Page 125 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

She and Jack walked through the narrow village lanes, him nodding and waving to each person they passed.

If Hallie didn’t know they were in Souls Meet, she would’ve guessed they were somewhere in the Narden foothills.

The charming village reminded her of a smaller version of Nar, where she’d busted Kase out of jail after crashing his hover.

There were no hovers here.

Jack opened the door to one of the little structures that felt and looked more like a cozy wooden lodge. Its beams were honey-brown, aged with years gone by. It was different from Jack’s cottage but lacked none of its warmth.

Inside, more people milled about, sipping orange juice from glasses—an oddity in a tavern. The breakfast fare looked quite nice as they passed by a table of women eating the bacon with forks. High society in life, she guessed, and hadn’t changed at all in death.

Hallie’s heart flipped over as they approached the barkeep, a man who looked to be in his early fifties.

She hadn’t realized just how much she missed working at the Crowne Haven inn until that moment.

She’d only gotten the job as a way to keep going after the trauma of the Eudora mission, but looking back, she could see that working there had been a very good thing.

It’d kept her busy, had kept her from spiraling even after she’d dropped out of the University.

Jack shook the barkeep’s hand. “We’ll take the usual. Two this time. This here’s my sister, Hallie.”

The man looked up with kind yet haunting blue eyes, his face all angles and shadows. His curly hair was steely gray and slightly unkempt. “Addison, and it’s a pleasure, my lady.”

“And you. Jack says your chef has perfected the art of bacon frying. I’m eager to try it.”

“Of course.”

He left to go grab their food, and Jack led her to a table near one of the windows.

When their food arrived, they bantered back and forth as they ate, laughing over some of their shared memories—like the time Hallie had beaten Jack in chess, and her brother had hounded her for a week straight afterward, insisting she’d cheated.

She had, but only that once.

It was nice to unwind a little after everything and enjoy having her brother back once more. The food still tasted stars-awful, but she gagged it down and convinced Jack that it was indeed the best thing she’d ever eaten. He probably didn’t believe her, but she didn’t want to take away his joy.

“Hey Addi, you seen Gran round this morning?” Jack shouted back at the barkeep.

He paused in his cleaning of a few of the glasses. He nodded out toward the door. “Left at first light. Said she was gonna be out at the Aurora for a bit and to tell you to hurry it up if you came by.”

Jack rolled his eyes but grinned. “Thanks.”

“Aurora?” Hallie asked.

Jack wiped his mouth with his blue-and-gold flannel sleeve. Some things hadn’t changed. “The other Gate. It’s been acting up as of late.”

They finished up shortly, and Jack led her out of the village and toward the distant peaks.

They reminded her of the Nardens with their snowy peaks and blue haze.

It made her miss home even more. Before the Eudora , the mountains were one of the only things she’d missed.

They were beautiful, if deadly, and their majestic power always took her breath away.

As they walked a well-trodden dirt path through more planting fields and past small copses of trees, Hallie said, “So tell me about the Gates. I thought only one existed until I found the…what did you call it? Nether Gate? And the one we’re headed to now is called the Aurora?”

Jack nodded, picking a stray daisy and offering it to her. “For your hair, because it would annoy Mama the most.”

Hallie rolled her eyes and plucked it from his fingers. She twirled it a few times before sticking it behind her ear. It was almost like having a pencil tucked away there. Almost.

Jack strode along, whistling a tune Hallie didn’t recognize. Hallie caught his sleeve. A few people passed them, looking wan and tired, heading toward the village. Jack waved and smiled. “Good to see you this morning. Tell Addi at the tavern to give you some orange juice, it’ll perk you right up!”

A woman with curly white hair, expensive yet ragged clothes, and a limp scowled at him, but kept walking nonetheless.

Once they’d passed out of earshot, Hallie hissed, “Jack, will you just answer my questions, please?”

He flashed her a mischievous grin before tugging his arm out of her grip.

“Souls come through them. The Aurora and the Nether, though Gran says there was supposedly another that hasn’t worked in ages.

Gran don’t know exactly what happened to it, but its ruins are up in the mountains.

” He gestured toward them with a flippant hand.

