to do an in-depth search of the In-Between. Once again, I found myself gawking at these magi-tech combinations like an ignorant little girl. I knew little to nothing about them, but I did understand their capabilities, and I was aware of the extraordinary results they yielded. They were just some of the perks that had drawn me to GASP in the first place.
Fallon hissed, then pressed his index and middle fingers against his temples. He’d been having these headaches since we’d come back from Nevertide.
“You don’t look so good,” Varga said, watching him intently.
“I think it’s some kind of mental residue from Kabbah,” Fallon replied, blinking several times. “I keep getting flashbacks that aren’t mine. How are your parents? Are they safe?”
“Don’t change the topic, Fallon,” Varga reprimanded him. “Mom and Dad are okay, and they’re certainly not targets of the Hermessi. I need you to tell me about these flashbacks. What do you see?”
Fallon scrunched his nose, clearly not eager to talk about it. “Ugh, the more I think about them, the more my head hurts. It’s like an automated migraine.”
“Nevertheless, we need to know what you saw,” I replied gently. “Remember, Kabbah wasn’t too generous with the information, so if there’s anything you saw in these flashbacks that might help us with finding Mortis and Death…”
“Yeah, he gave us the name but didn’t think to give us any coordinates,” Herakles grumbled.
“That’s okay,” Phoenix replied, his back still to us. “I told you, I’m handling that.”
“Fair enough, but Eva’s right,” Fallon said. “These flashbacks might tell us more. Something else, even. Something we may be able to use against the other Hermessi. I don’t know, just spitballin’ here.”
Riza smiled. “Listen, just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and delve into the clearest of these flashbacks. Surely, one or two of them are recurring. Right?”
Fallon nodded, then followed her instructions. He took a few minutes, his eyes moving rapidly beneath his eyelids before they popped open, and a smile fluttered across his face.
“Walking through a forest,” he said, and cringed from the pain. “Ugh, it’s like knives poking through my head whenever I think about it.”
“A forest?” I asked, my eyebrows raised.
“Yeah. Tall trees. The tallest I’ve ever seen,” Fallon replied. “And weirdly thin. I was actually wondering how they could stand up straight and reach so high up with such slender trunks. They look a little like the bamboo trees from Earth. Green all over.”
“So you’re walking through this forest,” Varga pressed.
“And I’m hearing water flowing, not far from where I am. Like a stream. The sky above is clear. It’s daylight, which first made me want to look for shelter, or at least a hood,” Fallon said, slightly amused. “It felt nice to walk in the sunlight again.”
“What would that mean?” Herakles asked, his brow furrowed. “What would that memory be about? Kabbah is from somewhere other than Nevertide?”
“Or, long shot, Death’s location? I mean, it’s the single most important thing we wanted from him,” Riza suggested. “What if he left us more information in Fallon’s head?”
Fallon sighed, rubbing his face with his bare hands. “I’m not a memory stick, dammit…”
The door swung open, and Viola came in, wearing a bright and warm smile. “It’s time for you all to take a break,” she said, then glanced at Phoenix. “Not you, though, babe. We need you to keep looking.”
“I love you too,” Phoenix grumbled.
“We’re not doing anything worth taking a break from,” I said. “We’re just… waiting.”
“You might as well wait in the banquet hall in Luceria,” Viola replied. “Aida and Field put together quite a banquet for you.”
“Why?” Varga asked.
“Because you’ve earned it!” Viola said. She seemed a lot more chipper than she had been a few hours ago. I dared think she wasn’t as devastated about Mount Agrith, compared to her sisters. Then again, she hadn’t spent much time there, not like the other Daughters of Eritopia. But there was still sadness bubbling beneath the surface. I could tell from how quickly her smile faded. “Listen, Mount Agrith was destroyed, and we have lost access to the pink water. Our cult prisoners can’t be interrogated, and… well, Harper is sort of nowhere to be found. We’ve got it bad enough as it is, but at least you came back with extremely valuable information. You spoke to one of the oldest Hermessi in existence, and, thanks to you, we know where Death is. And with all the unfortunate developments that we’ve been dealing with, we’ve all