16. Sapphire

Sapphire

Hard stone presses against my back, through Riven’s jacket, and my eyes snap open.

I’m staring up at Zoey. She’s hovering over me, her face tear-streaked, her eyes wide with fear.

“Sapphire?” She looks me over, her face scrunched in confusion. “You’re okay?”

“I think so?” I push myself up, still warm from my time in Riven’s quarters.

His jacket helps, too.

Zoey’s more of a mess than when I left. Her skin’s pale, her teeth are chattering, and there are little flecks of ice in her thick, dark hair.

“You’re freezing,” I tell her, and I take off Riven’s jacket, wrapping it around her. “Take this. It should help. ”

She snuggles up inside the jacket, and as she does, she looks at me like I’m a ghost.

“You were dead,” she says softly. “And then this jacket… it just appeared on you. Right when you woke up.”

“I was here?” I ask, the cold hitting me all at once now that I’m no longer wearing Riven’s jacket. “The whole time?”

“You were dead,” she repeats, and she’s wary as she looks me over, as if she thinks I’m going to disappear at any second.

“I wasn’t dead,” I tell her. “I teleported down to the base of the tower. I rode on Ghost’s back to find us help.”

She shakes her head, pulling the jacket tighter around her. “You were here,” she insists. “You collapsed, and you were so still. I couldn’t even tell if you were breathing.”

I stare at her, the weight of her words sinking in, and a cold knot forms in my stomach.

If I didn’t teleport, then what on Earth did happen?

“I touched things. I brought back this jacket.” I gesture to the fur-lined coat wrapped around her. “How could that happen if I wasn’t really there?”

“The jacket just appeared on you when you woke up,” she says again. “But you were here the entire time. I’m not making it up any more than you made up everything about being fae and coming here through the portal. ”

Her words strike a chord with me, and I don’t push back. Because Zoey believed me when I told her every crazy detail about last night. She came here with me.

This realm—and my magic—is unknown. Unpredictable.

I need to give her the same respect she gave me, and take what she’s saying as truth.

Which means…

“How could I be here and there at the same time?” I ask.

Zoey frowns, still shivering. “It’s just like what you said happened when you died in that fall the first time you came to this realm,” she says. “You were in those trees, looking down at yourself when Riven found you. In some sort of in between state. And then, you snapped back.”

“But I wasn’t in an ‘in between’ state,” I tell her. “I was there. In Riven’s room. I talked with him. I brought back his jacket.”

“You were in Riven’s room?” she asks.

“Well, I teleported down to the base of the tower first. Then I rode Ghost’s back to the palace, climbed a tree, and jumped into Riven’s room.”

“You didn’t teleport,” she corrects me. “You left your body, and some other part of you—maybe your spirit or something—went on this whole adventure to Riven’s room.” She pauses, then adds, “You were really in his room?”

“Yes.” Memories of that kiss flash through my mind—the desire I felt when he touched me, and the horror I felt about what he was asking from me.

I wanted to get away from him.

And then I was away from him. Back here, where my body had apparently been this entire time.

“So, if I didn’t teleport, then I duplicated myself?” I ask.

“That’s what it sounds like.” She bites her lip, like she does when she’s working through a tough math problem. “Did your… duplicate feel different from your real self?”

“When I landed in his room, Riven attacked me,” I tell her, putting the pieces slowly into place. “He ran his sword through me. Except it went literally through me. As if I was a ghost.”

“He tried to kill you?” she asks, anger swirling in her eyes.

“He didn’t realize it was me,” I instantly go to his defense, even though I’m supposed to be mad at him. “It was an accident.”

“People don’t ‘accidentally’ run their swords through other people,” she says. “You could have died.”

“But I didn’t die,” I remind her. “I’m here. I’m fine. ”

“But you would have been dead if your real self was there instead of this half-there, projected self.”

“You think my duplicate was some sort of projected version of myself?” I ask, my head spinning as I try to get this straight.

“That’s what it sounds like,” she says, as if this is a normal conversation we’re having over coffee. “Anyway, what happened with Riven when you—well, your projected self—was in his room? Other than him trying to kill you?”

“I told you—he wasn’t trying to kill me.” I glare at her, exasperated, but also relieved that the frost in her hair is melting, thanks to Riven’s jacket. There’s a bit of pink creeping into her cheeks, too.

“I guess I have to believe you.” She sighs. “Since you’re magically bound to not be able to lie.”

“Apparently being unable to lie comes with some perks.” I smile, trying to find something positive during all this craziness. “Everyone’s forced to believe me.”

“Having magical control over water comes with perks, too,” she points out. “As does projecting your spirit—or whatever—to another place.”

“It was pretty cool.” My teeth chatter a bit as I talk, the cold in the tower catching back up with me.

“You’re freezing.” She takes off half the jacket and motions for me to come over to her. “Get in. But only if you tell me everything else that happened when you were in Prince Riven’s room.”