“Morgan,” he started but I interrupted him.
“Thayde, we both know it’s impossible for us to be away from each other for more than a few days. It’s going to take weeks for you to find him, if you do find him, and what do you think will happen then? That you’ll just waltz in there and take care of him and come home? He’ll kill you, Thayde! I can’t live with that. What if you kill him and it doesn’t get rid of The Shadow? What then?”
I wrenched my arm from his gentle grip and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door. This couldn’t happen. Thayde was away from me for only two days and it had put me into a coma. Of course, I had thought he didn’t want me anymore, but if he was gone for more than a week, I was terrified of the result. If I died, he’d die. This was the stupidest thing we could possibly do.
I turned the faucet on full blast and the huge bathtub began to fill. I sat on the edge of the tub as I phased. Sliding into the bath, I lay on the bottom while the water slowly covered my ears and made its way over my face. I lay there until the water was an inch away from spilling over the edges before I turned the faucet off and pulled myself into a ball.
There was nothing more I could do. Thayde had made up his mind and I was going to be without him again. A hand touched my arm and I looked through the water into Mom’s face. When I pulled myself to a sitting position, she threw her arms around me.
“Honey, I don’t know what else we can do,” she said, rubbing my back.
“He can’t leave, Mom. Limus will kill him!”
She didn’t say anything.
“Why is he doing this? He’s not thinking straight. He’s going into this without even thinking it through.”
“I can’t answer that.”
I pulled away from her and wiped the tears away. “I’m The Link. I’m the one who can do anything, right? Can’t I just will this stupid Shadow out of him?”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“What good is it to be The Link if I can’t do anything with these powers?”
“Once Aletheia starts to teach you, you’ll feel differently.”
“What if she doesn’t come?”
“Then we’ll have to try to find Troen to teach you.”
“We can’t let him go!” I whimpered.
“I don’t see any way to stop him,” she answered.
“I’ve seen him dead in my dreams! I know how this is going to turn out.” I felt as if my insides were breaking apart, crumbling like clay crushed between strong hands.
“Dreams don’t determine the future, sweetheart,” she said, but I waved her off.
“My dreams aren’t normal dreams.” I’d known since The Blessing that my life would change drastically. For some reason, I thought things would get better, not worse. I wasn’t prepared for the magnitude of it all.
“I need to be alone, Mom. I’m sorry. Can you please leave me?” I sank beneath the water and curled up again.
The only way I’d be able to stop Thayde from leaving would be to stun him, or freeze him, make him sleep, perhaps? None of my ideas sounded remotely practical and besides, I didn’t know how. What if I hurt him?
I lay in the middle of the ginormous bath, the water growing colder. Scenarios plagued my mind while I searched for an answer. I didn’t know how long I stayed in my safe cocoon, but it felt like hours.
Eventually, I was brought to my senses by a tapping. Thayde looked down through the water at me but I didn’t move. He beckoned with his forefinger and I looked through him, as he had done earlier. I wasn’t leaving the water. It was then that he simply reached into the bath, put his arms under me, and lifted me out. Darn his strength!
“Thayde, stop!” I protested, my fins dragging on the floor as he walked to the other side of the room and sat down on a bench. Pulling a towel from the rack, he held me on his lap like a child and covered me up.
I buried my face into the towel. “Why are you doing this?”
His hands were gentle as he pulled the towel from my face and made me look into his eyes.
“I’m doing it for us. I’m doing it because it’s the only way I can think to stop him.”
“You’re going to die. I’ve seen it.”
“I promise I won’t die.” He wrapped his strong arms around me.
His comment made me sick to my stomach and oddly enough, I began to laugh.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Remember saying that to me a few months ago?”
He gritted his teeth. “Morgan, it’s the only way.”
“Fine,” I quickly agreed, “then I’m going with you.”