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“Where is here?” His tone became more urgent. “If you tell me where you are, I can find you.”
“Ash, I don’t know what you’re saying,” I said.
Ash turned and grabbed my shoulders. “You’re fading badly, Lorraine. Tell me where you are so I can come get you. So I can take you back to the vale before it’s too late.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Where are you? Describe it to me.”
I glanced around. I wanted to tell him I was at the lake, but that wasn’t true, was it? An uneasy feeling crept in, and the perfect image of the lake flickered as if it was just an illusion. Behind the illusion, there was a room with four gray walls and a cold floor.
“I’m on a cot,” I said to Ash. “I can’t reach the water bottle.”
“That doesn’t help me,” Ash said impatiently. “Come on, Lorraine, think! What do you remember?”
I racked my brain, trying to find a memory, but it slipped through my fingers the way a dream disappeared after waking.
“Asphalt,” I said. “A large metal door. A warehouse, maybe? A factory? I don’t know. I’m in a room, it’s locked, and I have a sandwich.”
Ash shook his head. “We’re running out of time, Lorraine. You have to help me. Find me.”
“How can I find you?” I asked.
“Find me,” Ash said urgently. He flicked in and out of sight, too. “Find me, Lorraine. Tell me where you are, and I’ll come for you. Just find me.”
Ash disappeared, and the dream fell away, melting into nothing. Once again, all I could see were the four walls.
I blinked my eyes open. Ash wanted me to find him. How was I supposed to do that? I didn’t know where he was. I couldn’t find him.
Something tugged at me, something from inside me. I realized what it was.
Ash.
He was looking for me. He didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know where I was either, but I was connected to him.
I didn’t understand this world of magic I’d been submerged in for… I didn’t know how long I’d been in the forest with Ash. I’d only recently learned that magic was real at all, but that magic was anchored inside me, stuck to something that had been created when Ash and I were together.
A bond.
A connection.
A way to find him again.
I closed my eyes and tried to find that connection, that bond. I tugged at it, the way Ash had tugged at me.
I felt recognition through the bond. Somehow, he was on the other end. Ash was looking for me, and all I had to do was tell him where I was. I tugged at our bond again. I was weak, but I mustered all the strength I could find, and I tugged at that bond as hard as I could.
It was difficult. I struggled to keep a hold of the bond, struggled to do what Ash asked of me. I was too weak—physically and mentally—to do anything more. I lay on the bed, breathing hard, trying to keep it together. Whatever was happening to me was getting dangerous. I didn’t know what it felt like to be at death’s door. I’d never been so sick that I started to wonder if I would make it, but right now, I was pretty sure I was getting too close to death for comfort.
Something was wrong. I wasn’t supposed to be this sick, this weak. I should have been strong enough to escape, to fight, to get away from my captors. I’d done it once before, hadn’t I? I should have been able to do it again.
I just… couldn’t.
Ash!I cried out in my mind, being too weak to do it physically.Ash, I’m here.
Could he hear me? Could he find me? I hoped to whatever powers were out there that he could, because I had nothing more to give.
I closed my eyes. I was so damn tired, it felt like I was being dragged under. I tried to fight it. If I followed the darkness, I would never get out of it again. I didn’t know how I knew—I just did.
