Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 217

              ‘Grip tightly,’ Upson says. ‘And concentrate on your friend. I’ve heard him but you know him best.’ He holds my wrist and I hold his. It would take an enormous effort on anyone’s part to separate us. I can feel my heart beating in my chest. I remind myself that I no longer have a heart. I’m a ghost, body and soul. A ghost who wander to the edge of the universe and come back to tell the tale.

                I remember all the times I’ve been with Yates. The deserted house of books. Loosing the noose from the rafters. I remember freeing him of his father and seeing him return to a happier teenage form. I think of Graham and the happiness they shared together no matter what may have become of my oldest friend now. And I think of his bravery in Windermere’s castle, how he would retort against their injustice just as much as Elle and me. We are a three and we won’t be torn apart.

 I can feel myself moving, like I’m a leaf caught on wind. Like I’m constituted of the sand around me and grains are drifting away. And now I can hear a voice.

‘Hold on!’ calls Upson beside me but he sounds far away. I remind myself of his grip on my arm, but that’s flowing away too.

‘Easton! Elle!’ yells a voice in the wind, the voice is the wind, we are flowing through Yates and I feel his fear. ‘I can’t go over, I can’t please come help me!’

I’m falling and falling. Upson’s arm has gone, I’m alone in the darkness. I collide with the earth but the ground subsides. It feels cold and dead to touch. Grey gravel and scree that cascades in showers against my flying feet.

I slip and catch a glimpse of dark black nothing rushing towards me. This slope ends and I travel towards it too fast that I fear I’ll carry myself over. As I slide I cry out, there is no stopping me.

I’m going over the Abyss.