Page 43 of The Unseen Hour

“Did you make everything in here?”

“Yes, everything, inside and out. I had to if I wanted to survive. I mean, there are times I’ve questioned whether that was the right decision, but I’ve stuck with it, so I guess my survival instincts won out.”

I didn’t get a chance to even begin formulating an acceptable response to such an admission.

Fog descended, filling the small cottage before dissipating.

“That’s how I know Charon wants a word,” Orion explained.

I eyed the disappearing fog warily, scooting the chair as far away as the space allowed.

Orion gestured to a short, wooden bookshelf that I hadn’t given much attention to before. It held an entire row of books, the needle and thread he’d promised, and a few other items. All notable remnants from Emrys.

“How did you get books down here? Or any of this stuff?” I asked.

“That will require a bit of a long explanation, and I shouldn’t keep an impatient god waiting. I promise to keep your presence here a secret, and to give you answers. In turn, you have to promise to listen to me. Help yourself to the books, and the bed, and the food. But stay here until I get back. Agreed?”

I didn’t like being cooped up, but I far preferred Orion’s company to getting myself killed by an angry god.

“Agreed.”

“Very well. When I return we’ll resume your tour of the Ether, and I’ll answer more of your questions then.”

He tugged open the door, then walked out, closing it behind him.

I walked to the bookshelf and was starting to read the titles when another thought struck me.

Does he have to walk all the way? Is Charon nearby?

“Orion?” I called out, but there was no answer.

I decided to open the door, just a sliver. I wasn’t going to follow him, but I did want to see where he was headed. I looked in every direction, but there was no sign of him. He had disappeared into the woods as easily as his home did.

I’d simply have to stay in the small cottage until he came back.

I made my way over to the table and did end up eating some of the bread and fruit that were available. Then I perused the bookshelf, picking out an adventure story. While I hadn’t yet mastered time in this space, I knew I was tired. I lay down on the cot, pulled a blanket up over myself, and began to read.

Within minutes, my eyelids drooped. It appeared that even a night’s sleep couldn’t stave off the emotional exhaustion of the Ether.

CHAPTER 21

Orion was right when he said he wouldn’t return right away. I woke to find him still gone. I ate, then left the cottage only long enough to find there was a small privy built not far off. I wiled away the better portion of that first day rifling through the contents of the cottage and reading.

By the second morning, my skin practically itched, I was so eager to leave, but I’d made my choice. If I trusted Orion about the god, I had to trust him about the rest. That meant there was more in this forest that could kill me, and if I got myself killed I’d never find my father or get home. That, and I’d given him my word.

I started the second day with a new book. This one featured pirates off the western coast of Emrys. The story was full of action, intrigue, and even a romance between the pirate captain and a woman who had been brought onboard at one of the islands between Emrys and the continent of Mejje.

In the book, the whole thing sounded exciting and romantic. It was nothing like the strained relationships we actually had with the other countries. Where our country had its own theories of the origins of the Unseen Hour, everyone else had the same theory.

Since the Unseen Hour had hit Emrys first, it was our fault and our responsibility to fix it. Civility had returned in the ensuing years only because we relied on one another for various goods. Necessity, however, was not trust.

No other country trusted Emrys.

I frowned and returned to my story.

“The amber rays of sunset kissed the top of the waves. Sky and sea, expansive and unknown. Full of possibilities. Just like their love,” I read aloud, repeating the passage for a second time.

I’d spent the past year engrossed in the diary, but the writing style of this book kept my attention in a way nothing else had since I’d started my process of finding the Ether.