Page 5 of The War of Wings
“How did she get here?” another voice asked. I knew that voice too, but not as well as the first. It was fresher in my mind, though.
“I have no idea. I don’t think she came through the Gates.”
There was a hammer inside my skull pounding away behind my eyes — eyes I couldn’t open. In fact, I couldn’t seem to coordinate my movements enough to do anything besides breathe.
My lungs filled with the overwhelming scent of flowers, like an entire garden had been planted in my chest. Birds sang out around me, their songs sweet but unfamiliar. Somewhere nearby was the unmistakable sound of gentle waves rippling against a sandy shore.
“Fuck. What do we do?” the first voice asked. Female. Andfamiliar.
With more effort than it should’ve taken, I pried my eyes open to blinding light, completely white at first. But as I blinked, it softened and yellowed. Sunlight? Sure felt like it. A gasp sounded from somewhere above me. My headache ebbed slightly as I willed the world to come into focus, to discern the silhouette that I could now tell was crouching over me.
“Thank theSaints,” the silhouette said, throwing her arms around my neck and pulling me to sit. I knew the feel of those arms around me. I knew that lean, muscled body.
My chest hollowed and seemed to collapse inward as I struggled to take in a breath. This wasn't real. It was impossible. It was–
“Larka?”
“Hi,” she said, her familiar face beaming as she pulled away to look at me, her expression turning solemn. “Are you hurt?”
The world spun around me — no, that was just my mind whirring in an attempt to make sense of what I was looking at.WhoI was looking at. I rubbed my eyes so hard, light flashed behind my lids, and I was sure they would wipe away this vision and present reality to me once again. But I opened my eyes to see the exact same thing I’d been looking at when I closed them.Larka. I was staring at Larka.
“You’re…alive?” I stammered.
“Yes. I miraculously survived getting speared through the throat with a flaming board then exploding in a fiery inferno,” she quipped. “No, silly. I’m dead. Very dead.”
I rubbed my eyes again, so vigorously this time it hurt. I was going to open them and be back in the Darkness Beyond. This was a joke. A cruel one, at that.
“Rub your eyes all you want, Petra, but it’s me.”
I dropped my fists, staring back at Larka. “What the fuck?” I finally asked, unable to find more eloquent words to ask her…what the fuck?
“I knew you were going to say that,” Larka said, turning to the woman standing behind her. “Didn’t I tell you she was going to say that?”
My eyes fell on…
“Elin?” I gasped.
She lowered her head, bending her knees slightly. “Your Majesty.”
A barely concealed laugh sputtered from Larka’s lips. All I could do was stare at my sister. My eyes were so wide, I was sure they were going to pop right out of my head. She was here, in the flesh, and she was…laughing at me.
“Elin told me about your, um, journey.” Her voice was mocking, lined with a giggle, and had it been anyone else speaking, it would’ve grated on me. But it washer,it was Larka, my sister.My sister.
Elin gave a polite smile. “I told her all I know, but I’m sure there’s a lot I left out. I remember bits and pieces here and there, though. Even now.” At my face that now somehow looked even more confused, Elin added, “It’s been about a year since I arrived at the Gates.”
“A year? But the battle only ended–”
“A few minutes ago,” she cut in. “Yep. Time passes differently here. Takes a bit, but you’ll get used to it.”
My sister’s fist landed a light punch against my arm, drawing my attention back to her. “You couldn’t’ve made yourself a queen while I was still alive? Some sister you are.”
She stared at me expectantly, as if I could form a complete sentence right now. I couldn’t even form a complete thought. How? How was she here? And…
Where washere? I managed to tear my eyes away from my sister and take in the scene around us. The sun shone brightly on a garden bursting with blooms in every shape and size and color. My hands flexed in grass so velvet soft I could curl up and drift off to sleep in it. The meadow bordered a powdery white beach, the cerulean blue waves that lapped against the sand so vibrant, it looked like a painting. The water expanded all the way to the horizon, gleaming like Eserenian crystals in the sunlight. Behind us was a cabin with a front porch wide enough for a small table and set of chairs. The windows were open, the edges of white curtains ruffling lightly in the breeze.
Before I could ask Larka where we were, her face turned up in that beautiful smile I’d always been so envious of. “Would you believe that even with all the shit I did in life, I still made it to Heaven?”
Chapter 2
