Page 89 of Unraveled (Crewel World 3)

“I don’t think he did either.”

Alix shakes her head as if to dissolve her guilt. “We can’t worry about it now. Put that on.”

I examine the pack, unsure what to do with it until Alix groans and grabs it, holding out the straps. She slides them over my shoulders and pulls a strap around my waist. I buckle it into place and wait for her to give me any indication of what’s going on.

“How did you get here?” I ask her when nothing happens.

“How do you think?” she snaps, pivoting around the room as though she’s looking for an escape route.

“But Cormac destroyed the Eastern Sector,” I say.

“Most of it, but Loricel is talented and she wasn’t going down without a fight.” Alix spots Cormac’s body and whistles. “I wish I could tell her about that.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I say confidently. I’m enough like Loricel to know that the victory would be as hollow for her as it is for me. I wonder what we’re waiting for, what impossible feat Loricel is going to pull off now.

And as I wonder a fissure of light splits the room, in the middle, like a seam ripping open. But there’s no Interface beneath us anymore. It’s already dissipated as Protocol Three unwinds Arras from existence. This is her plan? This isn’t like my escape from Arras. Then the Coventry was in the Interface, closer to the ground. We can’t survive jumping from here to Earth.

; But Alix doesn’t waste time considering this as she grabs me and throws us through a gash in the weave.

We’re falling too fast for me to get a handle on Earth’s strands. Alix points to her vest and tugs at a cord near the zipper. A balloon of fabric billows behind her. She jerks as it opens fully, but then her fall starts to slow. My own speed accelerates so quickly that she grows small in my vision. I search frantically for my cord, but my fingers find nothing, which is a problem since the ground is getting closer and closer. Finally, my hands close on the cord, and I yank it as hard as I can. The force of the chute jolts me, knocking the wind from my lungs, and I gasp for air I cannot catch. As my descent slows, I’m able to calm down enough to breathe deeply and by the time I hit the ground, I crumple into a ball, trying to ease the last waves of panic.

“You okay?” Alix calls, running over to me.

Note to self: it only took a near-death experience for her to show some concern for me.

I try to say yes, but I’m too overwhelmed. She pulls me up from the ground, but her grip isn’t gentle and she drops my hand as soon as I’m steady on my feet.

“Loricel said this is your chance,” Alix says. “She said it’s the one she should have given you before.”

I look up at the pattern moving swiftly across the sky. It’s already growing fainter, like a strange cloud disappearing into rain.

Thank you, I think.

Alix turns on her heel and starts to head away.

“Wait!” I cry. “Where are you going?”

“There are millions of survivors,” Alix says, facing me. “They’ll need me.”

Need her. Not me. Nothing has changed between Alix and me, even after everything else that’s changed around us.

“The others?” I ask. “Did they make it out?”

“Nearly everyone left with the first wave. The little girl is safe,” she says, but she stops short of telling me what I want to know and a knot tangles in my stomach.

“What about the boys?”

“They stayed to help everyone evacuate.” She pauses for a moment and something flashes across her face. Like everything about Alix, it’s completely unreadable. “That’s all I know, but I wouldn’t count on them getting out.”

“Why?” I ask. “You did. They could have, too.”

Alix hesitates before she answers. “They … they stayed to make sure Loricel could rebound me in to you. They held off the security forces Cormac sent in.”

She takes a long breath before adding weakly, “I’m sorry.” I don’t believe a word she says, or maybe I can’t believe it, because it means I’m the one who has to tell our story and I must do it alone. I will live a half-life, caught in a past I can never forget.

I don’t ask Alix to wait for me. Instead I turn my eyes to the sky as numbness washes through me. It’s exactly how I imagined I would feel as Arras faded from reality. Although I’m here and alive, I feel as frozen and dead as I expected.