Page 13 of Into the Abyss
“I won’t tolerate the jinn being hurt,” Isaid to him. “We are going to find your friends, not to fight thejinn. I’ll bring you back immediately if you try to hurt them, andknow that Iamyour only way back here. None of the otherjinn would allow you to go free, but I will.”
Magnus’s silver eyes narrowed at me. “Iwon’t purposely hurt anyone, but I will defend my life and thelives of my friends if it becomes necessary.”
I absorbed the emotions coming from him. Hewas uncertain about this, but his words were true, and that was thebest I could hope for.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Keeping his hand in mine, together, westepped into the Abyss.
CHAPTER 6
Amalia
I didn’t know what I’d expected to discover in theAbyss: nothing, fog, chaos, floating brains, or conscious thoughtstreaming through until one mind couldn’t be separated fromanother, but none of that unfolded before me.
Instead, I found myself standing besideMagnus in a meadow with waves of waist-high, violet grass flowingaround us. No breeze caressed my cheeks, but the grass bowed andswayed as if currents of air stirred it. Before us, the grasscovered a steep hill rising into the air until it seemed to touchthe red sky.
When I glanced back through the portal, Ispotted Corson and Raphael leaning close together with their eyesnarrowed as they watched us. Then, the edges of the portal startedclosing in on each other until the door-sized hole became nothingbut a pinprick before fading completely.
Beyond where the doorway was located lay alarge body of reddish water. I couldn’t tell if that was thenatural color of the water or if it was reflecting the sky. Pinksand surrounded the shore of the lake stretching as far as the eyecould see in that direction. Beyond the twenty feet of shoreline,the meadow started, but unlike the grass, the water was as still asglass.
The second the portal closed, noisereturned. I still didn’t feel a breeze, but the sighing sounds ofthe feathery grass ends filled my ears as they danced. Somethingabout the music they created sounded melancholy, and a twinge ofsadness tugged at my heart as I released Magnus’s hand to caress afluffy tip.
When it slid across my palm, the seed headwas as soft as a butterfly’s wings. On Earth, those colorfulinsects had fascinated me, as almost everything on Earth did, butsomething about butterflies intrigued me more than anythingelse.
One day, when they were especially active,I’d lain by a pond watching the creatures flutter and dance aroundme in the sunlight. The longer I lay there, the more some startedsettling on me until I was shocked to discover myself covered inthem. Their supple wings stroked my skin, and their multi-coloredhues captivated me. It had been one of the best days of my lifetopped only by the day I was set free of the seal.
When I released the grass, it bowed its headas if it were mourning something, but grass couldn’t grieve. Thatwas impossible. But no matter how impossible it was, my empathability insisted this field was mourning something.
But what?
Unfortunately, the grass couldn’t answerthat question, and I had no idea how to figure it out.
“The grass sounds like the ocean,” Magnusmurmured as he studied the field.
“The what?” I inquired.
“The ocean. It’s numerous bodies of saltywater on Earth located near the shores of the land. Where we are onEarth is pretty far from the closest sea.”
“I’ve never seen it. Does the ocean soundsad too?”
“I suppose it could sound sad to some. Youthink the grass sounds sad?”
“Yes. Don’t you?”
He listened for a minute before shrugging.“Maybe it does. You don’t know much about the human world, doyou?”
“I know what I’ve had the opportunity tolearn since being freed, but I haven’t really traveled, and Ididn’t have the chance to see much while locked behind a seal,” Iretorted.
“No, you didn’t,” he said.
Before I knew what he intended, he liftedhis hand to run his fingers over my cheek. I tried to recoil fromhim but found myself unable to move as his touch sent a thrillthrough me.
“The ocean is sort of like the RiverAsharún,” he said. “Except the ocean is bigger and blue instead ofred.”
“I don’t know what the River Asharún iseither.”
His hand stilled on my face. “You never sawor heard about the Asharún?”
