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Chapter 13
One second, I feel the ground beneath my feet and the next, I don’t.
I do as Ari says. I keep my eyes closed but I cling to him as some fierce gravity pulls me down. He wraps an arm around my waist and embraces me against him with his lips gently pressed along my earlobe.
“Shh,”he whispers. “We’re almost there.”
I believe him. I keep my head down. I tighten my hold on his hand. I banish the fear from me, knowing that I’ll always be safe in his arms.
Finally, the wind slows down and my feet touch the earth. My nose fills with the scent of dirt and old stone and I hear the sound of wind all around us.
Ari plants a soft kiss on my forehead. “Open your eyes, Tannis,” he says.
I hesitate. After everything I know now, I still hesitate at the door to the unknown.
Ari runs a hand up my back but he says nothing, giving me the chance to choose. I’m sure if I told him that I’ve changed my mind, he’d take me back home now. We’d go to Disney instead.
But life, as I’ve recently discovered, is far from a fairytale.
I raise my head from his chest and open my eyes to a world so new to me but ancient in age.
I step back and take a look around with our hands still locked together. We stand on a dock before a vast ocean that stretches as far as my mortal eyes can see. The water itself is dark and calm with barely even a ripple or wave but it moves with an obvious current beneath a midnight sky.
I look behind me and gasp. A castle stands down the beach. The stones are strong and mighty, covered in a deep green moss, but stunningly beautiful all the same. Three elegant spires pierce the sky above, one featured prominently with a balcony hanging over the gently moving ocean.
I look at Ari, completely breathless. “Wow,” I manage to say.
He entwines our fingers. “Welcome home, Tannis,” he says.
“It’s... gorgeous.”
“I always thought so, too.”
“You live here alone?” I ask.
His brow furrows. “Not exactly.”
I look at him, my mind filled with possibility. I can’t believe I never considered that Ari might have a family. He said he was a god. Not the god.
“Who else lives here?” I ask.
Ari swallows. His eyes, once fixed on me with kindness, now turn downward toward the water at our feet. I follow his gaze into the calm water but it’s not my own reflection staring back at me.
Other faces slowly drift beneath the dock and my blood runs cold.
That’s not water.
I gasp and jump back with a hand covering my mouth. Ari keeps a firm grip on me to hold me upright but he allows me a little space.
“It’s okay,” he says. “They can’t hurt you. Just do not let go of my hand.”
Tears brim in my eyes. “What is this, Ari?” I ask, my heart pounding.
“It’s called the void,” he answers. “It’s a resting place.”
“For who?”
He exhales slowly. “For everyone.”
