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“I understand that you have to blame someone. Give all that rage an outlet, but blaming me will not bring Gabriella back.”
Her eyes blazed with a thousand burning embers as she snarled and launched toward me. I dodged, the wall behind me shaking from the force of her blade, the strike so powerful it would have cleaved through bone.
And that crack in her armor widened.
Dianna yanked the blade free, taking a chunk of the wall with it. She shook it off and, with one final enraged glare, disappeared. Dark smoke stood where she had been. I was dumbstruck, to say the least, but I remained alert, keeping my blade in my hand. I still felt her.
“Do you like my new trick?” Her voice carried on like an echo. I spun but saw nothing, yet my senses screamed.
“You did this on the ship.” Realization hit. “How?”
A slash rang against my armor, my arm aching with the blow. I looked down and saw the silver bore a new jagged indention.
“The more I fed, the more I let go of that damaged girl who would give up everything for others. You know, the one you cling to so desperately.”
Another slash, and I spun.
“I have become something truly lethal now. Something so powerful that nothing and no one will ever hurt me again. It’s just a shame I didn’t learn it sooner.”
I thought I sensed her to my right and heard the slight exhale of her breath, but I saw nothing. Another slash came, this time to my back. I twisted and saw her coat flare as it dissolved into the darkness. Impossible. It was as if she were here but not here. And then I remembered. One of the oldest texts my father ever showed me.
“You are enamored with beasts.”
Unir’s hand splayed on the table at my side as he leaned over me to see what I was reading.
“Well, I must pass the time since you will not allow me to spend time with my companions.”
“That is your punishment for your reckless behavior.”
I cut my eyes up at him, one hand propped under my chin as I flipped a page. My father’s eyes remained on the book in question.
“You went through my personal belongings to retrieve that?”
I smiled. “Boredom overcame me, and you keep all the interesting texts locked away.”
“And what did you find?”
I moved to the side, allowing him a better look at the book.
“Ah.”
“Ancient beasts long since dead.” I brushed my finger over a part that I had enjoyed. “But I’ve never heard of this. What is the inbetween?”
My father was quiet for a moment as if deciding if he would explain. Finally, he said, “The inbetween is neither light nor darkness. It exists but does not. It is a place out of time and space. Rules do not apply, nor is there enough known about it to explain. I learned about it during my travels. Mostly legends passed down. Some say that long ago, it was where shadows went to hide, but it is that of myth. Nothing of that power lives any longer.”
A touch of sadness filled his eyes as he closed the book and took it from me.
I turned in my seat. “How can you be sure?”
“You question me?” he said, a look of amusement gracing his face as he placed the book behind his back.
“Maybe something slipped past your omniscient rule.”
“You are but a copy of your mother.” The corners of his lips turned up in a ghost of a smile. “You are still so young, with so much to learn. But remember, nothing can truly stay hidden if you listen with more than your ears.”
I closed my eyes and centered myself, my heart rate decreasing as I listened. There, like a string pulled tight, I found her. I felt her through time and space, a heartbeat that matched my own. She walked around me, her footsteps more vibration than heard, as if she perched behind a thin veil. She sidestepped and thrust forward. My blade drove upward, stopping hers, and my free hand whipped out, grasping her wrist, holding her in this space.
Her eyes went wide. “How?”
