by Alicia Fabel
“Oh.” But shouldn’t she still matter to the man? It didn’t seem like she did, though. Delia was just a nymph to him. “If you knew the kind of truth Airlea does, would you want to forget? Or would you want to stay alive and restore your people?”
“I’ll get a vial,” Idan replied. “And while you are gone, I’ll summon an arca to carry Airlea to the gate... I should probably come with you.” It was obvious the idea of accompanying them scared the pants off of the satyr. After seeing the cyclops firsthand, Vera understood why.
“No need,” Vera told him. “We won’t be traveling alone.”
“The Guardian is here,” Idan concluded.
Vera narrowed her gaze. “How do you know that?”
“I keep up with the rumors and news from off mountain. My son hangs around the Guardian, so I like to know what’s going on with him.” His lips thinned. “Nothing I’ve heard has reassured me lately.”
“What exactly have you heard?” Vera asked.
“The meadow is closed. No one knows why, but plenty of people are planning to find out.” He nodded at her. “Meanwhile, your escapades across the realms are widely spoken of. You are the girl who’s collecting magic like coins. And asking lots of questions about a lost kingdom.”
So far none of what he knew was too revealing. They hadn’t expected to keep the world in the dark about the meadow being closed off, but as long as the other secrets—like where the new meadow was located—were not being discovered…
“There are also rumors that the Guardian has fallen to the siphons.”
Vera’s heart stuttered while Idan considered her.
“Some believe they have turned him into a creature from before the unraveling. And that you might be one of the siphons responsible.”
Well, crap. “I haven’t turned Kale into anything,” she said truthfully. “Neither has anyone from Earth.” Truth. Although a deceptive truth. Technically, the person responsible was not from Earth, even though Suzie had lived there for a while. Vera was still trying to pinpoint where her foster mom had come from. Once she did, she could hunt down whoever might be furthering her plans for world destruction. “I am not a siphon. Kale is not evil.” Not anymore.
“I suppose not if he’s here to help you save my daughter and her people.”
Vera tried not to look relieved. “That vial?”
“How will you get into the pool?” he asked. “It’s guarded. No one goes in there, not even me.”
“The tunnels will lead her to the pool,” answered Airlea.
Idan paused on his way out of the room and asked, “Have you spoken with the oracles?”
“There are oracles?”
“One born to every race at any given time. If anyone knows about a lost kingdom, they would. Why is it important?”
“Because I think someone from there is working to destroy my realm and everyone I care about.”
“Oracles tend to be reclusive, but some believe that one resides in the Noble Valley. At the Alchemist Academy. There’s no telling who they are, but if you do find one, they might have some answers for you.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“It’s my repayment to you. For saving both my son and daughter today.” He disappeared down a hallway.
Airlea turned to Vera. “You are part nymph, but the water will call to the part that is other. If you listen, you will spend the rest of your days craving more.”
“Yeah, I have enough cravings in my life. I won’t go sipping your toilet water.” Vera winked, but inside she was concerned. Her siphon craved less, the more she unlocked, but it was still a force to be reckoned with. The last thing she needed was to get addicted to something else.
For the second time that day, Vera crept along the stone ledge overlooking a deadly drop.
“Carefully,” Kale chanted above her.
She didn’t see a root sticking up and hooked her foot on it. She squeaked and reached back to hold on to the wall until she stopped trembling enough to inch forward. Kale paced. She didn’t dare look up, but she could imagine him running his hands through his hair.
“Easy.”
“Shut up, you’re stressing me out!” she hissed.
Kale fell silent. She took a dozen more shuffling steps and sank into the cave with relief.
“I’m good,” she whisper-shouted up to him. “I’ll meet you on the edge of the village when I’m done.” Vera turned and called, “Delia?”
She hoped the nymph was around to give her directions to the pool. The candles and fire had all been put out, but a glowing orb in the corner lit the room. It looked like Delia had tidied up. Vera edged closer to the light and called again for the nymph, wondering if she should wait. Then again, the alternative was wandering the caves without directions and getting lost forever. She could wait a couple of minutes.
Vera bit her lip impatiently. It’d been ten seconds, and she was already debating whether to go ahead. Then she noticed a pile of familiar fabric beneath the orb. It was Delia’s clothes. Vera took a step back. Either the nymph was streaking through the caves, or that orb was her. The latter seemed a safe bet. That meant the old nymph had reverted. When she emerged in several hours or days, she wouldn’t remember anything. Airlea was the last nymph with the knowledge to protect her people. Vera just hoped that she could find the pool and a way out before it was too late for her.
After a quick eenie-meenie-miney-mo, Vera headed down the same tunnel Airlea had taken earlier, using her built-in headlamp. When she came to the first fork, the vines to her left shook and spontaneously burst into bloom. Vera made sure to keep out of reach and decided to take the path where the vines were sleeping still. As she did, the bare vines shot across, blocking her way, and the flowers behind her shook almost violently to get her attention. Okay. Is this a follow the flower brick road thing? Honestly, it wasn’t like she had a better idea.
“Fine. But you better not try anything.” She felt like an idiot for talking to plants.
