Page 47 of Into the Abyss
“Vya.” Eron brushed her hair back from herface and clasped her cheeks. “Like it or not, Amalia made thischoice and put herself in this position. We’ll protect her the bestwe can.”
Vya’s head bowed, and tears spilled down hercheeks. Amalia made a move as if to go to her mother beforestilling in my arms again.
“We’ll make sure she’s unharmed, I promise,”a female jinni said and rested her hand on Vya’s arm. “We all carefor Amalia too. Yes, she made a bad decision, but she’s young, andwe all know she hastoobig a heart. Olgon is mad, but whenhe calms, he’ll see this is because of Amalia’s Fault and notbecause she’s seeking to attack us, choosing against us, or tryingto see us caged again.”
“Yes,” a male jinni said as he steppedcloser to them. “Amalia is too soft, we all know that. Perhaps,when all is done, she’d be better off living with the otherFaulted. We’ll all miss her, but our way is not good for her.”
I didn’t move, not because I was concernedabout accidentally drawing the attention of the jinn, but becauseof a shift in my perception of them. Olgon was the vicious creatureI’d expected them all to be, but these were the jinn Amalia haddescribed to me.
They didn’t care about anyone beyond thejinn, but they loved each other.
“Come, Vya, Eron, we’ll start the search forAmalia. If we find her first, we’ll bring her back to Absentheesand keep her safe,” another jinni said.
I shifted to flatten my back against thewall as the rest of the jinn departed down a pathway I hadn’t seenbefore, but they must have taken it to get here. I remained where Iwas, the cloaking spell in place as I tried to understand what I’dwitnessed and what it meant for us.
• • •
Amalia
Magnus had been unusually subdued since we left theplace where we encountered the jinn, but then, I didn’t know whatto say or do either.
Since we’d seen the jinn, I was certain theywould be waiting for us around every turn we made. I loved myfamily and the jinn, but I couldn’t stand by while they killed somany innocents, and I wouldnotallow them to attackMagnus.
I was also exhausted and disheartened by theamount of lightning striking the monolith. Were the bolts alllives, or did some of them mean something more?
I felt a blast of energy from each of them,but I held out hope they might mean something more than the deathof someone. Maybe I was delusional, but right now, I was okay withdelusional.
Trudging behind Magnus, I contemplated whatI’d done by choosingmeand leaving with him. My parentsstill loved me, I knew the other jinn did too, and they wouldaccept me back again, but I’d taken my first step into severingmyself from them and going to live with the Faulted.
And it was a step I had to take. If I stayedwith them, they would tear me apart. Not on purpose, they wouldnever do that, but as upsetting as it was, I did belong with theother Faulted more than them.
And I couldn’t deny a part of me did itbecause I wanted to stay with Magnus and make sure he made it outof this place alive.
What did that mean? And why must one morecomplicated thing be heaped onto this entire mess? Why couldn’t itall be simple?
Like it was behind the seal? Because thatwas about as simple as it got.
I didn’t wantsealsimple again, butjust yesterday or maybe the day before—I didn’t know how much timehad passed since we entered the Abyss—my life was straightforward.I woke up, explored Earth, stayed away from anything the jinn mightbe trying to trap in the Abyss, avoided the craetons, and waited toage into my immortality. Sure, I had some problems, but theyweren’tthisbig or confusing.
Welcome to life, Amalia, something youwouldn’t have had behind the seal, not really.
And that was true. I would have stayed aliveand unbothered behind the seal, but I never would have gotten thechance toliveand experience anything beyond that smallworld.
“How did they know where we were?” Magnussuddenly inquired.
I frowned at his back as I puzzled hiswords. He didn’t turn to look at me while he strode onward. “Maybethey just lucked on us.”
“No. Maybe one or two of them would havelucked on us, but not all of them. They wouldn’tallleavethe monolith at once.”
“We’re just assuming that’s where they allare.”
Magnus tilted his head back to gaze at thedistant, foreboding structure. “That’s where they are.”
“Yeah, it is,” I agreed, feeling the truthof that in my bones.
“So then how did they know where wewere?”
“I don’t know.” My eyes narrowed on hisback. “I didn’t somehow tell them, if that’s what you’re trying toinsinuate.”
