The Many Worlds of K. A. Webb

Equinox couldn’t stop herself from staring out of the window. She knew it wasn’t a good idea, it never was, but she hadn’t yet found the strength to stop herself from doing it. At the same time as usual a group of three girls walked past her house, and she watched them wistfully. They were all normal teenagers while she was one of the Seen. No one outside the family and the Seen Council even knew she existed. It hurt to watch them because they got a chance to live their own lives while everything she did, especially the books she read, had to be vetted by her Watcher. Some days she imagined what it would be like to be one of them. A normal girl with a normal life. When she had the window open it was possible to hear them complain about how boring their lives were, and she always felt the same disappointment. They couldn’t see what they had. They didn’t know how lucky they really were. Their mundane life was the thing she wanted more than anything else, but they wanted something more, something better, when their lives were so much better than hers.

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Ace had visited the house every night for six months. He’d started on the night of Rebecca’s 18th birthday, and every time he walked in the door he gave her parents a look. She knew the look meant that they were meant to have told her something, but she was glad they hadn’t. There was something about him, probably the whole vampire thing, that terrified her, so the last thing she wanted to hear was that they’d sold her to him. It was something she’d heard stories about, even though she didn’t quite believe they were true, and she really didn’t want the proof to change her life.

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Tears streamed down her cheeks, but Amelia knew she was doing the right thing. It would keep her family safe, which was the most important thing, and no one would be able to find her. At least that was what she had been told. Going underground, into a sanctuary that had always been used by people like her, was the only logical thing to do, even though she had no idea what would happen then. After one last hug, her mother crying just as hard as she was, she walked away from the people she loved.

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There was a light. I remember that better than anything else. I felt it drawing me towards it, in such a way I knew I wouldn’t have been able to stop what was coming from happening, and then I stepped into it. I glanced over my shoulder, at the car in the ditch and my body. I was dead, so, logically, wherever I found myself must have been the afterlife. Yet, when I looked around, I found I was surrounded by tall trees, which made me think I was in a forest… and I definitely wasn’t expecting there to be a forest in the afterlife. Slowly I looked around, trying to work out where I was. At the same time I wasn’t entirely certain I wanted to know. I was definitely dead. I couldn’t have survived the crash.

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Father was never the sort of man who felt the need to explain the orders he was giving me and he didn’t when he sent me to Ildieu with a scroll in my hand that described how to create a sanctuary using blood magic. The mages of Ildieu didn’t use blood magic, because they’d lost all knowledge of it when they willingly removed their own memories, so no one would know how bad things had become. Unfortunately we didn’t know anywhere near as much about blood magic as we once did, either, after our libraries were burnt down during the wall. All we’d ended up with was a few left over scrolls, most of which were no use to anyone at all. Maybe, if Father had told me he didn’t have any idea of what would happen to me if I used that magic, I never would have created the Hollow. Being immortal was never something that I wanted. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened to me when I used a magic I didn’t know enough about – and in the end it was my own stupid fault.

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The island was safe. Crossing the sea hadn’t been a mistake. Breathing deeply, the wind blowing my hair, I stepped off the ship. When I was told about it I had no reason to believe there would be any problems. In all the time Hekate had been talking to me she hadn’t caused me to make any mistakes. Finding out there was somewhere safe… it was our only option. Considering what was happening it had been our only option for a long time, but until I was told about the island I had no way of knowing it was there. Some of the others had only followed me out of hope. They didn’t believe me. They were still having trouble coming to terms with the fact I spoke with a deity, as it had seemed so impossible, and yet I had brought them to safety. It was the first time we had been safe for a long time.

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‘Astrid, that’s enough.’

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Like everyone else they’d both heard the rumours. The Dragons were back. Although that did mean admitting that the Dragons had existed in the first place, which was something no one had done for centuries. When they disappeared they left no trace of themselves behind, no history, no bones, nothing whatsoever, and that meant that there had been no proof that the stories everyone had read since the rumours started were more than that. Yet that was all beginning to make sense, as much as everyone hated to admit it, if the Dragons had been kept as slaves since the end of the war and those who were close to death chose to use the last of their life energy in order to hide their city.

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There was a moment when all Alice could do was stare. As it was Halloween she’d made sure that she was on the reception desk, which gave the normal receptionists an unexpected night off, just in case someone turned up that she didn’t want in the House. Halloween brought out all the creepiest vampires. What she hadn’t expected was the group of children that walked though the door. As a general rule most children in the local area avoided the Donor House. She couldn’t help smiling at them when she realised that they were all dressed in costumes, and that meant they were obviously out trick-or-treating.

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As Thalia walked into the throne room of the man she’d been told was her brother she tried not to let the fear she was feeling show. Everything that had happened since she’d been found had added to her worries. She didn’t know how they’d found out about her or why they’d chosen to invite her to the palace, and she couldn’t seem to convince herself that everything was going to work out. Looking at the King felt too dangerous, so she kept her eyes locked on the floor, before curtsying the way she had been taught to. Nothing was too debasing if it meant she was going to survive the meeting.

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