together. She places one of her palms on top of our wrists and another below before closing her eyes and reciting, “Nada vai separar vostede. Ningún dano virá para ti. A escuridade non vai atopalo. Estes títulos son irrompibles.”
A warm glow emanates from the fabric as it tightens and twists, its properties changing. The light it gives off extends outward from our wrists, up our arms and encases our whole bodies before disappearing within us.
“Wow,” is all I can manage to say.
My skin feels hot and tingly. Every hair on my body stands on edge. The connection Zoë has placed on us feels tangible. Nothing at all like when Eliza bound me to Zoë.
I lock my gaze with Charlie's and am flooded with memories and emotions that I didn't even know I had. Every life we have shared together flows through us—every ounce of love we have ever shared, every look, every touch, and every word we have ever spoken to each other. His eyes well with tears and one audaciously slides down his left cheek. He can feel it too. I press my forehead to his and wrap my arms tightly around his shoulders. He slides his arms around my waist and pulls me as close as he can to himself. Not here, my brain reminds me. I pull back.
“Uh, you guys okay?” Zoë asks.
Charlie looks at me and smiles. “Never better,” he says softly.
“Maybe you should try looking in again before you go,” Jones suggests. “You know, to see if the witch really knows what she’s doing.”
Zoë turns and looks at him with an expression of complete condescension. “Árbore,” she grumbles at him.
His body abruptly lifts straight off the ground, up into the air and lands ungracefully on a large stem of a tree. “Never mind,” he calls out gruffly. “She knows what she's doing.”
We all stifle our laughs.
“I guess it’s time we get on our way then,” Baxter suggests. “The sooner you get us all out of here, the better.”
He walks over to Charlie and extends a hand to help him stand up.
“We’ll give you some time to get back to camp before we head in. Remember, keep everybody hidden & safe tonight. Nobody leaves the cave at all, for any reason. It's going to be more dangerous than ever out there after we pass through,” Charlie instructs.
“Don’t worry about us,” Jade responds. “Just worry about keeping yourself safe.” She turns to me. “So how does this work? Will you be back for us? Or will this just all go away and we magically wake up?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I wish I knew the answer to that question. I’ve never actually helped anyone who was lost before.”
She gives her head a little shake. “Well, I hope you know what you're doing.”
“Yeah, so do I.”
Casey comes running over to Charlie and crashes into him full-force. “I’ll miss you,” she whispers as crocodile sized tears stream down her cheeks.
“I’ll miss you too, kiddo.”
Baxter shakes Charlie's hand and offers him a few pieces of hunting advice as Jones unceremoniously climbs down from the tree. He walks over to us with a waddle of discomfort.
“Good luck, man. I'll keep everyone in line for you here.”
“I’m sure you will, Jones,” Charlie says with a chuckle.
They regroup and begin the walk back to the cave. We stand quietly for a few moments and watch them walk away. When they are finally out of eyesight, we breathe a little sigh of relief.
“Do you really have no idea how you're going to do this?” Charlie asks us.
Zoë and I look at each other and then back at him. “We’re learning as we go,” Zoë answers. “This is all really new for us.”
“Then how do you know how to do all these spells?”
“I met the sister I never knew I had, she unlocked my powers, gave me a book to read, and here we are.”
He looks at me, seemingly waiting for confirmation that Zoë is just joking. I shrug my shoulders and smile, indicating her that cutting tone wasn’t meant as sarcasm.
“So who’s going in first?” he asks.
27. CROSSING OVER
“I think we should hold hands and go in one at a time, with me first,” Zoë suggests. “Holding hands will ensure that we stay together. If anything crazy is waiting inside for us, I can get control of it if I'm first.”
“As long as I don’t have to go first, I’m all for your plan,” Charlie says.