She was right.
We need to get out of here, fast. Fast like now.

I fall to my knees, getting ready to do what the clock had taught me through the years. To communicate with it, I had to harness energy from the earth.

I place it in front of me on the ground and take a deep breath.

1
2
3

Nothing.

Okay. Try again.

1—

“Shit. Stop!”
Amelia speaks in frustration.

“At first I thought it was because it only responds to its owner. But since you came into this kraal, that clock of yours hasn’t ticked.”

What?
I grab it from the ground, surveying it from all angles.

Did Enasis trick me into coming here so he could take my Purist oath for himself? Was that even possible? Did he want to get rid of me?
I'm reminded of him, literally on the verge of dying.

“It can't be...”
I watch the unmoving demize clock, losing all vestiges of hope.
We were going to die here.
And most damningly, I’m going to meet Austin after five years.

“Great. Let me guess, like always you’re of no use, even with that clock of yours.”
She kicks the ground before taking a seat on the dusty floor.

I shut my eyes, trying to marry with the reality of the situation.

“Where are we, exactly? What is this place? Do we ever get out of this room?”

If she says yes, then my worst fears are about to be realized.
I’m going to spend the rest of my life in an enclosed space with none other than Amelia.
My goodness, I must’ve really f’ed up in my past life.

“I don’t get it. Your main purpose ever since the Typhoon displaced us was to see Austin. You blamed me for the displacement, the group’s separation, hence making my life miserable all these years because I pulled my mother out of the portal in Tahuna instead of Austin. And now… you’re telling me he’s here and yet… you want to leave?
What has he done to you?”

She looks at the ground wryly, hands wrapped around her legs.

“You would never understand.”

I scoff, trying to make sense of it.

“And what about you? One minute ago, you were taking your time leaving, now you want to leave from the mention of his name. What are you running away from, since he loved you so much?
Shouldn’t this be your little lovers’ reunion?”
She half-laughs.
“Maybe you might take him back to HQ with you. Madame Brooke would sure love that. Two lovers reunited.”

When we were displaced, I’d hoped to reunite with Austin. It wasn’t this immense feeling, but it was there. His history and mine had been marred by hate,
Hate from Amelia, his mother, his best friends Hayden and Malcolm, and hate from Leeseland North as a whole.
I’d been the girl who rebelled against their rules and conduct, and things had only gotten worse.

Now things were still worse.
Not only had I shut down an opportunity to pull him out of purgatory, instead, I pulled out my mother...
I’m also entangled with someone else.
Someone I can’t even think about because the mere image of him in my brain leaves me consumed beyond return.

I shake my head.

“It’s been five years, Amelia. I personally don’t have a need to rehash the past. Nothing good can come of it.
As a matter of fact, I’d rather we continue like it never happened.”

Bracing myself for her inevitable wrath, every time I dismiss Austin, I’m shocked when she agrees.

She nods her head, staring at the ground.

“Good.”
She stands up, now seeming to have a new lease on life.
“Looks like we’re on the same page. The past is in the past. So let’s focus on loopholes, see what can get us back to Pyrenees.”

That would be dandy and all if she hadn’t literally tried to kill me because of Austin several times.

I play along.

“Okay. What is a day like here?
Maybe the clock is only harnessing its powers until the 25th hour.
Which means either way, we have to be ready.”

“These are the barracks. That’s the field that leads to the raffilien plant.
It’s used for energy and other sources.
We only have the trip to the fields, pee breaks, and meal breaks to concoct a plan or escape or whatever.”

Worse—it’s a neutral zone. No magic.

“Let’s get one thing straight.”
Hateful Amelia returns to full form.
“We’re only working together for the next 25 hours which I’m sure is down to 21. If nothing happens, you’re on your own.”

Basically, it means she’s ready to throw me under the bus if things don’t go her way.

Finally usurping the courage to address the elephant in the room, I ask,
“Is Austin okay?”

She regards me, insincere.
“You’ve never cared about him. Stop pretending to start now.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Do I? Then explain to the court why you left him to rot in this place when you had several opportunities to pull him out of the portal?”

“It was a matter of security. My mother was needed. And you, why did you pull Jacob, a student you had zero allegiance with?
Why did you pull his sister instead of Austin?”

“That’s a different story.”

“Oh, is it.”

“I will end you, Oliveira, here and now.”

“Try.”

We face off, very much aware we need each other for today to work.

After some mental deliberation, we go our separate ways to wait for the purgatory day to start.

As dawn creeps, voices start to surface. The noises of doors opening set Amelia up.
My heart begins to race, despite the plan being simple and in place.
All we have to do is brave through the day.
By the end of the day, all will be over, and I’ll go back to Pyrenees.

For a smidgen of a second, a memory of Xanthe’s warm gaze and embrace flashes...
and that’s all I need to prepare for what’s coming next.

The sound of the pen doors opening feels like stab wounds.
I watch as the metal doors disengage and widen.

“Come out!”
A male voice commands.

We do as told.

Getting out of the kraal for the first time has me on the brink of something like fear, but not quite.
It’s almost like the whole plan we had has just erased from my mind.

To both my left and right are hundreds of rooms just like the one we left.
Metal. Roofless. With the longest white pillars that now look like sharp weapons held up against the sky, stretching on forever.

I’m enamored by the structures and the number of people harboring in them.
Various people come out, allowing the men in khaki uniforms to search them for weapons.

The clock remains safe, buried in a corner in the metal pen.