“What does that mean? Look, either leave me alone, or don’t. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t call me at midnight and expect me to just be okay with it. We aren’t a couple anymore—”
“It’s midnight already?” I tried to find a clock somewhere.
“It is. And most people consider it rude when exes call them at—”
“Brent, shut up for a minute, all right?”
“Excuse me?”
“I need your help. Mom’s in the hospital, and I have to go somewhere. I need you to come and stay with her.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“I’m completely serious. I know I don’t deserve your help. I don’t deserve anything from you, to be honest. But this isn’t a favor for me—it’s for Mom. You know how much she’s done for you. Please, Brent. She’s really sick, and she needs someone here with her.”
For once, the line went silent.
“Why can’t you stay with her?” he finally asked, his voice quieter.
“Because I’ve got to save the world.”
“Sure, joke about it like you always do.”
“Actually, I’m being serious.”
He exhaled a long sigh. “You’re a strange person, Olive Kennedy.”
“I know.”
“You really need my help, huh?”
“Yes. I really, truly do.”
“And you do realize that it’s very bad manners to break up with a person and then demand they help you?”
“I realize this.”
“Do you?” I could imagine him running his fingers through his hair, the way he did when he got frazzled. “Fine. Let me get dressed. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you, Brent. I really mean it. I owe you one.”
“No, you don’t. Don’t say things you don’t mean.” He ended the call.
I hung up, feeling both guilty and more relieved than I had any right to be. I didn’t know why I still clung to Brent even after letting him go. Maybe there really was something about him I admired, even if I didn’t have romantic feelings for him.
I glanced back at Mom. She’d fallen asleep. Her face was no longer ashen, but it seemed to glow with the faint, amber-white radiance of Earth magic—the same magic I’d inherited from her.
“Hold on, Mom,” I whispered. “I will fix this. I promise.”
Chapter 15
I stood at the docks, searching for signs of life, my bag tucked under my arm. A cold breeze smelling of grease and a hint of sea salt rushed past, battering my hair against my cheeks. I’d told Miranda to hide somewhere. Either she’d followed my orders, or she’d been kidnapped.
As I held on to my backpack, I walked along pier thirteen. My thoughts turned to Father’s memory charm in my bag. I might or might not be able to use it someday, but a talisman like that was too powerful to be left unguarded.
When I made it to the end of the dock, the cold intensified. Strange, especially for Galveston. Crackling sounds came from the water as I peered over the dock’s edge.
A large patch of ice covered the water, and bluish-gray light sparked through a lattice of spiderweb cracks. I held my hand over the ice, careful not to touch it. Magical energy swirled under my fingertips. What had happened to the whirlpool? And what had created the ice?
Footsteps thumped behind me, and I rounded, readying my magic, feeling the Earth’s power trickle through my blood. I felt like half a person with only my Earth powers, but it would have to be enough.
In the dim, bluish light cast from the ice, I could barely make out the shape of a female walking toward me. She held something. A basketball. I took a step toward her. “Miranda?” I asked.
“It’s me.”
I exhaled, letting my magic recede. For now. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m all right.” She stopped when she reached me. Fear clouded her usually bright eyes. She kept the basketball tucked under her arm, cradling it as if she held a newborn. “Zeke said you would find me. He knew… ” Her voice wavered. “He knew you would come.”
“Where is he?”
She swallowed, then pointed to the edge of the dock where the ice crackled behind us. “He went through there. The ice started forming right after he disappeared.”
“How long ago did this happen?”
“Only half an hour or so. Not long.”
I glanced back at the ice. Should I risk going through a second time? It had almost killed me the first time.
Miranda exhaled a nervous sigh, and I turned back to her. “He had a message for you,” she said.
“A message?”
She nodded. “He said that the tree sent him back in time in order to gather those who will accompany you on your quest. As long as you have the flower in your possession, Faythander will survive. He cannot help you, for this is your quest, but he said not to lose hope. And he left you with a warning… ” She bit her lip, afraid to look me in the eye.
“What else?”
“He said that Geth would succeed. The future has been written. It was written the moment Geth destroyed the tree. He will succeed, and Faythander will suffer.”
“What?”
“I know. It sounds pretty bleak.”
“Bleak? I’m not sure why I’m trying if Geth is supposed to win.”
She looked up at me. “I know I’m not from your world. I don’t have experience with prophecies or that kind of thing, but I do know that words can be interpreted in different ways. I think… I think that’s why he told you not to lose hope. And I’m pretty sure that’s why he wanted me to give you this.” She held out the basketball.
“Is that the flower?”
She nodded.
I hesitated. She was right. I knew she was right. But the odds seemed so horribly stacked against me. And the truth was, I didn’t have a choice. If I refused to take the flower, Geth would win. If I took it, Geth would still win, but at least I would have given it my best effort. Even if I knew I would fail, I could still try.
I took the basketball from Miranda, and the faint hum of
