Jamie didn’t look completely convinced, but he offered his hand to the waiting Sentinels. When the Sentinels faded away, allowing Jamie through, he let out a sigh of relief.
Allyra shook her head at him. “It’s like you don’t trust me.”
* * *
Allyra led them into the Tunnels, and the journey to the room was quick and without difficulty. They were untroubled by any Sentinels or any moving walls. Allyra paused at the wooden doors, and for a moment, fiery writing lit her eyes.
Forget me at your peril, for I have lessons to teach for what is yet unwritten.
“A room meant for you,” Jamie said quietly, acceptance in his voice. “So how do we open it?”
“I have a key. I just need a moment.”
Allyra took a few deep breaths, trying to steel herself against the weakness she knew was coming. She forced her will into calling the Tigers to her hand, picturing in her mind the shape she needed them to take on. Even though she’d been prepared for it, the waves of weakness and nausea that swept over her brought her to her knees.
“Ally!” Jamie shouted, alarmed. “Are you all right?”
She nodded in reply, gasping in giant mouthfuls of air and trying not to retch. The weakness stayed with her for longer this time, but eventually, it loosened its grip and she pushed the metal ring of the tigers into their indented shape, and the doors opened noiselessly. The tigers slithered back on to her wrist like a stream of liquid metal.
Jamie followed her soundlessly down the corridor until they stood beside Alex’s and Mandla’s bodies. As ever, Alex looked impossibly handsome, elegant lines frozen in sleep. Her heart leaped at the sight of him, at the idea that she could soon be speaking to him again, touching him.
“Is he dead?” Jamie asked, his eyes fixed on Mandla’s body.
Allyra swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.
“How?” Jamie demanded.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “He was alive when I was in the Between.”
“Are you sure about this, Ally? Are you so sure that Alex Cairns isn’t dangerous, not to you, not to the rest of the Gifted community?” Jamie asked. “Maybe he killed Mandla when he’d served his useful purpose.”
“Jamie!” she admonished sharply. “It’s not like that—Alex loved Mandla deeply. And yes, I’m sure. He’s not a danger to any of us.”
Jamie’s expression hardened, but he nodded and glanced at his watch. “If you’re going to do this, we need to hurry. The Council meeting won’t go on forever.”
“Right,” she said, glad for the distraction. “You remember the plan?”
Jamie nodded. “You open the Gate, go through. I’ll wait and watch out for any approaching danger—whether here or arriving from the Between.”
“Okay.”
Allyra hesitated for a moment and then lay down next to Alex on the raised platform, careful to avoid his old and powerful ward. Collecting her thoughts, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then popped them open again. “Maybe I should put up a ward,” she said.
Jamie shook his head. “There’s no time. And that’s why I’m here—I’ll watch your back.”
She smiled. “I know. And Jamie—you can trust that I’ll do what needs to be done. I’ll close the Gate if I need to. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything through.”
She flashed Jamie one last whimsical smile and closed her eyes once more. She had already started calling on her Gift, gathering colored threads in her mind, when Jamie called out once more. “I have to ask one more time. Ally, are you sure about this?”
There was something pained in his voice, a desperate urgency. Allyra sat up briefly to give him a wry, reassuring smile. “I have to do this, Jamie. I’m sure.”
Allyra closed her eyes and reached into herself, sinking into the warm embrace of her own power. She didn’t hesitate; there was no doubt in her mind. She had failed in many things, but of this, she was sure. Opening the Gate and traveling into the Between was one thing she could do. She focused on the weave of threads around her. First the green ones for the Earth Element, followed by yellow Air and red Fire. Last came the blue threads of the Water Element. She joined them together, binding and weaving until they formed a single glowing stream of silver. It was the key, and the power of her Gift opened the Gate, an undulating black doorway forming between the roots of the Fever Tree.
The Gate was black and liquid, its surface constantly moving. She reached out to it, and in answer, black tendrils reached out and swallowed her whole. Blinding white light consumed her—impossibly vast and warm. But again, on the horizon, so far away that she could barely sense it, there was a hint of darkness and rot. Within the powerful grip of the Veil, her heart didn’t feel like her own, but had it been beating in her chest, it would’ve clenched at the knowledge of corruption in the Source.
The siren call filled her, entreating her to let go, to give her power over to the Source, to be part of something greater and more. It felt impossibly hard, but she focused her will into remembering who she was and why she was here. She pushed through and stepped out, back into the Between.
Chapter 41 – Allyra
She recognized the room immediately. It was the one sunk deep into the center of Sanctuary Hill. The one where she’d left Alex.
The entire plan had been built on the premise that she would find Alex quickly. Though time moved differently in the Between, she’d agreed with Jamie that she would stay for no more than ten minutes in the Between. Jamie would shoot a spark
