I felt safe, I think to myself, and he places a hand on my forearm. “You are safe, Ottilie.”
“Well, that’s good to know.” I hesitate. “Wait. How did you?”
Berk
“As fun as this is. We need to move.” I cross the room in two steps and pound on the bathroom door. “Say goodbye, LuLu. The bad guys are back.”
Immediately, the door swings open, nearly hitting me, and Luca beelines for Ottilie.
“What do you mean the bad guys are back, I thought you said they couldn’t come into the light?” Luca shouts, tugging her behind him, her face visibly paling when the lights flicker.
“A portal, now.” I nod to Rais, shouldering their two small packs and a handbag sitting by the foot of the bed. “This everything?”
“Yeah.” Luca's eyes widen as the portal blinks open.
“Okay, Love. Quick crash course.” Dom takes her free hand, ignoring the angry look from her boyfriend. I would laugh if at least five Echoes weren’t trying to cut the power to our room, eliminating the meager amount of light keeping them at bay. “When I say go, you will walk straight through that bright hole, okay. Don’t hesitate, and don’t look back.”
“No, I- Luca?” She stumbles back, but Dom holds firm, and I can feel him pushing a calming reassurance to her through our bond.
“You can. We will come out somewhere sunny where they can’t follow. Okay?”
“Where?” she asks. A flash of a grassy field floats from her through our bond, and Rais grins at me.
When the lights suddenly cut, I know we’re out of time and throw her over my shoulder. “More chatting later. Move now!”
“Put me down!” she shouts, raining tiny fists across my back, screaming when the windows of the small room shatter.
“I’ve got ya, Sweets.” I run, jumping through the portal, and land on the soft grass on the other side. “Whoa there.” I lower her to her feet and offer a steadying hand, checking to make sure that she is uninjured. “Careful now. Are you dizzy? Hurt?”
“Holy shit. Holy shit!” She leans over, placing both hands on her knees, panting. “Lu- where’s Luca?” She spins, panicked.
“Wait.” I tug her out of the way right before Luca tumbles through, falling roughly to the ground, followed by Dom.
“Oats?” He pulls her into him, gripping her tightly. “Are you okay? My God. That was- what was that?”
“That was us saving you again,” Rais smirks, stepping through and closing the portal, clapping him on the shoulder. “You’re welcome, Lu.”
7
Ottilie
“Talk to us, Love.” Domantas kneels in the grass, placing a finger under my chin.
“I’m fine. I- but- wait… How?” I look around, accepting a hand up from Rais. “This is where you wanted to go, right?” Berk tilts his head to the side. “She’s, freaking out. Why are you freaking out, Sweets?”
“Why am I freaking out? You’re kidding, right? We were just. I mean, we were there. Nighttime. Now we’re. We’re here. Not night. It’s not night, Luca. It’s not night!”
“No, it’s not.” Domantas eases closer to me again, and I feel strangely calm.
“Stop it! Let me feel my feelings!” I hold up both hands, backing away. “You’re- you. Trickery! Voodoo! You… voodoo hoodoos! Quick with your sexy magic and fanciful lights. This. I hit my head, didn’t I? Am I in a coma?” I flop to the grass, resting my head in my hands. “I’ve got brain damage.”
“Did she just say we have sex magic?” Berk waggles his brows. “I mean, I thought we were waiting, but if y’all are cool with it-” He examines the empty field- “I guess we can romance this place up. You don’t think bugs will be an issue, do you?”
“This can’t be real life,” I mumble, massaging my temples. “You boys can go boop each other, but I think Luca and I will head out.” I stand, taking Lu’s hand. “I probably need medical attention.”
“Oats.” He doesn’t budge. “The bike.”
“Nooo. We’re stuck here in the valley of the boy orgies with mind reading, time-traveling wackadoos and no way home? Pops is gonna kill you.”
“Me? Why me?” He gapes. “You’re the one who dragged me to Skid Row Saloon for dinner in the middle of the night!”
“Ugh, we both know I make poor life choices. This is absolutely your fault, shot caller.” I stomp my foot.
“Um?” One of the guys cuts in.
“What?!” we snap, glaring at them.
“Shit,” I totally forgot we had an audience. “Yeah, so how do we like-” I jerk a thumb over my shoulder to where the portal closed. “-go back? Ya think you can just, like, pop us back out over there so we can be on our way?”
“No.” Rais shakes his head.
“No?”
“What he means is. No, but not because we won’t. We can’t.” Dom takes my free hand in his. “Ottilie, I know this is a lot to take in, but it’s not safe for you there. They will not stop hunting you. We have to keep moving forward. You cannot go back.”
“And they want me because?”
“Because you, Ottilie, are the missing princess and prophesized savior of Bergljot.”
“I- okay, let’s pretend I believe this.” I shrug. “Who are you? Why on earth would you help us?”
“Because you’re ours, Love.”
“The hell she is!” Lu fumes, but I hold tight to his arm.
“Let them talk. Something is happening here, and we’re working with pieces. We’ll listen now and sort the crap out later.”
Rais
Well, this is going well. I run a hand through my hair, examining our surroundings. “Where are we, Ottilie?”
“I don’t know?” She sighs, shaking her head. “What does that have to do with anything? You guys brought us here.”
“No, you showed us this place. You pictured it here.” I point to her head, moving a stray hair behind her ear. “You wanted to come here. Why?”
“Mind readers!” She throws up both hands. “Can you just talk straight and drop the riddles because not all of us have creepy boundary-crossing magic.”
“Yeah, we outnumber LuLu,” Berk snorts.
“The veil is thin here,” Dom mumbles, “Can you all feel it too? Have you two been here before?”
“No, I mean we’ve been all over, but this place isn’t exactly motorcycle friendly.” Luca shrugs, quirking a brow at her frown. “Oats?”
“It’s the place from my dreams, Lu. It’s just different, being here, but always goes dark,” she points to the far-right side of the field. “There.”
“Dark?” I ask, holding her gaze, and she nods.
“Yeah, I’m happy here, but I’m younger. I pick flowers exactly where we’re standing, but when I notice I’m alone, everything changes. I reach for- someone. I can’t see them. I just know they should be there, but they left. I don’t understand why, but they did, and I cry.” She shivers, whispering, “I’m all alone, but then something slides over my skin. It moves with the shadows. I try to hide, but it spreads, eating up the good I felt before and takes away the light.”