A flash of fondness swept over her even as Jason shot her a stern look. But she shook her head. “No, I’ve thought this through. When we win The Five Finals, the Council will have to assemble within the Council Chambers at the Training Grounds in order to officially sanction our win. While they’re distracted, I’ll enter the Tunnels from the Elemental College, go to the room hidden there, and open the Gate back into the Between.”
“And the reason why I can’t come with you?”
“Because Marcus will want to show off his prize protégé, and as his assistant, he’ll expect you to accompany him to the Council meeting.”
“I won’t let you go alone, Allyra, it’s not safe.”
“I won’t be alone. Jamie will be with me,” Allyra replied.
“Jamie?”
“I called him. I’m going to meet him tomorrow and explain all this. He’ll have my back.”
Jason gave her a doubtful look. “Jamie didn’t even get past the Second Trial. I wouldn’t call him the best backup choice. In fact, I’d choose a drunk cat before Jamie.”
Allyra rolled her eyes. “Jamie has been watching my back my whole life. He’ll do anything to keep me safe. I trust him with my life.”
Chapter 36 – Jamie
The air was musty was disuse. Jamie opened the curtains, and sunlight streamed in catching on dust particles dancing in the air. The house was frozen in time. After Sam Warden died, Jamie’s parents had packed up some of Allyra’s things and moved her into their house. No one had had the heart to go back into the Warden house since. Everything was just as it had been six years ago, right down to the book left open on the coffee table.
Jamie looked up at a small cough. Allyra stood in the doorway, the light framing her as shadows washed over her features.
“Hi,” she said tentatively.
The trauma of The Five Finals had hardened her features and thinned out her curves. She looked older and different yet somehow exactly the same.
Jamie took two long strides and gathered her into his arms. “Hey,” he whispered, breathing her in.
Allyra looked around her, a wry, wistful smile teasing the corners of her lips. “It feels like a lifetime since I was last here.” She looked up at Jamie, her gray eyes filled with poignant sadness. “It’s hard to believe I was once the girl that lived here.”
She walked into the house and picked up a framed picture, her face lighting up. “Do you remember this?” she asked, handing the picture to Jamie.
He glanced down at the picture and smiled, instantly transported back in time. They were no more than twelve years old, and it was the night of their first official date. He was wearing an actual tie, borrowed from his father, and Allyra was wearing what was probably the only dress she’d owned at the time—some frothy pink concoction. The smiles on their faces were stilted as Sam and Juliette forced them to pose for a picture. At a time when photobombing hadn’t even been a concept, Emma had leapt in between them, a huge smile splitting her face, and the moment had been forever immortalized.
“I found her,” Jamie said.
“What?” Allyra turned abruptly to him, her eyes wide. “When? And why didn’t you tell me?”
“I believe you were in the middle of Antarctica at the time,” Jamie replied, carefully modulating the amount of sarcasm in his voice.
Allyra hugged him again. “I think that’s the best news I’ve heard all year,” she breathed. “Where was she? Is she okay?”
“Emma’s fine. She just couldn’t get word out to us because she’d been chosen to become the next Archivist.”
“Archivist?”
“Yeah—the Archivist keeps registers of all the Gifted ever born and…” Jamie paused. “Anyway, none of that matters. What matters is that Emma is safe, so we can all leave. You don’t need to be in The Five Finals anymore,” he said earnestly.
Allyra shot him a grim smile. “It isn’t that simple.”
And then she started to explain. Everything about her time in the Between, about Alex Cairns, and the promise she’d made. And finally, she explained what she needed him to do.
* * *
“And so, Allyra wants me to help her open the Elemental College Gate and keep her body safe while she enters the Between,” Jamie explained.
He’d repeated Allyra’s whole story to Emma as they sat side by side, their backs up against the wall, nursing a couple of beers.
Emma was silent for a long time, digesting his story. Eventually, she spoke, her voice worried. “You can’t let her do it,” she said. “Alexander Cairns is dangerous. Whatever he did to help Allyra in the Between doesn’t excuse all the lives he took during the Betrayal.”
“I just want to keep her safe,” Jamie said. “That’s all I’ve ever tried to do.”
Emma took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I know.”
She fell silent again, a small crease working over her forehead as she considered the problem at hand. Suddenly, her eyes flashed. “I love Ally just as much as you do. She’s family and we have to help her,” she said. “I just think we need to put in more thought on this than she has. Ally’s distracted—The Five Finals, Jason.”
As always, his twin seemed to know exactly what was on his mind.
“Does Jason really run true to his reputation?” Emma asked.
Jamie nodded.
“And Ally’s fallen for it?” Emma asked, her voice querulous. “Doesn’t seem like her.”
“No, but stick two people together for an extended amount of time, in a trial by fire such as The Five Finals, and I guess logic starts to fly out the window.”
Jamie glanced at Emma, into her
