Page 133 of The Last One
“Help!”
Jadon and I both stiffen. That was Philia’s voice. She bursts into the garden, crying, fear streaking her face. She glows an urgent amber. Blood stains the front of her dress. “Jadon,” she whimpers, collapsing before him.
“Otherworldly?” Jadon asks.
Philia’s lips are split and bloody. Her neck shows the start of new bruising, and patches of scalp bleed where her copper hair used to be. The front of her chartreuse dress is bright with blood, and she cups her hand there as if she’s holding in her guts, wincing every time she tries to take a breath. She’s wearing a long blue coat with a gray collar over that bloody dress and boots with silver buckles. Traveling clothes. And none of it looks like it actually fits her.
“They…they…” she chokes out. “Olivia…”
“Where is she?” Jadon asks. “Is she hurt?”
Philia’s breath twists into sobs. “They took Livvy.”
“Who?”Jadon shouts.
“Philia,” I whisper, kneeling beside her and taking her hand. “We’ll fix you up, okay? Take a breath. Let’s figure it out.”
Veril rushes over. “I heard the commotion and thought more battabies, but now I see… Oh dear.” He scans Philia’s body, resting finally on her abdomen. “I’ll go get something.” He hurries back into the cottage.
The young woman’s face turns gray. “Something inside me is broken,” she murmurs, her lips trembling. Then she looks at me, and a teardrop falls onto my hand. “We found your amulet. Please forgive me.”
Her confirmation makes my face go numb—I can’t even speak.
“When did she find it?” Jadon hisses.
Veril returns to the garden with vials of silver liquid.
Philia quivers. “After the burnu fight.” She looks at me, guilt swamping her face. “It was right there on the path after you fell on the way here.” Fat teardrops tumble down her cheeks. “I wanted to give it to you, Kai, but once Olivia put it on, she refused to take it off. She said she feltmorewith it.And with the cape, boots, and gloves, she’d be even more powerful.”
I dip my forehead to my knee. Dizzier and dizzier.
Philia trembles, and I can’t tell if it’s pain she’s experiencing or sorrow. She swallows, then says, “But then she decided to sell it along with the clothes and the storybook so we would have enough to find a place of our own and money to start our life together—”
She looks to Jadon. “And so you didn’t have to choose between us and Kai. We were out scouting the best route to Vinevridth, but these men took her.”
So much anger is burning in my eyes, I can barely see. “Whotook her?”
Jadon asks, “What did they look like?”
“Did she still have the amulet?” Veril asks. “Or did these men take that, too?”
Philia doesn’t answer us. Only sinks lower to the dirt.
I pluck the vial of silver tonic from Veril’s hands and remove the stopper. The air now smells like sulfur. “This stinks, but you’ll need to drink it, Phily.” I pour the concoction between her bloody lips.
Philia jerks in my arms, and her eyes turn liquid and vacant. “They were going to Weeton… Big…red…soldiers.”
I go icy cold as Veril and I exchange a look.Is she talking about Elyn and her guards?“Philia,” I say, “where’s the amulet?”
The young woman’s face clears, and her breathing becomes rhythmic again. She sits up, wobbly still, but I catch her. She looks back at me with crumpled eyebrows. “I’m so sorry. I-I-I should’ve been braver. I didn’t know what to do. I love her.”
I stand, leaving her seated on the ground.
What we do for love: aid and abet a thief. Save a realm.
“We’ll find her, right?” Philia whimpers.
Is it possible to hate someone but wish them happiness? I want Olivia and Philia to find a safe place. I want Olivia to open a dress shop and make lots of money off rich people. I want them to sit together by the fire and trade stories about that wild time they ran from otherworldly. I want all these good things for someone who stole from me. Veril and ItoldOlivia just how dangerous it was to wear that pendant. She remained selfish and spoiled, and now she’s gone. And so is my amulet and perhaps the realm itself.