“She’s scared that whatever did that one in is doing the same to the Aurora, so she’s been out trying to fix it since the Nether Gate is persnickety at the best of times. ”

The Aurora Gate must be the one from Myrrai.

She wondered what Jack meant by it not working and when that had happened.

Ben had done something to it, and then Hallie had taken the sword from it.

Maybe the sword simply needed to be restored?

That had been her plan, after all, to collect all the Essences into the sword and restore it to the Gate.

It would destroy Jagamot and cost Hallie and the other Essences their lives, but more would be saved.

She hoped.

But now she was here without the swords or the other Essences.

Maybe she should just accept her fate and live here with Jack and Gran. Maybe she could help ferry the souls. Though if Jagamot wasn’t stopped, would this place cease to exist as well? Would he destroy the afterlife, too?

Birds chirped in the trees and chased each other overhead. The wind blew hair out of Hallie’s face, which felt a little stiff and sensitive after basking so long in the sun. The serenity of it all calmed her nerves with each step they took.

About a quarter hour of walking later, a Zuprium-brick archway appeared from behind the trees. It served no purpose out in the open, no walls or ceiling to hold up, no entrance to anything beyond it; it was simply there. The space between flickered gold and brown and black and back again.

As they approached, Hallie saw people appear as if out of thin air once or twice.

They spoke with a woman with jet black hair nearby.

Sometimes she held their hand. Others, she hugged; but after speaking with her, they either vanished into thin air or—less frequently—trudged toward the path Jack and Hallie strolled down.

They had to get closer to the Gate before Hallie could read the symbols written on the bricks. Anora Yas Ess Vanaktr.

“Time is Powerful.”

She hadn’t been able to translate them before, but now the words shone as clearly in her head as the sunny day around them.

Jack looked back at her. “What?”

Hallie pointed to the Gate. “That’s what the archway says.”

He shrugged and went up to the woman helping the odd soul who came through.

When she wasn’t speaking or comforting someone, she poked and prodded the Gate.

She even pulled Zuprium dust, Vasa, from a pouch at her waist and rubbed on the bricks.

The dust glowed, then sank into the metal.

Each time, she’d pause to write something down in her notebook.

The Gate looked calm on this side compared to the other, which had been a chaotic mess with the smoke leaking out and the incessant thumping of a heart in her ears.

“Hey Gran! Gotta visitor I’d like you to meet,” her brother said, sidling up to the woman.

Her night-dark hair twisted in a tight bun at the base of her skull.

She wore a dark blue petticoat and flowing skirt, a green matron belt wrapped around her waist. She was tall and willowy like other Yalvs.

She was clearly where Hallie and Jack’s father had gotten his height.

A plain canvas satchel hung across her body.

A few people emerged from the Gate. An elderly couple and a young child.

Hallie’s heart hurt. Gran spoke quietly with them and then pointed them in the way of the village.

“It will be about a fifteen-minute walk, but please feel free to have a look around on your way. Valora is a quaint and beautiful place.” She stopped the little boy who couldn’t have been older than seven.

Tears streamed down his face. Gran handed Jack her notebook and bent down to his level.

She gave him a hug and held him tightly.

“It’ll be all right, little one. You don’t have to stay here.

Do you have anyone else who has gone before you? ”

The boy only nodded, too choked with his tears to say anything out loud.

Gran pulled back and looked up at Jack. She looked younger than Hallie would have thought with a name like Gran.

She had a gray-and-white streak of hair at the front that looped by her ears before being tucked into the bun.

The lines around her mouth and her golden eyes weren’t deep.

Her nose was long and straight. “Will you look in the archives….” She turned back to the little boy. “What was their name, Liam?”

The boy, Liam, muttered something that Hallie couldn’t quite hear. Gran nodded and repeated the name to Jack. “Brianka Veville, Tev Rubika”

Jack put his hand in a pouch at his waist and brought forth Vasa. He sprinkled it on the notebook in front of him. It didn’t do anything for a minute or so before the glittering dust rose and coalesced in the form of parchment.

Hallie’s mouth dropped open.

Jack checked the outside. “Yes, this should be the correct one.” He squatted down next to the boy and Gran. “Hello, Liam. My name is Jack, and I know this is scary and confusing, but Gran and I are here to make you feel better. This letter is for you.”