Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Rasmus refuses to move. To be fair, I don’t think getting to your feet is an easy task when you’re bound like a mummy.
The Magician just shrugs and starts walking. The mycelium holds, as if a metal chain, and Rasmus is dragged in the red dirt behind him. He makes it look as easy as dragging a cart.
I keep pace with the Magician, occasionally looking behind me at Rasmus with his face full of dust and dirt, until we finally come to the invisible ward between the Liekkiö Plains and the Hiisi Forest.
“Let us hope the Forest Gods still exist as we know them,” the Magician says as we step through.
Chapter 24
Hanna
The Sun Goddess
Water.
Everything is water.
My eyes, my hair, my mouth, my nose.
Water.
My lungs breathe in water, water moves through my body, and I feel like I’ll never stop drowning.
I’m floating, I’m sinking, I’m caught in a current.
In the back of my mind, I think about dying, that this could be death, and then I realize there’s something about death that appeals to me.
Not dying.
But Death with a capital D.
The God of Death.
The man I love.
He’s floating in a vision of blue, his eyes glowing like pewter stones, like lightning strikes, and I’m swimming to him through the void. I am drawn to him, this man who has brought me to life in so many different ways and will bring me back to life again.
But as I move through the water, through the nothingness, as thoughts of Oblivion are carried past my head, I realize that Death isn’t here.
He hasn’t come for me.
And neither has dying.
My hands reach out into the blue void, and they strike something solid but soft in return.
But this isn’t my Tuoni.
It is, however, someone.
In the darkness, in that blue nothing, I feel hands wrap under my arms, and then I’m being pulled up from the depths.
My life flashes across my eyes, but I can’t grasp any of it. It’s like watching a movie in fast forward, just images and clips. Me and my father on the dock at the lake, me sitting on the floor after dance class crying. Me moving into my suite on a sunny day in Los Angeles, me walking through the portal with Rasmus. Me being thrown in an oubliette. Me growing wings in the middle of Inmost.
Me and Death in a restaurant bathroom.
Me and my father hugging on a snow-covered porch.
A tunnel collapsing.
A tie severed.
I open my mouth to scream as the memories come flooding back, just as the sea floods into my lungs again, and then I’m rushing to the surface and bursting through into the cold air.
“Breathe,” I hear a woman’s delicate voice at my ear. “You can breathe.”
I open my eyes, blinking wildly at the grey sky above just in time to see what looks like a bony pterodactyl fly overhead, disappearing into thicker clouds.
I gasp, my lungs burning, and water comes churning out. There’s a hand at my back, a fist pounding me, until I cough up all the swallowed sea.
“There,” the person says sweetly, and I look beside me to see a beautiful girl with long green hair and scales along her hairline.
Mermaid.
She’s a mermaid.
My brain feels so puny, it’s hard to put anything in the right order.
“It’s okay,” another voice says, this one achingly familiar.
I look down to see a doll-size mermaid with an iridescent white tail swimming in front of me.
Bell! I think. This is Bell.
“You’re looking at me like you don’t recognize me,” Bell says. “Don’t tell me you have another little mermaid friend. Do I need to worry about her? There can only be one.”
I can’t tell if she’s making a joke or not. Everything is moving so slowly.
“Don’t worry,” Bell says. “Madra and I have you. When I heard someone was using the portal, I didn’t know what to expect. The last thing I thought I would see was you floating there. You gave me a heart attack. I got Madra to help you to the surface.”
I nod slowly, coughing again, and look around. We’re treading water maybe a hundred yards from a snow-covered shore, tall trees beyond it. It looks different somehow, and there’s something off-putting about it, but at least I know where I am.
Tuonela.
“What about Tuoni?” I manage to say, my voice hoarse. “My father? Did you see them?”
Both mermaids shake their heads.
“No,” says Bell. “They didn’t come through with you. We would have seen them if they did. They’re still on the other side. What happened?”
“There was a cave-in. The tunnel. They told me to run. I thought they were right behind me and then…”
Oh God, please let them be alright. I’m not as worried about Tuoni in the tunnel—I’m pretty sure that god can punch his way through a wall with his bare hands—but what about my father? If he was hurt, if something happened to him…