Chapter One-Hundred Twenty-Two

"I have a wish," Syaoran said, crouching in front of the circle of light. Yuuko met his eyes, waiting. I have to do this, he told himself. If there's any possible way to save both Sakuras, I have to try. And for that, I need more information. "I want to know where Sakura is."

Yuuko looked at him for a long moment. "Which Sakura do you mean?"

"Both of them. I will not allow either of them to die." He couldn't. He'd realized that after failing to stop Kyle from taking Sakura's body. Before, failure had been an abstract concept—he hadn't failed before because Sakura had been present in some way ever since they'd retrieved her body from Ceres. But he'd failed today. He'd been unable to keep Kyle Rondart from snatching her away. Syaoran had collapsed in Kurogane's arms, too weak to move.

He would not fail again.

"Supposing I told you, what would your companions do?" Yuuko asked, nodding toward Kurogane and Fai.

"I'm going," the ninja said at once, his eyes hard, certain.

"I will go," Fai added, standing taller.

Yuuko nodded once in approval. "Very well. As for the price . . ."

Syaoran braced himself. Yuuko's prices were always steep. He'd been prepared for that when he'd made his wish. Whatever it takes, I'll do it. I can't give up on Sakura. Not after everything.

"The price . . . has already been received."

He blinked. What?

"From who?" Mokona asked, squirming in his arms.

"From someone who is closer to Syaoran than any other. In the past, I received a price that was the same as the price paid by the princess with whom you journeyed."

"The same price?" Kurogane asked, stepping forward. Syaoran looked up to see the ninja's shocked expression. He didn't pay the price. But who else is close to me? My Sakura? It couldn't be. He frowned, then stiffened as the answer flashed through his mind. Watanuki.

"Memories?" Fai asked.

Yuuko nodded. "That person has now forgotten his past, his parents' names, even that he paid the price." Her eyes came to rest on Syaoran's face. "All for the wish you are being granted."

Syaoran looked down, misery swimming in his chest. It made him wish he could have paid the price himself. But if I gave up my memories, that would be the same as forgetting why I made this wish in the first place.

Kurogane laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't look at your feet. Look forward. That's the important thing."

Syaoran forced himself to nod. "Right." He looked back at the circle of light and waited for Yuuko to speak.

"Fei-Wang was gathering souls so that he could accomplish his wish. I followed one of these souls to discover that location."

"You knew this whole time?"

She shook her head. "I only discovered it a short time ago."

"But if you use magic to discover somebody's location, you're also revealing your own location to that person," Fai said. "You put yourself at risk to find this information."

"Yes." She paused, looking not at them, but off to the side, at her surroundings. "This shop was created for the coming of a certain day, and the reason I am here is for that day. Fei-Wang Reed is in the kingdom of Clow."

Someone gasped. Syaoran thought it might have been him. Impossible, he thought. I would have known. He'd searched Clow and all its surrounding countries back when he'd been trying to find a way to remove the Seal of Death from his Sakura. He couldn't have missed something so vital.

"He is in a time removed," Yuuko continued, looking at him. "Do you understand?"

A time removed? He frowned. Like a piece of time separated from the rest of the world? Or . . . removed from that world altogether? A time that might have existed once, being repeated over and over again, while he sits above the world and watches everything we do? His frown deepened. It made sense, in a way. How else would he have been able to watch them so unceasingly? How else would he have been able to manipulate their choices, their circumstances, as he had? But he must not be able to interfere much, otherwise he wouldn't have had to go to such circuitous lengths to manipulate us. There must be something stopping him, or at least keeping him from using his full power on us.

He met Yuuko's eyes. The scope of her power baffled him. He'd sensed it only briefly when he'd asked her to send him to the others in Tokyo, but sending people to other worlds required an immense amount of magic. Yet she could not manipulate events any more directly than Fei-Wang Reed could. A time removed . . . It must be like her shop somehow. Isolated. Apart from the rest of the world, whether it has a physical presence there or not.

Yuuko must have seen the glint of understanding in his eyes because she began speaking again. "There, he reads time and space. He manipulates people's lives. To reach him, you will have to do more than traverse worlds. You will have to go beyond time itself. For that, you will have to wait for the right moment."

"And when is the right moment?" Kurogane demanded, crossing his arms.

"I cannot yet say with certainty. No longer than a week, but no less than four days. I will contact you when I know for certain."

"And Sakura will be waiting there?" Syaoran asked, leaning forward. Her eyes slid back to him.

"You will find her there, during the final battle. Not before then."

