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I gave him a sidelong glance, but he didn’t return the attention, and Elena was already waiting with her fingers laced to boost me onto the buck.

“My, aren’t we all being terribly agreeable?” I muttered, stepping away from Sebastian.

Elena launched me onto the buck, and I made an effort to settle in comfortably after her comment about my riding. With the grace of a gymnast, she hopped up behind me, scooting in close and putting her arm around me.

I looked toward Sebastian, hoping he would have trouble climbing atop the other buck, but he simply guided the beast to a tree stump, using it to boost himself. He ended up on the buck’s back with not a single hair out of place.

Infuriating.

As we started riding, Elena looked over at Sebastian. “Your invitation into our realm will wear off around nightfall, just so you’re aware.”

“I suspected as much.” He observed the greenery around us, and the distant homes.

“Good.” Elena’s arm tightened around me as she patted her heels against the buck’s sides, and the beast lurched forward.

I gritted my teeth and held on for dear life, glaring at Sebastian every so often as he rode effortlessly beside us.

8

We didn’t seethe king or his grouchy friend on our way to Crispin’s tower. No one in the square had questioned Sebastian’s presence, and soon the three of us stood outside the door I had gone through the day before.

Elena stepped close to me before opening it. “What you’re about to see stays between us. Agreed?”

Sebastian lifted a brow, but nodded.

I had never seen him so accommodating, but I also knew him well enough by now to guess that his curiosity was keeping him civil. Not only was he being allowed within elven lands, perhaps for the first time ever, but he was also about to meet someone who had realm traveled relatively recently.

Elena opened the door, then gestured for us both to walk in ahead of her.

I stepped into the room first, glancing around for just a moment before my jaw fell open. Crispin stood near one of his many bookshelves—well, he kind of stood near it. I could see him, but he was looking a little… see-through.

Sebastian waited beside me while Elena shut the door behind us, then he approached Crispin, who was looking utterly miserable. It was clear that he could see us, but he didn’t speak.For all intents and purposes, he seemed like a ghost. His mouth moved, but we couldn’t hear the words coming out.

Sebastian crossed his arms, bracing one hand beneath his chin. “What was he trying to do?”

Elena gave me a wary glance before answering, “I think he was trying to realm jump. Or at least maybe open up a pathway? I don’t really understand any of it, and he’s not exactly able to tell me anything. He can’t touch a pen to write out what happened.”

Sebastian looked back at me.

I held my hands up, palms out. “Hey, my knowledge on all this is way less than either of you. Why do you think I’m here?”

He watched me for a moment longer, then lowered his eyes to the floor beside him, making it clear he wished me to approach.

Reluctantly, I moved to his side, wary of stepping too close to Crispin. The elf’s blue eyes were now filled with hope—entirelyunfounded hope. He mouthed something at me.Portal, maybe.

“Is he saying he made a portal?”

“I think so,” Elena said behind us. “I managed to read his lips a bit.Portal, andEva, I think. The devil was my idea. I had hoped he would be with you, or that you could at least summon him.”

I turned to find Sebastian watching me.

“What do you think?” he asked.

Frowning, I looked at Crispin, daring to reach a hand out toward him. When nothing bad happened, I stepped closer and tried to touch his chest, but my hand went right through him.

He winced, and I quickly withdrew my hand. “I think he’s stuck between realms. Wherever he was trying to go, he didn’t fully make it. It’s kind of like what I can do to step over boundaries, but he went a little further. Shifting isn’t exclusive to celestials. We’re just better at it.” I looked at Sebastian, thinkingof how he could simply disappear in a flash of darkness. But he couldn’t reach the far realms, else he’d have no interest in me. He could probably still travel to the hells, the closest parallel realms to earth, and that was it. “In some ways,” I added for his benefit.

“How do we bring him back?” Elena asked.