next to the opening is a gigantic Faerie with diamond-studded wings and sapphire eyes with a spear clutched in his hand.
“Hey, Tiny, we got another one for you.” The guard next to me shoves me towards the Faerie and laughs. “She actually walked in here on her own.”
Tiny? Really? The dude is freaking huge. “You don’t need to shove me. I was walking in.”
Tiny (eye roll) looks at me and his sapphire eyes are filled with something I’m very familiar with—sadness. “Get inside.” He aims his finger at the opening of the cave as he steps aside to let me through.
Ducking my head, I step inside. It’s dark and the air smells murky. Water drips from the ceiling and puddles the dirty floor. I can barely see past the entrance so I place my hand on the rock wall and start making my way into the cave. I can hear voices ahead and, as I get closer, the darkness starts shifting to light. I let go of the wall, cautiously walk towards the opening and, seconds later, I step out of the cave.
There’s a flat ledge, encompassed by rocky cliffs. The cliffs are hundreds of feet high and make it pretty much impossible to climb down. In the middle of the ledge is a patch of grass and a tree. Beneath the tree is a stone bench and sitting on it is a girl. Her golden hair glimmers in the sunlight, and she’s wearing dirt-stained clothes while shielding her eyes with her hand.
“Aislin,” I mutter and she looks at me.
“You need to move to the right,” she yells, still looking up at the sky.
I track her gaze, looking up to the sky. About halfway up the cliff is Aleesa, scaling up. Her curly hair blows in the light breeze, along with the back of her torn shirt. “What the… Is she trying to escape?”
Aislin must hear me because she anxiously glances around. When her eyes land on me, a look of panic crosses her face until she realizes it’s me. She leaps up from the bench and rushes in my direction, but there’s a loud noise from above and she halts as rocks come crashing down from top of the cliffs.
Aislin cups her hands to her mouth. “Aleesa! Watch out!”
Aleesa pauses and glances down at us as Aislin points above her. Aleesa angles her head up and scans the cliffs above to where the rocks are falling down. I see the fear on her face as she tries to move to the side of the cliff, out of the way of the falling rocks. They tumble past her and Aislin and I let out a sigh of relief as they smash onto the ground.
“That was close,” Aleesa yells and then digs her fingers into the rocks as she continues climbing up again.
I free the tension from my lungs, letting out a stressed breath. “God, she shouldn’t be up there. It’s too dangerous.”
Aislin looks at me with a confused and suspicious look on her face, like she’s trying to assess who I am—if I’m possessed.
I take a cautious step forward. “I’m sorr—”
A loud crash cuts me off and when I look up at the cliff again, more rocks and boulders are tumbling to the ground, and Aleesa is spiraling with them. She’s falling helplessly, her arms flailing as she no longer has control over her life.
Aislin and I race toward her, wanting to help her, but neither of us have our power and all we can do is watch her fall, her screams echoing through the land.
Then suddenly it’s silent as another person gets stolen from this world.
Chapter 27
Gemma
In the blink of an eye, in a breath of air, in the time it takes for a heart to beat, Aleesa is gone. It’s a sight I’ll never be able to get out of my mind. It’s branded there, like marks on my body. Another death. Another haunting memory. Over and over again, and a part of me wonders if Helena is right. Maybe it’ll never end. Maybe this is how life will always be; death, heartbreak, endings. I wonder if it’s worth it. Is it worth it?
Aislin screams out Aleesa’s name and we both run over to her, knowing what we’re heading for, but not yet accepting it. We find her body at the bottom, mangled and broken, her eyes open.
Aislin rushes to her side, tears running down her cheeks. “No, you can’t die… We just found you.” She clutches onto