Page 429 of Alchemised

“She can come with us,” he said, looking seriously at Helena. “I’ll take care of her.”

Helena’s throat closed. “No. No, Enid has to stay here until she’s older,” she said, trying to untangle Enid.

“I want to go.” Enid sobbed as Helena pried her fingers off Pol’s trousers. “I want to live in Paladia, too. Why can’t we all go?”

“I’m sorry, we can’t,” Helena said, holding her tight as Enid attempted to collapse onto the floor and crawl to Pol. “It’s not safe for us. That’s why we live on the island, remember? Because Mum’s heart goes too fast when we do too many trips. Mum can’t go places that make her heart go fast.”

“But Pol is my best friend. I’ll be all alone without him.”

Kaine turned and walked into the next room for a moment, hands spasming.

Pol let go of Lila’s hand and went over to Enid.

“E,” he said tentatively, “you have to stay with your mum and dad. You can’t come to Paladia yet.”

“Why not? You get to.”

“Yeah,” Pol said slowly, his blue eyes huge and thoughtful, and then his expression grew pained. “But you have to take care of Cobalt. City’s no place for a dog, you know. He doesn’t come when we tell him, so he might get hit by a lorry.”

Enid’s head popped up. “Really?” she said in a trembling voice.

“Yes,” Pol said. “And the boats are dangerous, too, you know. So you have to take care of him for me. He needs walks every day.”

Enid nodded in fervent understanding of the serious responsibility being placed upon her, and Pol gave her the leash.

As Lila and Pol rode away, Enid sat on the cliff, holding Cobalt and crying.

CHAPTER 78

Four Years Later

“MUM.”

Helena looked up from the tincture she was making. There were certain things always in demand in the village. Enid was sitting in the kitchen, watching her work.

Since Pol’s departure, Enid had lost much of her playfulness. Kaine and Helena had tried to bring back the spark, to find children in the village for Enid to befriend, but she always held herself back.

There were too many obstacles: no alchemy, no mention of Kaine’s or Helena’s real names, or of where Pol and Lila had gone. The rules and barriers stressed Enid, and as a result she had retreated into the house, only going out with her parents or dutifully to walk Cobalt every day.

On the dark nights, Kaine would take her riding on Amaris. Sometimes they would fly to other islands together, but no matter where she went, Enid never wanted friends.

The bright spot of her life was the two weeks each summer when the family travelled to the Northern mainland, to visit Lila and Pol in the port city.

“Why do you have holes in your wrists?” Enid asked. “No one else has holes like that.”

Helena’s chest tightened as she looked down. She was usually careful to cover them, but she’d been distracted and pushed her sleeves up to work. Eight years was a long time to hide anything from a nosy child.

“No, there’s not many people who have them,” she said quietly. “During the war, people thought they could win if the other side didn’t have their resonance, so they tried to find ways to make it go away. And—these holes were one of the ideas they had.”

“Did it make your resonance go away?” Enid leaned closer, peering at them.

Helena pressed her lips together and nodded. “It did.”

“But it’s back now?”

Helena nodded. “Your dad got it back for me. It was a long time ago, but some scars don’t ever go away. They look funny, don’t they?”

Enid reached out and touched one inquisitively. “Did you get captured in the war?”