She closed her eyes and sighed. Then shook her head. When she looked back at him she had her own unshed tears. “My story is complicated. Much like yours and Hope’s, there’s a process for all of it. I would love nothing more than to sit here and tell you everything but I can’t. And you know me well enough to know I don’t hold back lightly.”
He hung his head. “So is there anything you can tell us?”
“That we need to act fast to save our friends before it’s too late.” She turned to Saffie with sad eyes. “I knew my return would cause a distraction but I’m here to help in any way I can now. The rules of the dead don’t apply to me the same way, so I may stay. Once we get them back we will talk about me. Okay?”
Everyone nodded.
“Because you read Althea’s note.” Tegan smirked. “I know you did. I would have.”
Cassandra chuckled. “I did. I read it…but it wasn’t full instructions. Althea thought they were, but they weren’t.”
“Why aren’t they?”
“Because we don’t know where the Seelie Realm is.” She frowned. “It’s a headache of a concept to grasp but the realms are not stuck in place. They move but we also don’t ever have specific pinpointed locations. Without that pinpoint, it is literally impossible.”
“What are you saying,” Saffie said between clenched teeth. “You made it sound like we could get them back.”
Her eyes sparkled. “Ah, because we can…because they took Bentley.”
“WHAT?” Everyone shouted.
“Every Card has its tricks. Hierophant has some too.” She took a deep breath. “Because of the Hierophant’s direct connection with the Goddess and the locket, it allows us to create a…wormhole so to speak. It’s only for Hierophants.”
“Well that’s lucky.”
“Or is it?” Tegan frowned. “Princess Sage doesn’t do coincidence or mistakes. She took Bentley for a reason and this has to be it.”
Cooper arched one eyebrow. “Are you saying she didn’t betray all of us, including Riah?”
“I’m saying for whatever reason…she wanted us to have that connection to Seelie through Bentley.”
Tenn frowned. “How does it help though?”
“Because if the ritual works and we can get Bentley back…we’ll be able to use Althea’s note to send someone into Seelie for the others.”
Saffie’s eyes widened. “Let’s do that.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Tegan rubbed her hands together. “Cassandra, I’m assuming you know how to do this?”
She grinned. “Absolutely. We just have to go to the spot where he was taken from.”
Tenn nodded and snapped his fingers. “Let’s do it now. Tegan, portal us there.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Saffie
When the light of Tegan’s portal faded, the sight of the beach took my breath away. Even though it shouldn’t have. I’d known this was our destination. Cassandra had explained that clear enough. This was where Bentley was taken, this was where the connection was the strongest.
Still…all I could do was stare at the spot Sage had grabbed Riah.
It made no sense.
Riah told us Prince Thorne and Princess Sage were on our side. Jackson had proved that this was the truth as Riah knew it. Was it possible that they’d been playing Riah this whole time? My gut told me no. My gut told me there was something more to this story, except until I had that something there was nothing I could do.
“Saffie?”
I jumped and spun around and then leapt back. “Cassandra, sorry.”
She smiled and it made her emerald green eyes sparkle, which was impressive for a mostly dead person. “Don’t be. You’re fine. But we’re ready now if you are?”
“Oh. Yes. Of course.” I shook myself, then gestured for her to lead the way.
As she stomped toward the spot, I noticed her feet actually sank in the sand. And then she tied her dark red hair up into a messy Tegan-style bun. What kind of dead people sink in the sand and put their hair up?
She stopped and glanced over her red freckled shoulder at me.
I cursed. “Did I say that out loud?”
“You did.” She grinned and turned to face me more. “I’m not dead in the same sense that you, or any mortal, is accustomed to. I look and sound alive, but I don’t need to eat, drink, or use the facilities, and I can be impaled by a woman holding a candle.”
I reached out and gripped her arm with the faded V Mark. “There’s more to your situation than you’re telling me.”
She sighed and nodded. “My situation can wait. Riah cannot. The girls cannot. Bentley cannot. Let’s at least get Bentley back and then we’ll see what we can do for me, okay?”
I wanted to argue. I wanted to say I’d feel better if I could fix one person, but I knew she was right. The only way I was going to get Riah back was if we got Bentley. Which meant I needed to get my shit together and do this ritual.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
She smiled and hooked her arm around mine. We walked in silence toward the water. In front of us the horizon was such a dark navy blue it was almost black. The stars still twinkled in the distance. But behind us the sun was rising and turning the sky a warm pretty pink.
“Did you know you were going to die? Did you know you were coming back?”
“Yes and yes,” she said softly. “But the reason I am this phantom is the same reason I was able to see visions of my own future.”
“Do you think Bentley knew?”
“No.” She shook her head and her messy red bun slid down the side of her head. “But given the drama of the moment, I would wager he saw things that alluded to this, even if it didn’t make sense at the time.”
“Cassandra?”
She stopped and turned toward me, then ducked to meet my eyes. “Don’t worry about if this works or not, because it either will work or it won’t. Once that happens we’ll find the next step and the next step until we get what we want.”
“That’s fair.”
“Now, you got the best look and I know it’s burned into your brain…” She stepped to the side and pointed to the water. “Is this the spot?”
I nodded.
She grabbed my hand and dragged me closer to the water, close enough that the waves were crashing over our feet. “I’m going to get everyone in position. All I need you to do is stand right here.”
“Got it. Not moving.”
Cassandra walked around me. “Okay, I need all my Bishops up here now— no, Devon, that includes you too.”
Devon gasped. “What? But I’m not a Bishop, I just married into—”
“Did you carry him in your womb for nine months? Did you give birth to him?”
“Well…yeah before—”
“Exactly. You’re his mother. That’s a strong connection.” Cassandra pointed to the ground at her feet. “In the circle, mamabear.”
Her eyes glistened and her cheeks flushed. She sprinted to where Cassandra stood a few feet over from me.