Page 79 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

Home?

The word tumbled into my heart like a jagged rock coming loose from a quarry wall. Usually, that kind of pain was caused by someone throwing around the word motherhood. I’d usedhomeoften enough--referring to Hope House, Wyoming, or even Idaho. But home wasn’t the US, or Oxford, or even my friends anymore. I wasn’t attached to anyone but Griffon now.

And Kivi wasn’t my home. Like Flann and Brian, Loretta and Lorraine, Kivi was the twin at the other end of my thoughts. And I was at the other end of hers.

What possible home was she talking about?

She was dying to show me, to impress me with whatever awaited us out there, among the literal stars. And she wanted to do so without Griffon on our tail.

“You’re sure I will survive it?” I couldn’t believe I was saying it. “If we’re not here when Griffon comes back, it won’t be pretty. If we die—"

“We cannot die. We are DeNoy.”

“Everyone and everything can die, Kivi. Some things are just harder to kill, that’s all. If DeNoy can’t be killed, then where are the others? How could they be eliminated if they are invincible?”

“Then we are exceptionally difficult to kill.” She launched into the sky and speaking aloud had to stop.

Our ascent to the edge of the atmosphere took forever, with my anxiety and her excitement building with each downstroke. Of course, I didn’t want to do anything that would separate me from Griffon, but I wanted to see, to learn. I wanted to uncover the secrets that somehow waited inside of me, known only to my dragon.

Do you remember the lights, Marka?

The Northern Lights?

Like the lights, we cannot see when we are surrounded by them. But we are.

Kivi’s muscles bunched and together we took a deep breath just before she plunged us across some barrier between atmosphere and space. But we weren’t naked and vulnerable. There was a sort of bubble surrounding us, moving with us, trailing us.

You see? We are safe. The Son of Fae knows nothing.

He’s going to kill me.

She answered with her favorite image of a flaming marshmallow.

I laughed and my voice was eaten by nothingness.

Kivi nodded.Show me the way.

She had to be joking.I don’t understand. You said you could show me home.

I can. I can take you. But you must guide me to the bridges. DeNoy are born with the knowledge of these bridges. None else can see them.

Bridges?

Find them,she said.Guide us.

She made no sense. The entire visible universe was splayed out in front of us, above us, below us. If there were bridges out there, even with my good eyesight, I would never be able to—

Something shifted when I turned my head to the right. From the corner of my eye, I saw a wobble in the solid blanket of stars to the left. After I turned my head a few more times, I finally narrowed it down and tried to focus.

Eleven o’clock. Straight out. Go slow.

As Kivi moved, the wobble became more obvious. It was like a large bead of water on a windshield. Everything on the other side of it was distorted. And it was closer than I thought. Half a mile? I could only guess how far we moved before we hovered in front of it. Kivi’s bridge was a waterdrop without the water.

Straight in front of us. Be careful.

She laughed and plunged ahead, ignoring my apprehension. It was becoming a habit.

A tunnel of silvery light surrounded us, made from the streaks of a hundred million stars blurring past. Time blurred in my head too. And then we were out.

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