Biggest sigh of relief ever. “Mom. Where are you? Where’s Evan? I can’t see anything.”
Footsteps thud across the stone floor.
I whirl.
A baby cries. Another sigh. My brother is here. He’s okay. Have he and Mom been in Dahlia’s care this entire time?
I move deeper into the cottage, past the front window shedding a miniscule amount of light. I run into a stool. Ouch. Why is it so dark? My pulse reaches my ears. Something’s off and it’s not the lights alone. “Mom, this isn’t funny anymore.” Dumb thing to say. Because Mom doesn’t play jokes. Not like this.
As my vision adjusts, the faint outline of the furniture and floor plan becomes clear. But still no sign of my family. I search all two rooms. Nothing. When I return to the front, Ky and the others have piled into the entryway.
“Is she here? Is Dahlia Moon here?” Khloe rises on her toes, stretches her neck.
I shrug. Open my mouth to answer that no, no one seems to be home, but the desert sun has certainly induced hallucinations of some sort. Maybe the cottage doesn’t even look the way I saw it. Maybe I only imagined it was the one in Mom’s drawing. I’ve missed her. Much has crowded my mind these days, but I’ve never forgotten Mom and Evan.
Shuffle. Creak. The crew shifts, turns their heads. A figure steps out from behind the open front door. A man, tall and dark, with black veins running the lengths of his arms, across his bare torso, around his neck, over his face.
The crew backs away, giving him room. Everyone except Ky, who pushes Khloe behind him and draws his mirrorblade. “Em, if you were ever going to mirror walk, now’s the time to do it.”
His comment throws me off. Does he really think I’d abandon the team?
“Had to try,” Ky says in my head.
I’m not going anywhere, I reply.
The man moves toward me, stepping into the thin sliver of window light. I wouldn’t know him except for those eyes, cerulean blue and him as ever.
“Joshua?” His name sounds as if I’ve spoken it in another language.
He shakes his head. Bares his teeth. “It’s Josh now.” A roll of the neck. A crack of the knuckles.
I knit my brows. “Joshua.” Now my voice is shaking. “What’s happened to you?”
He doesn’t respond. Doesn’t try to hug me or talk to me. And I realize, even with his eyes, he’s not the same at all.
One more step toward me, then he does a full 180 and rounds on Ky. “Hello, brother,” Joshua—Josh?—snarls.
Brother? I can’t see Ebony, but a “What the bleep?” would be fitting right about now.
“Reunited at last,” Josh says.
Khloe steps out from behind her brother. Hands planted on her hips and stance wide, she says, “We’re not afraid of you.”
The Ever draws his sword.
“Joshua, don’t!” I sing.
A glare over his shoulder. “I told you.” He spits to one side. “It’s Josh now.”
Then he runs his blade straight through Khloe.
I’m on my knees, scrambling to my younger sister’s side. Drawing her into my arms. Patting her hair. Her eyes roll into her head.
Ky is frozen, blade held fast at his side.
Josh wipes his bloody sword on his pants.
I press my soaked face into Khloe’s curly mop. Whisper an inaudible, blubbering, “No.”
Ebony is with me now, wrapping her arms around my quaking frame, resting her forehead on my shoulder.
Like everything else, this is because of me. I look up at Josh now. He’s just staring at Ky. Waiting. Waiting for what?
Lyrics to Passenger’s “Let Her Go” burn through me . . .
“Everything you touch, surely dies . . .”
No. This is not my fault. If I doubted my choice before, I sure as crowe don’t now. I find my voice. “How could you do this?”
Josh doesn’t cast a glance in my direction. His regard is trained on Ky. Still he doesn’t budge.
With care, I transfer Khloe into Ebony’s arms. It takes every ounce of willpower I have to rise, but I manage. The Verity is hard to notice, but I sense it, flickering like a dying flame in the pit of my soul.
“Answer me!” My internal scream turns audible. The sound echoes through the small space.
Josh gives no indication he hears. Not a flinch. Not a twitch.
I pound my fists on his back, which feels rock hard against my touch. How did he get like this? How could he allow the Void to take him? I’m inclined to keep blaming myself. The Verity is meant to keep the Void at bay. But this isn’t on me. I won’t let it be. Joshua made his own choices.
And, like a true Shadowalker, he chose the Void.
A sob emerges as I take a step back and yank at my hair. At long last I catch a glimpse of the Ever tattoo above his right shoulder blade. It’s barely visible, but it’s there. Beneath the blackened brambles. It’s simple. Beautiful. Perfect.
Joshua’s seal . . . is a heart.
It should’ve turned black like the rest of him.
I clutch my own heart to keep it from falling out of my chest. The Void is everywhere. I shove away the image of Jasyn Crowe. This is Joshua. Joshua. He’s a good guy. Because beneath it all there must be a chance he can return. Our mission becomes more desperate than ever, Joshua added to the list of those we must save.
The rest of the crew makes no move to attack. They don’t breathe. Don’t blink. Because after what’s just happened, no one dares get near Josh—the Void.
Ky is the first to speak. A statue, his mouth scarcely stirring. “Wrong move, David.”
“We’ll see.” He slips his hand into his pants pocket and withdraws a small bottle. It’s lovely, made of what is unmistakably mirrorglass.
As he faces Josh—his brother?—Ky’s nostrils flare. A single tear escapes his green eye and slides down his cheek.
Josh lifts the mirrorglass bottle and collects the tear, swishing it around and holding it up to the light. Then he turns and offers the bottle to me. “Drink.” His tenor borders on robotic.
I recoil. “Excuse me?”
“Drink, El. Or so help me I will finish off every last one of them.”
In the past I wouldn’t have believed such a threat, not from Joshua. But now I bite my lip to keep it from quivering. I hold my ground so I don’t crumple. Mirrorglass reverses. What will this reverse?
Josh brandishes his sword once more. He won’t do to Ky what he did to Khloe. The beating in the Fourth was one thing. Joshua can take the few punches he gave Ky then, because whatever happens to Ky happens to Joshua. That alone was my first tip Joshua’s not all right. No matter his hatred for Ky, Joshua wouldn’t hurt him and risk hurting me. But killing is different. And without Ever blood to restore him, Ky’s death would end all three of us.
So Josh levels his weapon at Ebony.
Second thought not required. When I saved her from becoming Soulless it was selfless. Now the act is for myself as much as for her. Whatever she’s done in the past, she’s my sister. And not just by blood either.
I snatch the bottle from Josh’s hand, glaring as I tip it ceilingward. Ky’s tear slides from the glass onto my tongue. Flavors bounce and change, reminding me of the blueberry girl from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.