Page 19 of Keldori By Daybreak

It was a point of pride. A badge of honor. She’d parented me all by herself for eighteen years. I’d written my college entrance essay about her. Until a few weeks ago, I’d believed she could do no wrong. She was wise and passionate and perfect, and if I did everything she said, I would be okay.

And then she told me to hide the flyers that were supposed to help find a missing young man, and the first cracks in the illusion that was my Perfect Mom appeared.

Those cracks looked more like chasms now, and she was an entire world away.

If I wanted to save Gams myself, if I refused to run and hide, Mom couldn’t stop me.

The singing voices of Darragh’s Watch followed me to the top step of the stairs. Blue light jumped in my hand when I bid it, and I slipped down the hall and closed my door.

Jonquil glared at me from my pillows when I hurried in, her tail swishing in apprehension.

“Don’t look at me like that.” I transferred the blue fire in my hand to the lantern next to my bed and lowered myself to my knees. The lantern light reached flickering tendrils under the heavy, wooden bed frame to illuminate the old backpack I kept there. “It’s not my fault we’re both stuck here.”

Packing my things would be easy. I didn’t have much in Skalterra. In fact, none of it was really mine. I sat back against the bed frame and pulled the backpack open. It still had Liam’s things from the day Ferrin had ruined everything. Our train tickets. His wallet. A broken phone.

And a single blue ceramic chicken that glowed at the bottom of the backpack.

I picked it up to watch the Skal-light from the magick-imbued glaze dance around my fingertips. The small totem held the last day of Ciarán’s memories as Liam. If we could find the other chickens Gams had given him over the years in Keel Watch Harbor, there was a chance the rest of Liam would return.

It wouldn’t be the same though, and the thought of good, wonderful Liam crammed inside Ciarán’s psyche made me shudder.

I dropped the ceramic chicken back into Liam’s backpack and fished out the wallet. He had exactly seventeen dollars shoved inside its folds, which wouldn’t be much help when I made it to Keldori, but Liam’s credit card was there between a crumpled coupon to the campus sandwich shop and his Von Leer University student I.D. card.

My breath caught at the I.D. photo. His tousled blond hair looked nothing like Ciarán’s dark locks, and his skin was sun-kissed where Ciarán’s reflected his nocturnal lifestyle. But his eyes?

They looked just the way Ciarán’s had when he’d muted the glow of his irises.

I shoved the I.D. back into the wallet, unable to bring myself to keep staring at Liam, and swung the backpack up on the mattress. If I was quick, I could leave before others noticed. Or maybe I should play the more patient game and wait until Ciarán and Orla were gone? They were both sure to come after me if I left before them.

Either way, I needed to pack fast.

I tried to stand, and electric agony shot through my side. I fell back to my knees, growling in pain and anger through gritted teeth as I tried to force my busted ribs to expand and relax enough to let me breathe.

Frustrated tears welled in my eyes.

I would have to ignore the pain. However bad it hurt, I would never make it across Skalterra if I let it control me. Maybe I could heal myself as I went. Sorcha had explained it enough to give me an idea of where to start. I just had to suck it up during the day while I traveled.

But it hurt so damn bad.

“You should be in bed.” Ciarán stood in the doorway with a new cloak and his hair freshly pulled back into a neat bun. Bottles of Skal clinked against each other where they hung off his belt, their light casting a soft halo on the floorboards around him.

“You’re leaving.” I closed my eyes, hoping he hadn’t seen me starting to cry.

“Soon. I came up to let you know.” He crossed the room to offer me a hand, and I begrudgingly took it. “As a parting gift to me, would you listen just this once and get in bed? You’ll be leaving for the Eastern Pass tomorrow to seek refuge with the rest of Darragh’s Watch. You need rest.”

I staggered to my feet, his hand in mine, exhaling through the pain.

“Where’s my hoodie?” I asked.

“The blue thing?” He strode around the bed to a heavy chest, pushed cloaks out of the way, and procured Liam’s tattered Von Leer University hoodie. I held my hand out for it, but Ciarán ran his fingers along one of the blue sleeves. “Technically, it’s mine. I remember wearing it.”

I kept my arm extended, waiting. Ciarán sighed and threw it over the quilts at me. I slipped it over my head.

“It’s got a hole,” Ciarán drawled.

I placed my hand over the gaping hole in the chest where Ferrin had run Liam through. “It’s fine.”

“I know what you’re planning.” He tapped his temple, reminding me of the magick tether connecting our minds. “We already discussed this.”