Vera followed the trail of blooming flowers, and the ones she passed closed again. They led her down a few twists and turns before they suddenly stopped opening. Seriously?
A vine wrapped around her from behind. It pinned her to the wall, winding over her like the rabbit. In seconds, all that was left unbound were her eyes. Even the light from her horn had been blocked out. Just as she tugged at her kargadan to form a horn and stab her way free, a beam of light flared through a hairline crack in the cavern wall. It was followed by muffled voices on the other side of the thin rock. Vera snuffed out her light, and the vines released her. Farther along the path, a new flower burst open, beckoning her on. Vera’s heart still raced from being bound.
We really need to work on your method of communication. Vera ducked under the beams of light, so no one would notice a flash of girl, and hurried after the flowers. She kept her headlamp dim and knew to go dark whenever the flowers sucked closed. They guided her around corners and down so many tunnels that Vera was hopelessly lost.
At the end of a corridor, the flowers ended at a hole about chest height and covered in vines. It was just big enough for Vera to squeeze through—as long as the vines didn’t lasso her when she passed through them. They didn’t lead you all this way to digest you. They could’ve done that twenty times already. Vera put her hands on the rim of the hole and heaved herself up. The vines parted for her.
On the other side was a warm room that smelled like a neglected bathroom. Vera tugged the neckline of her shirt over her nose. Nasty. Delia had been peeing here for over a century, so it made sense, but it stung her eyes. The room was a simple round room with what looked like a sunken bathtub at the center and a single door.
As Vera stood looking down at the filthy water, she desperately wished for rubber gloves and hand sanitizer. Across the room, a different patch of vines shifted. Voices floated through the door. No time to think about it, Vera dipped out a vial of grossness and sprinted for her exit hole. Except the vines wouldn’t
let her through. They wove together in an impassable mat.
Meanwhile, the voices on the other side of the door were accompanied by the clanking of a key in a lock. Have mercy. Someone’s coming in. They said no one ever does that. The vines across the way that had shifted a moment before, parted like curtains to reveal a crevice just deep enough for hiding. Vera leaped for it. The vines fell closed around her just as the door opened.
“All clear,” said a nasally voice. Vera imagined them pinching their noses. “If I ever see that traitor again, I’ll toss him in this pool for making us have to patrol this disgusting hall now.” The door closed and the vines opened. Vera frowned when the ones over the hole parted again. Obviously, the coast was clear enough for her to slip through without revealing the caves. So, so creepy how the vines knew that.
Back in the caves, Vera began to head the direction she’d come. After one bend, though, the flowers led her a different way. By this point, she knew better than to balk and just followed along. When they led her to a way out, it was straight up. She held onto the vines and climbed up with a little assistance. Her head and upper body emerged through a hole in the ground. Hands grabbed her from behind, around the middle, and pulled her the rest of the way out. She flailed until Kale twisted her around so she could see him.
“How did you know I would come out here?” she asked.
“I didn’t,” he replied. “I was here watching Idan’s house—I don’t like him.”
Vera didn’t care for Addamas’s biological dad much either, to be honest. “Well, that’s convenient.”
“Did you get it?”
Vera held up the bottle and scrunched her nose. “Yeah.” She tried to hand it off to Kale, but he took a step back and shook his head. “Since when did you become squeamish about body fluids?”
“You don’t want to drink that?” he asked.
Vera made a gagging face. “No.” Then she stepped away from him suspiciously. “Do you?”
“Yes.”
“It smells like a hundred years of piss,” she pointed out.
“And still I want it.”
“Eww, but okay. I’ll just keep it here.” She shoved it into her pocket. “And we know it’ll be safe there because you won’t touch me, let alone put your hand in my pocket.”
“Vera…”
“Don’t bother. We don’t have time for this right now, but I am seriously pissed at you.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know. You left me. For three months.”
“I had to.”
“You didn’t have to. You chose to.” She spun around. “Now, let’s go before Airlea gets any worse.”
“Wait Vera.”
“What? What do we have to talk about right this minute?” she asked with acid in her tone.
“I was only going to say that I’ll meet you on the path. I can’t go into the village.”
“Oh, yeah.” She felt stupid, which was not the best way to storm away from a sort-of argument. “We’ll meet you on the northern path.”
With the most dignity she could muster, she marched away.
5
Vera had every right to be angry with him. He didn’t blame her at all. Actually, if she stayed upset, he’d have a better chance of not doing anything moronic.
Goddess. And you call me a bastard.
You know it’s true. My self-control is not at its best.
Yeah, but planning to keep the girl angry at you? That’s low.
I’m doing it for her.
Oh, you’re so selfless. Ferrox snorted. Let me do something for you in return.
And with that, Ferrox cemented himself into the back of their mind and walled himself off. Kale beat at the shield. Come out here.
But Ferrox didn’t respond. Likely, he couldn’t even hear anything. Sometime in the last months, Ferrox had moved over to team Vera. Kale had no idea how long the horse would be gone. Or what he would do if he lost control with Vera and couldn’t retreat. All the more reason to keep her at arm’s reach. If Ferrox didn’t like it, he’d have to come out and do something about it.
