Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,130

over.”

I frowned in confusion. “Love?”

“I asked her for the power te make this world—many centuries ago, now. I lose count—for me and me beloved, Lorelei. For years, I been waitin’ for me love te come back. I lost her ‘cause o’ these Wisps, and I asked Gaia te punish ‘em for it. She agreed, and now they’re paying the price. They answer to me now. I get ‘em to take people from around the gateway in the hopes that they’ll bring me Lorelei too, someday.” He sighed, showing a flicker of emotion for the first time. “Life, death, and everythin’ in between ain’t worth a damn thing without her.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” I kept my hand closed around the specterglass, waiting for the right moment. “Why would taking living people bring your love here? If you built this place a very long time ago, then she must be dead, too. If you loved her at all, you should wish she’s in the afterlife, safe and sound. You should pack this whole thing up and join her there. Pass on to the next world, and free everyone else.”

Fergus’s expression hardened into pure rage. “She’s lookin’ for me! She’ll follow me trail here, one o’ these days!” He waved his riding crop as though it were some kind of magical wand and began to cry out. “Bain an t-anam seo. Tóg gach duine nach leis an saol seo. Níl fáilte rompu anseo. Déan iad a dhíbirt ón saol seo. Níl mé ag iarraidh iad anseo.”

Before I knew what was happening, my body lifted into the air. The pixies floated up with me, all of them flailing, battling the unexpected Telekinesis. But Nathan remained on the ground, having joined the zombie ranks in a way I hadn’t. I guessed that meant he could stay.

Lightning fast, since I had no idea how much time I had left, I whipped the specterglass out of my pocket and lifted the lens to my eye. The image that came back made the breath rush out of my lungs. A hazy collection of white and red mist swirled into the human shape of Fergus, revealing his dead spirit. And where the gaseous orbs of the Wisps floated, another shape hovered beside each one. Human shapes. Arms outstretched, holding the death candles. These were the spirits that had been enlisted to guide people to safety in the afterlife—a task they’d spat on for their own hijinks, like Boudicca had told me. However, as I scanned the lens over the rest of the crowd, my heart lifted slightly. Those in modern dress, including Genie and Nathan, didn’t have any mist at all, which I hoped meant they were still alive—they weren’t touched by specter dust, or haze, or whatever this misty stuff was. They’re not dead. We’re not too late. But I couldn’t say the same for the people in period clothing, from bygone eras. It was centuries too late for them.

I realized I might’ve spoken too soon. As Fergus flung the pixies and me across his pocket of paradise, the gateway roared open, and we sailed through it.

He was banning us from his personal heaven—maybe for good.

Thirty-One

Persie

The gateway spat us out into the bottom of the sphere, right back at square one. The twenty-strong band of pixies wheeled around and flew back at the now-closed Door to Nowhere, making rude gestures and hurling insults. I admired their spunk, but we had no time to waste on a gateway that would no longer open for us. It wasn’t as though it had a handle I could push, and the pooling light had disappeared back into vacant darkness. We were in a race against the clock, before that specterglass showed something I didn’t want to see—Genie, Nathan, and the other Institute abductees swirling in a death mist. I had no idea how long someone could exist in Fergus’s world without losing their hold on the living world. Decades, years, days, weeks, hours? I couldn’t risk delaying, either way.

But how do I get them out of there?

I stared at the thin, glowing outline of the doorway. It wasn’t like I could borrow some C4 and blow it open. Leviathan’s words came back to bug me—I had to be careful. But there was more to it than that. I had to be cautious, not just in the realm, but outside of it. After all, what would happen to the people that were taken decades and even centuries ago, once they set foot