Lee looked my way, a big smile on his face. “She’s alive. She’s out there somewhere.”
I hoped she was. Anything could have happened to them. If Sarah was out there then she would have tried to find a way back to this plane. The time changes could mean in her timeline she’d just left. Or she could have grown old somewhere, trying to get back.
I had more work to do when we got back to Frelsi. “We need to find the bag. We have our lead. We’ll figure out what happened and where they are.”
“But we need to move now.” Lee pointed to his left. “I believe that’s what we’re looking for.”
The bag of holding sat on Sarah’s dresser, next to the ceramic dish where she normally put her rings at night. For some reason the fact that those little rings she always wore were gone gave me comfort. She’d gotten dressed for the day, and she’d made the choice to save herself and her family.
She was out there, and I would find her.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I got the bag in my hands. Like Nim and I had discussed, Sarah had broken the seal when she’d moved the bag. Anyone would be able to see it and open it now. I pulled the sides apart and sure enough, I could see Gladys in her silvery glory. Her light was contrasted by the grimoire’s darkness. But those two things weren’t the only contents. There was something there I hadn’t left behind.
I reached into the bag and decided to take the chance because I recognized Sarah’s handwriting.
READ ME NOW
She knew how to get my attention.
“What is it?” Lee moved in behind me.
“It” was a single piece of paper, the kind Felix took notes on. I glanced over and sure enough, there was a legal pad that had been tossed on one of the nightstands along with the pen Sarah had almost certainly used. Sarah loved stationary and had a ton of it. She had beautiful pens in every color. What this told me was she’d written it very quickly. “She left us a note.”
Zoey,
We had to do it. We couldn’t let her fall into his hands. The portal is one way, but if he comes through, all is lost. Destroy the portal any way you can.
I’m so sorry.
“Fall into his hands? Is she talking about Mia?” Lee asked, reading over my shoulder.
“I have to think so. Mia was already showing signs of her power back then. Perhaps Sarah figured out something we don’t know yet. Or she’s talking about Gladys. We always refer to the sword as a she. Sarah could have left a more descriptive note. Like how am I supposed to close some portal? Does she remember who I am? I know how to blow shit up. I don’t know how to close a portal. And she could have left a map.” There was a spark of panic threatening to well inside me. I wasn’t good at magic. We all joked about how bad I was at it. How the hell would I close the portal?
And the all will be lost thing kind of freaked me out, too.
“Mom, calm down.” Lee put his hands on my shoulders and stared down at me. “We don’t have to do this right this second. We do the job we’re supposed to do. The wards are holding for now. We get home and talk to our witches about how to close the portal. There might even be something in that grimoire that will help. But first we need to get out of here.”
He was right and he was calmer than I was, likely a function of the fact that he’d spent twelve years at war and I’d been a stay-at-home mom. The weight of the world was back on my shoulders, and I felt it all.
But this was a twist we would have to deal with later. I wasn’t going to figure out how to close that portal in the next hour, so it was best we booked it out of here. I grabbed the bag and looked to my son. “We will find them.”
He nodded. “I know you will. You found her in Hell. You’ll find Sarah again, and when you do, we’ll get Mia back. Let’s get out of here. If we move fast enough we won’t even have to use the cloak. It’s crowded in there.”
I wasn’t sure about that. “I think we should still use it. I know it was hard to climb the stairs, but going down them should be easier.”
We strode through the hallway and the lights were starting to die, the lamps aging and burning out around us. Lucky for us, Sarah had opened the curtains and the late afternoon light illuminated the living room. All around us time was catching up in Sarah’s sunny apartment, and that made me worry, but I had to hope the wards held until I could find a way to close off the portal.