Syaoran nodded. It was enough to know that he would find her. Enough to know that he would meet both of them again. "Thank you."

"Be decisive. You will have this opportunity only once."

"I understand."

"Good." The circle of light wavered, then disappeared as the gem in Mokona's forehead ceased to glow. Silence filled the dining hall, but not the sort of silence brought on by tension. Rather, it was a speculative silence. A determined silence. When Syaoran felt the back of his neck prickle, he looked over his shoulder to see Kurogane staring at him.

"You need to get back to the infirmary."

He would have disagreed, considering how much needed to be done before they left, but he'd already been ignoring his pain for too long. Hinata-sensei's tea must be wearing off, he thought, taking Kurogane's hand. The ninja pulled him to his feet, letting his toes touch the ground without bearing any weight. Conscious of the others in the room, Syaoran shifted so he was leaning against Kurogane's side, rather than pressing against his chest. "All right."

They shuffled toward the door, leaving the others behind. Once they were out into the hallway, Kurogane crouched and hooked the back of Syaoran's knees with one arm while supporting his head with the other. Pain flared along his body, then faded as the ninja cradled him closer to his chest. They started moving again. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He grit his teeth, and a minute later, Kurogane stopped to open the door to one of the rooms in the infirmary. Between the two of us, we've spent more time here than we have in any other part of the castle, he thought. "I could use a little more of Hinata-sensei's tea."

"I'll tell her to bring you some." Kurogane knelt, letting him sink into the bedroll. After an awkward moment of stillness, he pressed his lips to Syaoran's forehead. "I've got to talk to Tomoyo about getting a sword. Will you be all right here?"

"I think so." Or I could be kidnapped or killed via a rip in space and time while you're gone. That's always a possibility, he thought, but didn't say.

Kurogane walked into the hallway, leaving him behind. A moment later, Hinata arrived, carrying a pot of tea. She handed him a steaming cup of it, then left, advising him once again to get some rest. Syaoran finished the tea in minutes, then relaxed into the mattress. He hadn't thought he was tired enough to sleep, but it took less than a quarter of an hour for him to fall into the hazy twilight of dreams.

He dreamed of Clow, of a sandstorm enfolding the capital city as he searched for Sakura. No one walked the streets, and the marketplace, bustling even during the hottest, most brutal hours of the day, looked abandoned, its stalls still overflowing with unguarded jewelry, uneaten food, and valuable imported luxuries; banners flapped as the wind picked up, and grains of sand gathered in the folds of Syaoran's clothes. He hurried to the castle, squinting against the abrasive sand, but when he reached the steps, he found the front doors wide open, the guards absent. He ran through the foyer, up the curving staircase, toward the bedrooms, but every room he checked was empty.

"She's not here," someone said, his voice calm and smug all at once. A shiver crawled down his back, and he couldn't move, couldn't look, couldn't speak. But he could hear the lumbering footsteps approaching from behind him, and he could sense the looming presence of dark magic. "I've already disposed of your princess," the voice continued, as deep as a bottomless pit and as dark as the space between stars. "After all, what good is the original when you have a perfect image to replace it?"

No, he thought. No, this can't be happening.

"If it's any consolation, you can know that she died quickly. In the end, she was a pawn. I had to sacrifice her to pave the way for the more important pieces to move forward. But I could bring her back for you. I could make her live again."

It's a lie, Syaoran told himself. The dead cannot come back to life. And Sakura can't be dead. She can't. He tried to move his legs, but something—magic, he thought—held them in place. The footfalls continued their approach, then circled around him until he could see his enemy. Fei-Wang Reed surveyed him, his monocle reflecting the light, the eye behind it obscured by the glare.

"Or perhaps you're not interested in her anymore," Reed mused. Two figures appeared at just behind him, both bound and gagged. One of them was his Sakura. The other was Kurogane. Syaoran's eyes flickered to each of them as dread gripped his heart.

"No," he whispered. "Please, no."

"I'll make you a deal. Choose the one you love most, and I'll spare them."

"I can't. I can't . . ."

"Such a shame." A sword appeared in Fei-Wang's hands. The hilt bore a carving of a black bat. "I suppose I'll have to get rid of them both."

"No!" Syaoran shot forward, freed from the magic binding him, but before he could reach either of them, Fei-Wang Reed turned, his sword slicing through the air. Blood splattered against the floor, and something rolled across the tiles, leaving a trail of red where it moved. For a moment, Syaoran stared, not comprehending. And then he recognized it as Kurogane's severed head.