Page 250 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
“Yeah.” As okay as he could be.
Navara helped them up. “We need to get to the mountain. Now. I daresay we have very little time left, if any.”
“Mountain?” Kase asked, looking toward the peaks in the distance. A swollen black cloud hovered near one of them; it gave him the same feeling as seeing a hover with a smoking engine. Something was very, very wrong. “What is that?”
Hallie worried her lip with her teeth. “Loffler, we think. He’s trying to kill the soul shard of Toro that resides within the ruined third Gate there. If he’s successful, then it doesn’t matter what we do—we can’t stop Jagamot.”
“Loffler? I thought you said he fell through the Gate in Myrrai!”
Hallie nodded. “He did—and he fell through it into here. If you have the swords, we just need his Essence power as well as Ben’s and my own…wait, no, that’s not right. Correa. Oh stars, it’s not going to work after all!”
Kase and Skibs exchanged looks before Kase said, “His Essence power is in this sword. My father finished him off.” He retrieved his father’s sword from where he’d dropped it during the quake. “But I still think there’s another way.”
Hallie opened her mouth, and he readied himself for a different kind of battle—but instead, she just nodded. “Let’s go.”
Kase didn’t like it. He knew her well enough to know that a non-answer didn’t mean he’d won; it meant she was going to go through with her plan, but she didn’t want to argue about it.
Fine. They wouldn’t argue about it. Kase would just have to come up with hisownplan to make surehersdidn’t happen.
Navara turned to Jack and the rest of the Walkers. “Stay here and keep the peace. I have a feeling many people will need your aid soon.”
“But Gran—” the boy started, but he was interrupted by the shake of the older woman’s head.
“You are right—you can do this. And I trust you to do it well. You have learned much, and once I return, we can speak about rearranging your responsibilities.” She turned to Stowe and Zelda. “Stay with your boy. I’m sure you have many stories to tell each other.
Zelda made a noise to argue, but Stowe held her back. “Our Lark can handle herself just fine. You seen what she can do—let her do it.”
Jack himself accepted Navara’s directive with a nod, but by the way his mouth quirked—much like his mother’s had,exactlylike Hallie’s had—he wanted to.
Hallie hugged her family one more time. Zelda held her tightly and said something to her. Hallie said, “We’ll fix this andthen take the swords to the Gates. This is the last part, then we can go home.”
She choked on the last part. Like the lie tasted foul, and she had to force it onto her tongue anyway.
Zelda kissed her daughter’s cheek. “When we get back, it’s…it’s all right if you want to stay. Just promise you’ll visit, will you?”
“Thank you, Mama.” Hallie’s chin wobbled. “I’ll be back.”
Kase wouldn’t give away her lie. It was her choice to keep it from them, but if he’d had a say, he would have suggested she tell them the truth. Of course, if she did, they’d never let her leave; but wouldn’t it be worse not to know, only to find out later that this goodbye was their last?
A wound sprouting crooked black veins. His father’s rapid, shallow breaths. “I…I love…”
Kase shook the memory away, then shook Stowe’s hand. “I won’t leave her side.”
The man surprised him by tugging him close and clapping his back much like he had Jack’s.
Why did that make Kase’s eyes prickle?
“You all right, son?” Stowe whispered in his ear.
“I will be.” Of course he’d ask that—of course he could tell. He was a good father and an even better person. He could see the pain that only Kase could feel, the kind he had to keep buried until it was all done.
Why had Harlan saved Kase? Kase had tiptoed through his own home, desperately avoiding the cracks in his father’s temper, living in fear of accidentally falling through one and sending everything crumbling down.
Until he’d started jumping on the cracks instead, defiant and reckless. Not falling, but leaping.
The fear never saved him from falling. At least that way, the plunge was his choice.
Harlan had tormented Kase; Kase had infuriated Harlan. But in the end, his father had given everything for him—and Kase hadn’t said a word as he died.
