Page 5 of Evermore

I swallowed, knowing I was immediately going to have to hurt her. The question hung in the air like a blade. I could feel Elowen tense beside me, her breath catching. How do you tell a child that the people they love are gone forever? But I never held back with her. I never wanted her to feel blindsided by lies, this would be no different.

“No, Quilly. They're not coming back.”

Her face crumpled, the shadowy outline of her features contorting with grief. “But they have to.”

I tried to pull free of the arms that held me, tried to follow her as she spun and ran down the hall, but I was struck with a wall of sorrow so thick, so impenetrable, it caused the void where my stolen magic had been to rattle, sweeping me off my feet. The world tilted violently. The empty chasm inside me expanded, consuming what little strength I had left. I was vaguely aware of voices calling my name as darkness crept in from the edges of my vision.

“I need to go to her,” I mumbled as oblivion consumed me.

I woketo the sun pouring into my room, heating my back. It was as I’d left it. Everything perfectly placed, piles of carefully stacked books, clothes scattered around, trinkets that served no purpose on top of every surface. It was chaos. But it was my chaos. My collection of things that I owned. I’d started collecting these things when I was a girl because when you could afford nothing, everything was a treasure. That sentiment had never left me. But nothing here mattered at the moment.

I swung my feet over the edge of the bed, noticing Thea must have taken off my boots. I didn’t bother to take a moment and let the feeling of home sink in. In fact, my feet barely touched the floor as I flew down the stairs, breath catching when I reached Quill’s door.

But it was locked.

And worse, standing here in the hall, I was immediately immersed into feelings I didn’t want to have. Anger, betrayal, sadness. This was her power though, the nine-year-old girl on the other side of the door. She’d had a birthday since I saw her last.

Her emotions bled into the house, practically seeping down the walls like honey in a pot. I couldn’t shove them away. Couldn’t fight the push against the betrayal I’d tried to forget. Her power sunk its talons into me and forced me to feel things I didn’t want to.

Suddenly, all I could see was Thorne’s beautiful face before me, inches from mine, promising to come home with me. To help me. He’d been so close, a breath away as he’d lied as smoothly as silk.

I could go back. Today, I could face him. Today, I could scream at him. The desire to do so, to lose myself in the anger and vengeance I wanted, was so strong I could hardly fight against it. These were my feelings, sure. But Quill’s persuasion over emotions was so strong, she might as well have had my heart in her little fist.

I softened my voice, trying to hide the anger. “Quilly? Quill, are you awake?”

“She’s avoiding everyone,” Thea said, coming around the corner to stand beside me with a little white dog wiggling in her arms. “You’ve been asleep for two days.”

I drew back. “Two days? Why didn’t you wake me? And why is her door locked? And… gods Thea, you look like shit.”

“Welcome home, P,” she said, leveling a stare. Her light, bouncy nature was gone, her copper hair had lost its luster, and deep, purple rings circled her emerald eyes. I’d seen her nearly worked to death under the constraints of a one-sided bargain, and she’d still carried heaps of optimism and almost too much cheerfulness. But now, her mouth held a grim line as she dropped Boo, the pup, to the floor and knocked firmly on the door. “Come on, Quill. If you won’t come out for Paesha, at least come see Boo. He misses you.”

I ignored the pain in my heart at her words. At the tone of her sharp voice. She’d lost all patience for Quill, it seemed. I hatedthat for everyone. Thea and Quill had always been close and I’d never known that child to abandon her dog for more than the length of a show.

“It’s worse in the hall. Once we go downstairs, you can’t feel her power so much. Makes it easier to breathe. And think. The bathhouse is the best though, when you need to really get away. I spent three nights out there last week. And I’m not even sorry about it. Your turn,” Thea said, yelling down the hall as she turned and walked away.

“Best go downstairs for a bit,” Elowen said as she approached, looking me over. “It’s not safe to linger in the hall while she’s losing control.”

“I’ve been doing everything in my power to get back to her for months. There’s no way I’m going to wait downstairs while you try to coax her out. I’ve got this.”

Elowen, the matriarch of this house, was in as bad a shape as Thea. She seemed to have aged at least ten years since I last saw her.

“Tell me what’s been happening,” I whispered, placing my hand on the locked door. “And why haven’t we removed her locks? She’s nine, for goodness’ sake.”

Although I was glad I’d said the right age, I hated that I’d missed her birthday.

“She’s good most days, but lately, the bad days are really bad. And as time goes on, it takes her longer and longer to come out of her moods. There’s really no sense in waiting up here. She won’t be out until dinner at the earliest.” Elowen took my hand. “We removed the locks weeks ago and she ran away. She’d only agree to come home if we put them back. To say I’m glad you’re home is an understatement.”

That didn’t sound like the little girl I knew at all. I followed Elowen downstairs and into the kitchen, expecting to see Archer,but only Thea sat at the table–-well, slumped over her folded arms lying on the table.

“The man I came with, Archer. Where did he end up?”

“I put him in Hollis’s old room,” Elowen said as she sat heavily across from Thea, grabbing a cup of something steaming and bringing it to her lips. “Haven’t seen him since.”

I lowered my voice. “Archer’s sister was buried the day we came here. His twin. He’s a really great guy, but he’s struggling right now. We’ve got to give him some space.”

Thea’s head rose but she stared only at Elowen. Their silent exchange was louder than any conversation I’d ever witnessed.

“What?”