Echo had done right coming here. The Void was scene in signature through reversal of universal simulations and the distinctive aftertaste of its wave signature. She’d been there in no time. Rory’s ability to transfigure through disappearance and reappearance would break time itself.

The thunder in Echo’s mind would prove the key to righting itself. The strokes of lightning which tore through her psyche would be the pieces missing in a greatest puzzle of solving named by chances lost reborn again. Not the soul but the act. The truth of place and fury of rightness found in action.

She’d needed to return and found the rightest place to be—Hardline.

Chloe had become a friend near the end and Echo hadn’t ever realized she was the one rooting her along the whole time. Slipping inside her craft would prove a most incredible feeling. Something told her they’d shown it out just for her.

Nowhere was peace and that was home. Echo wouldn’t need no more than to touch Hardline for taking it out of time. Together the princesses two would find more power than anyone could make with their own connection to any other beast.

Echo sent a message back - Get well soon.

Hold the line, Rory.

Holdover in the purging nether would show her forward by feeling alone towards the most horrendous place of the past her mind could swallow.

It took three. Each landing was hard.

Blank space between stars was not a place to see future. It reflected no glory. The only need found within the blankness of blackness was operational function of the body held inside Hardline. Thier softseat was perfection. The hard shell kept Echo feeling safe. Twisted things got inside the mess of her mind and inside this winning dagger of art was rediscovery. Echo was the power. She’d needed a horse.

Hardline provided.

The landing wasn’t soft. That’s how Echo liked it.

Time Throws Fire | Part Five | Chapter Thirty-One

the second novel in The Foundry series

Time Throws Fire

Part Five | Coward’s End

Chapter Thirty-One

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