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second and then I was gone. I think I must have passed out because the world wasn’t spinning and I wasn’t in the car anymore, I was somewhere else. And I knew, it was funny, I knew straight away that it was the Shadowlands, as if a part of me deep inside recognised it as home.’
    He was staring straight ahead at the door, his eyes glazed. Evie’s hand tightened around his. ‘You must have been terrified.’
    A small frown line appeared between his eyes. ‘Yes, I was scared. It was just a desert as far as the eye could see, and so cold and so grey, and I was completely alone. But I wasn’t afraid of that. The only thing I was scared of was not being able to find a way back. I was only there a minute – maybe less – but it was the most scared I’ve ever been.’ He broke off again, his jaw tensing. ‘And then I was back. Just like that, without any warning. I was lying on the ground – in some wet leaves, the taste of earth in my mouth.’ He closed his eyes. ‘The car tyres were still spinning, which is how I knew I hadn’t been gone long. I crawled. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t get up, so I crawled. And my mum was …’ He broke off and swallowed and Evie realised she’d been holding her breath. ‘I sat there and I held her hand and I watched her die.’
    Evie squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again Lucas was staring at the door opposite. She reached a hand up and brushed her fingers softly along his jaw. ‘You came back,’ she whispered. ‘You didn’t stay there. You’re meant to be here , in this world. This is where you belong.’
    He looked puzzled for a moment. Then he lifted his hand and pushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. With a sigh he pressed his forehead against hers. ‘We have to find a way of closing the way through,’ he said. ‘Mending the tear so to speak. I can’t imagine what else it means when it says severing the realms.’
    They fell into silence.
    ‘It’s not going to be as simple as stitching it shut is it?’ Evie eventually asked, trying to break the tension.
    He didn’t answer her. He didn’t need to.
    ‘Do you think Issa will find anything useful out?’
    He shrugged, ‘I hope so.’
    ‘Was she your girlfriend?’ The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it.
    Lucas tensed beside her. ‘If you want to call it that,’ he said. ‘We were briefly involved. It was never serious. It never is with a Sybll. When they can foresee your every move, your every word before you’ve even thought it, it kind of kills the romance. But for a time, yes, we were together.’
    ‘So you broke up with her?’ she asked, swallowing.
    ‘Not exactly. She saw it coming. That’s why she left me first.’
    ‘She saw what coming?’
    Lucas paused for a long time before speaking. ‘You,’ he finally said. ‘I think she saw you coming.’

Chapter 6
    For a long time he watched her sleep. Watched the rise and fall of her breathing. She was quiet now. Earlier she’d been dreaming, calling out Risper’s name, calling out for him too. He’d held her tighter, reassuring her with words whispered in her ear and his arms wrapped tight around her, that he was still there, until her body had relaxed and she’d fallen back into a deeper sleep.
    He lay in the bed beside her, one arm wrapped around her and the other hand wrapped tight around the hilt of his blade. He couldn’t sleep. His mind kept turning over the events of the last day and night, running through them again and again, trying to figure out how he could have played things differently, thinking of what Evie had told him about Neena and how she had died. He couldn’t stop picturing the scene, trying to fathom why Neena had sacrificed herself so that he and Evie could escape.
    The dawn had come and gone, the sun had arced across the sky and fallen low once more. Long mauve shadows were stretching themselves across the room, like fingers trying to enfold Evie in