Page 114 of Woven Souls

Soon, we’re peeling out of the woods. When the tires hit the road, we’re flying in the opposite direction of Everlast.

None of us say a word as I speed down the two-lane highway.

I’ve failed my team. For nearly eighty years, I’ve managed to keep the people I’m responsible for alive. Now… Now I losttwoof them in one day. Watching Jonah selflessly throw himself into the Realm of the Dead after Willow disappeared at the hand of our enemy caused my soul to crumble in denial.

Again, my vision blurs dangerously before I manage to blink back the tears.

The sun set over an hour ago, but we don’t get the beauty of stars. Not tonight. The sky above us darkens with the blackest of clouds, and they churn ominously. In the distance, I see the soft flicker of heat lightning.

“Pull over,” Kwil orders from the seat behind me.

I don’t have it in me to tell him we need to keep going. Our people will regroup, and they’ll be gunning for us soon enough. I just hope we have time before they gather their wits. As I pull over, I haven’t even gotten a chance to turn the van off before Kwil yanks open the back door, flings himself out and stumbles away into the trees. I lean forward until my forehead is pressed against the steering wheel. Squeezing my eyes shut, I will the pain to subside.

We’ll figure something out. We can’t leave Willow over there on her own. Death warned us that if Willow fell into the wrong hands, no one would be safe. Now with the enemy, Willow needs us more than ever. But while I try to come up with a plan, I can’t stop wondering what’s happening to her right now. And what of Jonah. Has he found her? Or is that big-hearted, slightly dim-witted fool wandering the entire realm alone?

The thought of the two of them suffering over there is enough to finally turn me inside out. I throw the door open and manage to lean out just before I vomit. There isn’t much. We haven’t eaten since breakfast and even that had been light. As my stomach empties its contents, in the woods nearby, Kwil lets out an ear-splitting, gut-wrenching wail that travels out over the night. The pain in the sound tramples the small pieces of my broken heart into fine dust.

My nausea passes after a while.

I straighten in my seat and stare straight ahead. There’s nothing to see but a stretch of long road ahead of us that leads into darkness. Beside me, Viktor is utterly emotionless. Out of the corner of my eyes, I can see him just sitting there, staring ahead. His hands are fisted, resting on his lap, and his jaw is clenched tight. His heavy breathing is loud in the silence that follows Kwil’s wail.

After a long stretch of time, I take a deep breath to force down the lump in my throat and say, “We have to go.”

“Go where?” Kwil asks, climbing back into the van. When he shuts the door, I pull back onto the road and drive.

“To the cabin.”

“Why?” The despair behind his question is haunting.

I don’t answer him. Honestly… I don’t really know why. I wrack my head for answers as to what to do next, but as the distance to the cabin gets shorter and shorter, I come up empty handed. When I pull up to the dark house and cut the engine, the three of us stare at it. Already, I know the cabin will be too empty, too quiet, too… cold without Willow filling the space. The pain in my chest threatens to crack me in half.

I push open the door, grab my stuff from the back, and walk into the cabin. If I just keep moving, the pain won’t be able to overwhelm me. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. Inside, I turn on the lights and check the house to make sure the space is safe for us. Instead of picking a room, I throw my stuff in the middle of the living room. There is no doubt in my mind sleep will elude me this evening, despite the exhaustion weighing me down. The others enter shortly afterwards. As they move about, I stand there in the living room staring at nothing as the events of the day unfold.

The magnitude of everything we learned today should be what all five of us should be discussing right now. Death had been right. The Fae have been meddling in the affairs of other realms for thousands of years. We’ve been tampering with our very nature. The fact that the Brotherhood we gave our lives to turned out to be an organization that spurs on the genocide of people and realms is a devastating blow we should be concentrating on. But knowing that my father, along with countless other ancestors, were destroying realms in the search of power, pales in comparison to the great loss we’re suffering.

A strangled sound rips past my lips as I fall to my knees. The tears I’ve been fighting fall freely as my chin hits my chest. Soft sobs shake my body. I don’t try to stifle them. I don’t care who hears me. A loud clap of thunder shakes the house. The lights flicker off and on. I hardly notice.

I don’t know how long I sit there like that, but the sound of approaching footsteps captures my attention. Staring at the floor, I wait until Kwil stops right behind me.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I’m going after her.”

I’m not surprised by his declaration. The thought has been swirling in my mind for the past few minutes. The only way to save her is to cross over and find her. But there are so many unknown variables. Like how will we find her? And if we do manage to find her, how do we stop whatever Fulton is doing to her without any idea how things work in the Realm of the Dead? Would we even be able to cross over? Souls have been stuck on this side for years.

Kwil takes my silence for an objection because he snaps, “I can’t just let Fulton have her, Theo. She could be suffering right now, and we’re just… doing this!”

His shadow on the wall shows Kwil throwing up his hands.

“She can’t even defend herself without us. You heard her father; she needs her power over there, and we have some of it locked up inside of us. And—”

“I know, Kwil.” I stand, taking a deep breath as I do, and turn to face him.

When our eyes lock, I flinch at the pain in his eyes. I was sure I’d seen both of my men at their worst. After Kwil was bitten by a Tangleling and turned into this monster before me, his self-disgust had been so strong he’d been ready to throw in the towel. And Viktor, after Eleanor had broken his heart for the second time, nearly let his heartbreak take him from me. I didn’t think anyone could get any lower than what these two have been through.

Oh, how wrong I’ve been.

“I know,” I repeat again softly as Viktor walks into the room. He looks like he’s in a daze. When he stops beside Kwil, I swear he doesn’t see us, and it has nothing to do with his poor vision. “I agree, but we have to be smart about this. There are so many—”

---