Page 96 of Choosing Jenny
I nodded, grateful I didn’t have to explain why I was so tense and anxious.
“Just like before, we’re all here,” he said, indicating the group who’d accompanied me here. “And we’re going to keep you safe.”
I exhaled a deep breath. “Thanks. But I think I should be alone when I summon Illiamor. She’s skittish.”
“We’ll go up ahead,” Malice said. “Take all the time you need.”
“You have five minutes,” Discord added over her shoulder as she walked away.
“What?” I snapped.
“We don’t know when our onworlder will be seen on the side of the mountain. So hurry up.” She continued up the trail.
Malice rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to her—”
“No, she’s right.” I swallowed hard. “This is dangerous enough without adding the threat of guards catching all of us. Go on. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
He hesitated, then gave a nod and followed everyone else up the trail until I was alone.
I sat on a mossy log and forced myself to breath. Deep in. Slow out. The woods here were black as ink, the only light coming from the scattered stars above. Somewhere in the distance I heard the river—our river—where Malice and I had our first time together and that memory made me smile. Illiapol wasn’tallbad, if I was honest with myself.
Focus, Jen.
I closed my eyes and pictured Illiamor, the girl they claimed to honor with this cursed tradition. But the truth was, the entire situation was a disgrace, to put it mildly. During a harsh winter,her royal family had begun to starve, and rather than let that happen, she let them eat her.
“Is that what they tell people? Even now?” Illiamor’s voice rang out clearly.
I blinked my eyes open and smiled at the vision in front of me. The young woman’s tan skin shone pale in the moonslight, but her black hair followed her like a shadow. A ghost, transparent enough to see through, yet solid enough to reflect the moonslight. I didn’t know how all of it worked, but that didn’t matter.
She was pretty and young when she had died and I realized that ghosts didn’t age on Orhon the way they seemed to on Halla.
“It’s nice to see you, Illiamor,” I said in a quiet voice.
She inclined her head. “You, as well, Avatar Jenny.”
“The palace calls me Prima Hollinger now,” I said in a wry tone. “But you can just call me Jenny.”
“What brings you here?” she asked curiously. “Finally come to pay us a visit?”
“Actually, I came with a proposal in mind. Would you like to go to Halla?”
She blinked in surprise. “What a strange question.”
“Well, would you?”
I saw the briefest flicker of hope in her eyes, which was quickly replaced by a sad smile. “Of course. Me and all the rest of the avatars…but we’re trapped here, doomed to haunt this mountain for eternity. There is no—”
“What if there was a way?” I asked.
Her brows furrowed. “How could a human conduit help us to leave Orhon?”
“My friends are up the trail,” I told her. “I warned them that you’re shy, but would you mind if they joined us?”
She clasped her hands in front of her, almost happily. “Are they conduits too?”
“No. One is a magician, though,” I said, wanting to be honest with her. “Is that a problem?”
Her whole face lit up. “Absolutely not. I adore magicians. One of my dearest friends was a magician when I was alive.”
