Page 145 of The Bonds of Indigo

She’s dressed in strange clothes, nothing like anything I’ve ever seen. They look like something from a renaissance festival: a brown leather corset over a white undershirt that only highlights her hourglass figure more, tucked into tight black pants and finished with lace-up boots.

“Are you alright?” she asks, and I meet her gaze again.

“W-Who’re you?” I try to stand, but pain shoots through my hip. It feels like it took the brunt of my fall.

“I should be asking you that. You aren’t meant to be here either, just like that creature.” There’s no malice in her voice; she even gives me a soft, stunning smile. “Am I okay to come to you? I promise not to obliterate you the way I did that… thing.”

My breath catches. “You did that?”

She giggles. “Who else would’ve?”

Only then do I notice the open door to her right. And when I glance around, I realize there are several of them, although closed, lining this impossibly white hallway. Each one is labeled, though my mind can’t focus long enough to read them.

“Be good,” she says through the open doorway. “I’ll bring your friends next time.” I have no idea who she’s talking to.

She closes the door and strides toward me. I don’t flinch but I do force myself, through the pain, to a standing position. I can’t have her towering over me. She just annihilated a Grimhorn—something supposedly impossible to kill.

When she reaches me, I have to tilt my head down slightly to meet her eyes. She’s shorter than I expected. She looks so fragile, so… delicate.

“I think you’re lost.” Her hand reaches for my arm, and I jerk away on instinct.

“Don’t worry,” she says gently. “Your shoulder’s dislocated. And I think your hip might be, too.” A bright lavender and gold glow spreads across her hand. As it hovers near my collarbone, warmth vibrates through my skin. “Luckily, we seem to have the same basic human structure. Healing you should be simple.”

“Who… okay, where am I?” Maybe this isn’t the Beyond. But if not… where the Beyond did that Grimhorn take me?

“This place is simply the Expressway…” She pauses, tilting her head slightly as if listening to something I can’t hear. I scan the hallway, but there’s nothing. “Interesting. Well, it’s safe to tell you the truth. You’re in a different dimension⁠—”

I swear my heart stops.

“—but don’t worry,” she adds quickly, offering another kind smile. “I’ll send you home.”

I jerk my head behind me, seeing nothing but a long, endless hallway of doors, before looking back at the girl.

“May I know your name?” For the first time, I feel terrible I can’t give it to her.

“I’m sorry. Where I’m from, I’m not able to utter my name aloud.”

“Can you use the Gods link?” Hearing her voice through the same connection as Vendra has me taking a step back. It’s in this moment I feel no pain in my bones, and like my body’s been… revitalized. Instinctively, I draw my hand up to my nose and feel the scar across it. “Maybe not.”

“No, I can hear you. But how?”

That smile of hers never falters. “We both have connections to the Gods, it would seem. Can you tell me your name here?”

I nod. “Amarah.”

“Beautiful name.”

My chest feels heavy when I ask, “And yours?”

Her head tilts, and when she looks behind me briefly, then comes back to me, she says, “My name is Azahara. It’s nice to meet you, Amarah.”

Chapter 37

That name means nothing to me, but she says it with such confidence that for a moment, I almost believe we could be long-lost friends.

But her mention of other dimension rings in my ears, reminding me I could have never met this girl in my life.

“That’s a very unique name,” I say. “Also quite beautiful.”