Chapter 95
-Becky-
The snow had started falling again. It whispered across the rooftop like a secret, dusting the edges of my boots as I perched on the ledge, Soursence in my hands. My fingers were stiff from the cold, but I didn't notice at that time.
Not really. I was focused, my eyes fixed on the cracked screen, waiting for something—anything.
It had been 24 hours since Evan's distress signal lit up the entire Waymaker network—24 hours since it cut off mid-transmission, leaving us adrift. Within the echoes of this silence, it fractured something inside me.
Josh was gone. He had been dead now for almost 3 months.
Now Kaysi and Evan have vanished too.
I was barely holding it together.
The Soursence let out a low flicker—a weak signal calibration. Nothing new. I hit it against my palm, teeth clenched.
"Come on, you stupid thing. I muttered. "Come on, dang it."
Snow crunched behind me as I began to walk again. A familiar voice broke the quiet.
"Still nothing?" Micah asked once, caught up to me, and matched my pace.
I didn't turn to look at her. "This device is not broken. I know it's not."
Micah exhaled and stepped over in front of me, standing just far enough not to crowd me. "We all saw the signal vanish, Beck. It wasn't just yours."
I finally turned to face her, tired. My eyes were bloodshot. "So what? That means we stop trying, we give up on them?"
She didn't answer, only stood there looking at me with eyes of pity.
"I couldn't save Josh. I made the wrong choice, leaving him trusting that he would be okay. And now his blood is on my hands.
Micah flinched. I looked away. I didn't want to cast my pain or burdens on her any more than I wanted to endure them myself.
Later that day, we regrouped outside a small shelter outside the search radius of the signal cut off. James stood over a table scattered with maps and portal energy readouts. He had been collecting data over the last few missions to pinpoint a pattern in the openings, maybe. I ignored all of it.
"The math is against us," James said. "If Kaysi and Evan ended up inside a portal, no telling where they went or if they survived. The atmospheric differences in the Abyss explain the signal cutting of sudden..."
"Stop talking like that I snapped. They're still alive out there. So stop acting like you know everything, they are not dead."
James didn't blink. "I'm not saying they are. I am saying the odds of finding them by chasing cold signals and closed portals are below a 10% success rate."
I stood so fast my chair scraped the floor. The air around me dropped in temperature, frost kissing the edges of the room.
"I don't care about the odds. I care about them, so I am not giving up on them!"
James looked at Micah, who gave him a quiet nod. "Let her go."
Nightfell and I stood on the forest's outskirts. Alone. Suresense clutched to my chest like it was the last thing I owned. I hadn't eaten in two days, and I was now stressed.
The snow fell heavier now, blanketing a thick layer of snow over the tracks I had left behind.
I whispered into the dark, to no one. To him...to Josh.
"You always said I'd find you if I just kept looking..."
Nothing answered. Just the wind and the sound of my breathing hitching.
I felt it again—that flicker. That surge of pressure behind my eyes. Like the moment time had bent to my will. When my powers had first awakened, I had frozen a moment between heartbeats. Back then, it had felt natural.
Now? It terrified me.
I was afraid to reach for it. Scared I'd fail again.
So I didn't, but if I could, could I reverse time and bring someone back from death?
I woke in the morning at the faint flickering of the signal that had returned.
It was faint. Flickering. But tangible.
Three makers made the GPS radar. The Sorsence blinked, identifying the first: Evan. Then the second. Kaysi.
The third with them had an ID.
My pulse skyrocketed.
I sent a message to the others. I don't have time to wait. I was already moving before I could think. Sprinting through the woods like my heart had launched me forward.
Please be okay...
Please be okay...
A call rang in on my device. I picked it up—Evan!
"Becky," His voice unclear and the signal not very strong, slipping in and out.
"This is Evan." His voice cracked with desperation, barely making out the words.
"(We found-- , but -- is down. -- lost -- arm and is fading fast.) We are all injured. We're -- outside -- South Demming Ridge Woods. Please-- quick!"
My voice cracked through, frantic, and I confirmed I had heard enough information to get to them. I hope in time.
"I am on my way." Stay alive, all of you.
I burst through the woods into the clearing. Having to care for the foliage, which was hitting me, leaving scrapes and cuts.
The world stopped— They were there...
Tears formed in my dry, tired, red eyes. My throat completely closed shut from the air.
There under the large shelter of the pine tree was Kaysi, half ready to collapse, was sitting on the ground. Evan, bloodied and pale, was sitting on the other side like a ghost.
And between them lay frozen on the ground, hanging on to life—Josh.