Page 104 of The Iron Dagger
“I hear it,” Gideon whispered. “Can you see anything?”
She peered down into the blackness, and through the trickling water, she must have seen something he could not. “Yes. It’s there.”
Neither of them moved, staring silently into the depths.
“Hara, this is suicide,” said Gideon. “You can’t tell me you are going to jump in there.”
“What did you think we were doing? Coming for a look?” she asked.
“I didn’t realize it was so . . . deep,” he said, swallowing against his dry throat. Gideon had never been sensitive to heights, but the unsettling, roaring echo coming up from the blackness was telling all of his instincts to turn around and go back down the mountain.
“If there is magic flowing from the water in the cave, then that means they survived the fall,” said Hara. “If they survived, so can I.”
“But it’s madness! The fae trick might not work, and you would be trapped along with them!”
“At least I would be with her,” said Hara, her voice rough with tears. “I could see her again.”
“Hara . . .” Gideon said, helpless and terrified. Then his brows furrowed, and he took her hand. “I’ll jump with you.”
Hara turned, shocked eyes to him. “We don’t know what will happen, Gideon. The stone might not open for you, and you would be dashed to death.”
“I won’t let you go alone,” he said firmly. “And besides, I’ve sinned more in my life than I’m proud of. It might not be such a bad thing if I leave the earth attempting to help you find her.”
“You are a complete fool,” she said. “There is every chance this won’t work.”
“It might,” he said. “Maybe my non-magic essence will allow you to find your way back out again. Anything is possible.”
Hara sighed, biting her lip.
“Ready?” said Gideon.
“No,” said Hara, tensing.
“Neither am I,” he said, crouching his knees.
They leapt.
NINETEEN
Gideon
All was utterly still and quiet, neither warm nor cool. A strange, humid smell hung in the air. Gideon rested sprawled on the ground, and as he came to his senses, he became aware of a smooth, powdery texture against his cheek.
His last memory was the weightless sensation of his stomach as they jumped into the void. The darkness swallowed them, and the roaring grew deafening as they fell for what seemed an age. He had a brief glimpse of a massive slab of gray crystal blooming out of the darkness, rushing up to meet him and as solid as the ice around them. He tightened his hand around Hara’s and focused on the feel of it. If this were to be his death, he wanted her cold fingers and aching grip to be the last thing he felt.
But he kept falling. After that, he must have passed out since he had no memory of landing on solid ground. He opened his eyes and blinked, finding that he was now in a place that should not exist at the bottom of a glacier pit. He sat up and looked around him properly.
He sat on a stretch of beach, and a serene sea lapped gently before him. He glanced behind him, but all he could see was endless sand, the distance hazy with mist. The sky was a dusky purple scattered with stars, with only a thin fiery line touching the horizon. He wasn’t sure what he had expected from a witch’s prison, but it would have been a bit more terrifying. This was almost pleasant.
Gideon flexed his shoulders and his back, but nothing seemed to be injured from the fall. There was a stirring besidehim, and Gideon turned to see Hara sitting up. Her eyes were wide as she took in their surroundings and brushed sand from her arms.
He couldn’t help but grin. “Maybe we were both dashed to death, and this is the afterlife.”
“This is . . . this is my mind. This is where I go to see the past,” said Hara in wonder.
“It’s nice,” he said, letting a handful of fine lavender sand slip through his fingers. In truth, he felt rather lightheaded with shock, not quite understanding where they were or whether any of it was real. But he was quickly becoming acclimated to the quiet shushing of the water and the sunset that did not seem to change. Sorbite appeared to behave much like the tapestries in the palace; one only needed a witch’s touch to enter.
“It’s bizarre seeing a place that has only been in my head. It always felt like stepping into deep water, looking into the past,” she said, and she crawled toward the water’s edge. “I wonder . . . ”
