Lissie felt her heart stop under Nelli’s grip. She closed her eyes, and opened them. She felt tearing in her chest. Her blood was pouring out of her heart and into her body. She was going to die.
You’re not going to die, calm down. Nelli sounded stronger. Younger. Look at him again.
She looked at Niko, shifting view. She could see a wrapping of swirling black mist ensnaring him. Coils of it reached from his skin, and snaked their way up into his head.
You just have to cut those.
Nelli stretched inside of her, and Lissie felt the presence growing. The witch broke free from her chest and probed into her arms and legs. Lissie’s body rebelled from within.
I thought it was just my heart. Everything was moving so slow.
Can’t blame me for trying.
Knowledge flooded her mind. Not only Nelli’s. All Nelli had ever stolen. Everything back to the first Dust Woman. She searched for how to trap Nelli in her heart. The answer came. Lissie built a cage of her ribs.
She looked at Niko again. She understood the disease, now. The curse. As if she had been the one to design it.
You lied. He’ll die if we cut the threads. He’ll die in agony.
You caught me! I’m a liar. Cut them or he’s going to kill you.
But Lissie knew everything now. She knew how vast the Nomads had been. She was there when their land was taken and they were forced onto the Plains. She knew what caused the schism between the Dust Women.
She reached out for Niko, leaving her body. Leaving it as easily as she stepped out of her boots.
He was weeping. Even as his body lunged at her to kill, she could see his soul crying out within him.
I can take him on one last journey, and save myself. If I do it right, I can save all the infected.
“Take my hand.” She watched him move within himself. He reached for her.
You can’t do that! My daughter will KILL YOU. But Nelli’s voice was distant. It was trapped in Lissie’s heart now. Nelli couldn’t follow her out of her body.
She pulled Niko to follow her.
They rose. She pulled him high on the wind, through the ceiling and through the floors. They drifted free of the stone, on the breeze.
“How did you do this?” Niko asked.
Lissie looked down. Terndowns was spread before her, the hospitals, the castle. Beyond that, the Bandinette. She saw the tethers to the problem cases, spider silk thin, shining in the morning light.
“I used that Dust Box I found in the cave. I had to.”
“What happens now?” Niko asked, his voice tremulous. He was so beautiful. “Am I cured?”
“No. Your body is still sick. But we can be free of it.” Lissie smiled with relief, the man in her arms radiated health. Niko’s face had all the patience and presence his body had lost.
“What do you mean?”
“I can take you higher. Or I can return you.” Lissie spun them over the clouds.
He wrapped his arms around her. “You feel so warm.”
She hugged him closer. “So do you.”
She pressed her lips into his. He tasted of ice and sparks. They soared.
Higher and higher. The world became a painting below them. Lissie was blind to anything past his blue eyes.
“Lissie, I’m feeling light.”
“Do you want me to take you back to the mountains?” They turned.
“No. I would like to see the ocean of which you spoke.” They dipped back below the clouds and flew east. It was as easy as thought. They flew over farmlands, empty and deserted.
Then they were over a sea. Not of water, but of black banners. Thousands of soldiers marched below. Riding horses, dragging equipment and flying black flags, they flowed over the land.
“This army! Lissie, you have to go back and tell them.” Niko had grown thin and translucent.
“Not before I take you to the sea.” Faster and faster now. The high buildings of Kalden whipped by in a second. And then the beach. She felt like a bird.
Farther, until there was only water. “This is the place, Lissie.” He looked down, and she followed his gaze. There was nothing but the Eible Sea.
“I’ve loved you since you touched me and showed me warmth.” Niko’s voice was fading.
She took him up. “I’ve loved you since I met your rabbits.”