The Secret World of Briar Rose(92)

“I can’t run,” she winced. “It hurts too much.”

“Then hold on to me,” Corin demanded, already snaking her arms beneath Elly’s armpits to hoist her up. She carried her sister on her back, but barely kept balance as the earth beneath them shook. A dark gloom stampeded over the dried well where the ocean once was. They looked up to see what the prince had become. Shadows wrapped around his limbs, turning his figure amorphous. His form was massive enough to puncture the sky, and he absorbed every cloud he touched until they became part of him, rain and lightning swirling inside a chasm of darkness and grief.

With each step he left behind, cracks splintered the ground and opened to swallow what was left into an empty, endless gulf. Corin heard distant animal cries behind her, and as she looked back at Autumnland, the island slowly sank into a white void.

The dreams were collapsing. Creatures that once terrorized her screamed as they tumbled into the void and disappeared forever. Trees that previously shrouded the island and scratched her limbs were sucked into the chasm, leaving no trace behind. The nothingness spread like disease beyond the shores so that even the sand surrounding them crumbled to dust. Corin backed away from the void, realizing it would reach her too. Her hold on Elly tightened as she turned the other way and ran. For the first time in their fragile lives, she didn’t want to disappear.

? ? ?


THEY COULD NO longer find Ezran by the time they reached Summerland, and it both relieved and terrified Corin. Her chest wanted to collapse over her entire body from how heavily she panted in exhaustion, but her hand grasped the amulet tucked safely underneath her shirt, a reminder that she needed to find Briar Rose before Ezran would. Yet every time she touched the gem, it became less of a resolution and more of a worry. She could not tell if Malicine’s magic contained in this tiny rock would be enough to save them all. It wasn’t even enough to heal Elly’s wounds.

When they reached the emptied shore, the gash in her sister’s leg had widened farther. Her skin had split open not to reveal flesh and bone, but a white mass of space, just like the disappearing land that surrounded them.

No, Elly couldn’t disappear. Corin wouldn’t allow it.

“You’re going to be okay, El,” she said, still carrying her sister on her back. Despite her attempt to stay calm, her voice rose in panic as sand dissolved behind her steps. She hauled them both through jungle foliage and tangled vines, sights that should have been familiar, except the picture was now askew. Apricots had fallen from trees and split open to reveal swarms of ants and rot. Tropical flowers had shriveled into wilted petals and sagging leaves. She felt the first chill of Summerland as the sun above the canopy blinked like a dying light, and she knew then she would no longer feel warmth from this land.

In the corner of her bleary vision, apricot juice stained the vegetation like orange paint. She stared at the misshaped circle bleeding into the roots and heard her mother’s voice grow fainter in her memory. Look, Corin. You just made the sun.

But the sun was dying. Clouds had already choked out the star, leaving them shivering in the cold.

“I’m slowing you down,” Elly said. “There’s no point in carrying me. We both know I’m not—”

“Just shut up and hold on to me, El!” Corin’s voice cracked in desperation.

She soon learned how ill-equipped she was to travel with the added weight on her back and her exhausted condition. Sweat dripped down the side of her temple, and her panting turned to strained breaths. Birds flew over their heads and scattered to dust the moment their wings reached the void. If she could outpace the nothingness, surely she would reach something else. But things were no longer making sense. Rain poured from the ground upward to the sky, and wildflowers sprouted in the air without any roots. Branches grew out of fruit, and when her boots stepped on them, they snapped into crystal fragments and vanished.

The weather jumbled itself together, blazing hot one minute, freezing cold in another. She thought the sky might collapse on them next. If it did, she still would not let Elly go.

? ? ?


DUST PERMEATED THE air to the point where Corin had to instruct Elly to rub her eyes when they reached Springland. The particles came from dandelion seeds whipping through the meadows like a tornado. Fuchsia colors from flowers dulled to browned petals, each one wilted to crisps. Corin struggled to balance her legs on top of rolling hills that swayed like ocean waves. The world could not make sense of itself, and in her dizziness, she collapsed forward.

They both rolled down the hill and thudded against the oak tree that had frozen over in ice. Corin bent over and groaned, fighting nausea in an ever-changing landscape. Elly had to shake her by the shoulders to pull her attention ahead of them.

Across withering fields and dying trees, a cottage had collapsed in a tornado of broken wood and shattered stones. The lace parasol that once acted as a makeshift rooftop had been ripped apart, the strings of fabric hanging on splinters like defeated flags. At the porch, a long table caved in at the center. Neither Briar nor the animals could be seen.

“Check if she’s in the dollhouse,” Elly urged. “I’ll stay here.”

“I won’t leave you—”

“I know. But you can take a break from carrying me.”

Corin couldn’t think of a good argument, so she got up to approach the cottage, keeping an eye on Elly and the white void growing in her sister’s leg. Her shoes crunched against broken teapots and shattered glass. She called for Briar as she surveyed the debris and sorted through rubble.