Strains

Chapter 38

"Elizabeth, come on wake up."

Warm light was resting on my eyelids and I feel too sick and tired to open them.

A hand begins to shake me violently.

I roll to my side and spill out whatever remains in my stomach. This time, when my vomit hits the stone floor it doesn't disappear. This isn't even the same floor from a minute ago.

We aren't underground anymore. Overhead isn't stone, but an overcast twilight sky. We're in an alleyway that I recognize, but how?

"Are you feeling alright?" Matthew asks from beside me.

"What happened?"

"We're in the living world. I'm guessing this is the place you were thinking of. Come on, we can't spend all night in an alley."

He helps me to my feet.

"Where's Caiden?"

"Not my concern at the moment. Is there a hotel nearby?" He pulls off his enforcer robes and folds them in his hands. Neither of us is dressed for the cold and salty sea air.

I look into the picture window of a shop that looks like it's been closed for some time. The wooden sign above the door is missing, and the once-gold lettering on the window is worn away. But I still recognize it as the candy shop I was at just a few weeks ago. How could this have happened in such a short time?

Matthew takes my hand and walks me out of the alley. People are milling about, going to restaurants, and taking in the ocean view. I was here a month ago, but it feels alien to me.

I'm still struggling to grasp it all when Matthew pushes me onto a bench overlooking a small stretch of beach and the ocean beyond it.

"Unless you want to spend all night out here, I think we'd better find a place to stay," Matthew says beside me.

He wants to find a place to stay, but I just want my stomach to stop flipping. I don't understand what's happening. Are we really Topside? If we are, why does it feel so weird?

He sighs heavily and leans back on the bench.

"If talking will make you feel better, let's talk," Matthew says.

"About what?" I'm shaking, and I don't think it's from the cold.

"Whatever you like, as long as it means you help me navigate this place afterward."

I don't even know how I'm supposed to formulate a question to ask him right now. My mind is still in a fog, and my vision isn't much better. White lines flood my view like a series of spiderwebs.

"Just close your eyes, relax. It's probably just the after-effects of you creating a portal."

I lean forward. "Wait, I thought that was Caiden."

Matthew eases me back into the bench.

"No, that was definitely you," he says simply.

"Me? But how?"

"How am I supposed to know how your strain works? We were there, then you got a strange look in your eye and started thinking about candy. The ground vanished, and now we're Topside."

Slowly everything Caiden had said before spills over me like a bucket of ice water. I jump off the bench.

"You lied to me."

"I was trying to protect you."

I narrow my eyes.

"Tell me the truth, Matthew. All of it."