A roar broke Kale’s thoughts. Damn me. He hadn’t been paying attention. They’d walked right up to him without him even noticing. Vera looked back and forth between him and Idan with panic in her wide eyes. He’d let himself be seen by someone who recognized him. Blast it all.
Idan stood beside an arca that carried a fragile nymph. The arca’s long tail secured the nymph to its bear-sized back. Arca fur was the softest and most coveted in the world. They’d gone into hiding after their populations had been devastated by poachers. Somehow, Idan had come to earn one’s trust, though. The beast let out another roar to warn off Kale. Idan patted the arca and muttered words Kale didn’t recognize. The creature fell silent but still watched Kale closely. Horns curled down from the sides of the beast’s head near his beak-like mouth.
“Nice to see you again, Guardian.”
Kale fought the urge to inform the man that he was not, in fact, the Guardian. He despised having people attribute the title to him when it was no longer his. Nor did he deserve it.
“Vera says you two can keep my daughter alive without having to revert, which she seems determined not to do.”
“The meadow can heal her,” Kale confirmed.
“Good to know it’s still standing. People were starting to wonder.”
Oh yeah, it was standing. Just standing in Earth is all.
Vera steered clear of both Kale and the owly-bear-thingy. She’d accidentally brushed up against it earlier and thought it was going to remove her head for the offense. Too bad too. It was the softest thing she’d ever felt. Owly-Bear noticed her attention and narrowed its keen gaze. The intelligence in those eyes was unnerving. Since Kale trailed behind, Vera sped up to take the lead.
“You know where you’re going?” Kale called to her.
“Noble Valley,” she said shortly.
“And you know where that is?” he asked.
“North.” She picked up her pace when Owly-Bear’s breath warmed the back of her neck.
“Whenever you need a break, let us know,” Kale said. “It’s a long walk from here.”
“We don’t know how long Airlea has,” Vera pointed out.
“Long enough for you to set a more reasonable pace,” the nymph answered for herself. “Although, I’m not sure how you plan to get us through the world-gate.”
Vera was relieved to see her awake. “Is walking not an option?”
“I guess walking would be fine,” Airlea said. “But the hydra guarding the gate may have better odds of catching us that way.”
Vera turned to Kale. “No one said anything about a hydra. That’s a snake with lots of heads, right?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “But cut off a head and two don’t grow back. It just gets so angry that it seems like the heads multiply.”
“So, we cut off all its heads?” Vera asked.
He absently picked at his thumbnail. “We’d never manage before the guards came.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Set fire to the city and break in when the guards are distracted. Run like mad through the gate.”
“Set fire to the city?” Vera gawked.
“It was a joke,” he backtracked.
“I know three months is a long time, Scotchie, but my BS meter is still working just fine.”
Kale winced. “I hadn’t thought about the fire plan in terms of innocent lives until I saw your reaction,” he admitted. “I’ll think of another distraction.”
Then we just have to make it past the multi-headed snake. Awesome freaking times.
“We’ve been traveling for hours,” Kale pointed out. “We should probably stop and rest.”
“We don’t need to stop. I can keep going,” Vera assured.
“You’ve been limping for the past hour,” he said.
Vera stiffened. She’d never let that toe heal right, and then she’d stubbed it on her trip do
wn the mountainside. “I’m fine.”
“We don’t have to stop for long,” he persisted.
“We don’t have to stop at all,” she retorted.
“You cannot walk all night.”
“And you can?”
“I can walk and carry another’s weight all night.”
Vera stumbled. He isn’t offering to let me ride, right? Because that would involve a crap-ton of touching. Although, being off my feet sounds glorious.
“Stop being stubborn,” he fired out.
She straightened her back and swung around. “You want to talk about being stubborn?”
The arca shuffled out of her way as she charged up to the infuriating man, who at least had the decency to stare at the ground. She jabbed a finger into his sternum—it was the highest she could reach. “You tell me you love me and then, poof.” Vera threw her hands in the air. “You leave.”
“That was a mistake.”
“Ya think? We’ve been killing ourselves to keep humans and magical beings away from the meadow. Plus, save Mimi’s baby and stop whatever else Suzie has planned.” She clenched her jaw because she refused to cry when she was that angry. “We needed you.”
“When I’ve checked in, you’ve been doing perfectly fine without me,” he replied. “That wasn’t the mistake I was talking about, though.”
Vera felt like Kanaloa just ripped out her heart again. “What do you mean you checked in? You surfaced?”
“Only to make sure everything was okay.”
“How did I never know?”
Kale fidgeted.
“You made sure I wasn’t around, didn’t you?” she guessed. “Do you know how worried I was?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“You didn’t care?”
“I knew you’d eventually get over it. And I knew that would be easier if I wasn’t popping in and out of your life.”
“I never wanted you popping in and out of my life. I only wanted you in it. I still do. I lost my best friend when you abandoned us. Except I still had to look at your face every day, only it wasn’t you.”
“I never thought about that. I’m sorry.”
