asked, breathless. “Where is she?”

Kyara’s gaze never left Benn, who was battered as well with a black eye blooming and a split lip. That’s how she was sure he wasn’t still a wraith. “You. You’re alive?”

A dark bundle of fur rubbed up against her legs as Raven said his hello. Ella clutched Benn’s free arm and the man nodded. “Feel like I was trampled by another runaway horse, but I’m still here. Where’s my daughter?”

Ulani spoke up. “Papa was gone, but Tana brought him back.” Raven gave a littleyip,as if in agreement, and went to sit at Benn’s feet.

“How did you know?” Kyara asked. Ulani shrugged.

Ella was growing frantic, and Benn had started breathing heavily. Kyara held up her hands. “She’s in the World After. She went there to get you,” she nodded at Benn, “and didn’t return.”

The girl’s body—Kyara had become so distracted she hadn’t thought to look after it. Likely it had been taken to a hospital. Tana wasn’t dead, not really, but would anyone be able to tell?

Ella’s growing horror was a punch to the gut. Kyara had promised this woman that she’d take care of her daughter and failed.

“I will go back and get her. I’ll bring her back, don’t worry. She’s not in danger. It’s just that the World After is…” She couldn’t put into words the complex vastness of the place. She had no idea how large it was, had never navigated the place and didn’t know where to begin, but she would bring Tana back no matter what.

Ella looked haunted. Benn’s gaze held a misery that caused Kyara to take a step back. Guilt roared in her ears like an engine—one fueled by her lifetime of failures. It was so loud she almost didn’t hear the bells.

Ulani’s sudden smile seemed out of place. The girl was beaming at something just behind Kyara. She looked over her shoulder and squinted at the shine of golden light, like the sun had broken through the twilight gloom to shine its midday rays upon them.

And then Fenix was there.

He stepped out of a bright portal, which almost swallowed up the darkness of the place from where he’d emerged. And he carried something—no, someone—in his arms.

“Tana!” Ella cried, leaping forward. She brushed the girl’s braided head and stroked her cheeks. Tana’s eyes opened sleepily.

“Mama?” She yawned and stretched, looking around. Then her body seized as she caught sight of Benn. She clambered out of Fenix’s hold to stand on shaky legs, then launched herself at her father, wrapping him and her sister in a hug.

Kyara’s breathing restarted as the family reunited. She turned to Fenix, jaw agape.

“She got lost and needed a little help returning,” the man said, “I happened to be headed this way when I sensed her.”

“You sensed her in the World After?”

“We have tracking abilities.” He said no more, leaving Kyara to wonder, not for the first time exactly what kind of power Fenix’s people possessed. He was obviously able to cross between theworlds with ease, and with all she’d already seen him accomplish, what were his limits? It frightened her, but she was grateful to him.

“Thank you. I—” She shook her head. “I didn’t end up taking very good care of her.”

“As I understand it, children are rather difficult to look after. And you did a good job looking after this world.” He lifted his arm, motioning to the shell-shocked survivors beginning to take stock of their homes and businesses. Everywhere she turned something had been damaged, if not destroyed outright. Buildings looked like they’d been bombed, power lines were down, a burst pipe two blocks over filled the street with water.

The reconstruction effort would take a long, long time. She may have been instrumental in saving the people, but she wasn’t sure anyone would thank her. However, she didn’t have the energy to contradict him.

“The portal is going to be a problem,” Kyara said instead. “I don’t think I can close it, or at least I don’t know how to.”

Fenix tilted his head up. The portal was stark against the darkening sky. She thought it would probably still be visible once it hit full dark.

“Where is Mooriah?” he asked.

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