Elle looked around, her eyes focusing on another orb. It was eerie to know that they weren’t alone after all. That dozens of miniature people were floating above them. She wondered if they’d been listening. Had they heard all the things she and Dex had spoken about? And how did they all get here? A thought occurred to her as another tiny, weeping person floated by. “I wonder if these are all the people who’ve wandered into the Never Woods, lost their minds, and never left.”
“You mean Xander and Olly would have ended up like this if that pixie hadn’t sent them out of the woods?” Dex said.
“Maybe, I don’t know. But I wonder if we can free these people,” Elle added, raising her hand toward the nearest orb.
Dex caught her fingers and pulled her hand back down. “You probably shouldn’t touch that.”
“You think something bad will happen?”
“I just don’t think we should disturb the way things are.”
“Yeah, maybe not.”
“Let’s just keep moving,” Alissa said, turning away. “I don’t want to look at them anymore.”
“Hey, look here,” Astrid called to them from a few feet away. “I think it’s an actual path.”
Elle walked forward, realizing that the mist must have begun to dissipate at some point. The air seemed clearer now, and as she looked ahead, she saw a straight line of space cutting through the trees, ending at a clearing of some sort.
“Do you think that’s the ‘edge’ the pixie was referring to?” Astrid asked.
“I don’t know, but the footprint marks continue that way,” Elle said. “Let’s keep going and find out.”
They followed the path, and before even reaching the clearing, Elle could see the ‘edge’ the pixie had spoken of. At the end of the path, the ground gave way abruptly to a steep cliff. On the other side of a great chasm, the Never Woods continued. “The pixie said we have to cross over,” Dex said as the four of them stopped a few feet back from the edge of the cliff.
Elle looked first to the left and then the right, her eyes scanning the moonlit landscape for a way across the chasm. “No bridge,” she said when her eyes found nothing.
“Of course not,” Astrid muttered. “That would be far too easy.”
“Climbing down, walking across, and climbing back up doesn’t look like a great option either,” Alissa said.
“Definitely not,” Elle said, looking down. The bottom of the abyss was so far below, she could barely make out what was down there. “Anyone see any footprints anywhere—Whoa!” She threw a hand out and grabbed hold of Dex as the ground shuddered beneath her feet.
“What the hell?” Astrid gasped as the four of them scrambled a few paces backward.
“Stars,” Alissa hissed. “Look there.” She pointed toward the left, where boulder-sized pieces of rock were starting to fall away from the edge of the cliff.
“Same on this side,” Dex said.
“Oh, are you kidding me?” Astrid shouted. “You said we had to cross over, but you forgot to tell us about the time limit part!” she yelled into the chasm.
“Okay, let’s not panic,” Elle said, gripping Dex’s arm tighter as another shudder rolled through the ground. “There’s a reason you’re all here, right? I was told I had to bring a vampire, a shifter and a faerie. So one of you must be able to get us safely across.”
“Well don’t look at me,” Astrid said. “He’s the one with all the power.” She pointed at Dex.
“Well, yeah,” Dex spluttered, “but it’s not the kind of power that can build a bridge in five seconds. I mean … anything that might help us get across will take time.” His wide-eyed gaze focused on the other side of the chasm. “Okay, the quickest thing is probably rope.” In the darkness, gold dust shimmered around his hands. “I can throw it across. Magic can secure it on the other side. I can do one for each of us. But securing it on this side is going to be a problem if this part of the woods falls into the canyon. But magic can at least keep us from falling too fast if we—”
“Can you make us fly?” Astrid asked. “Give us wings?”
Dex gaped at her. “No! What kind of world are you living in that you think fae can do that?”
“I don’t know, a world of magic?” They all stumbled another few steps backward into the woods as the ground began to crumble away in front of them. “A world where the fae like to remind us they’re powerful and secretive and never share all the things they can actually do?”
“What?”
“Dex!” Elle shouted. “We’re running out of—”
“Hey,” Alissa said, looking over her shoulder and then back at the chasm. “I can get across.”
“You can?” Elle grabbed onto a tree branch as the ground cracked beneath her feet.
“Yes, I’m pretty sure. You know how fast we vampires are. And that path back there is so straight. I can easily gather enough speed to leap across.”
“Well, isn’t that wonderful for you,” Astrid snapped. “What about the rest of us?”
“I can take you with me. One at a time.”
“Like … you would pick us each up and carry us?” Dex asked, eyeing Alissa’s slim frame with doubt.
“Hello, I’m a vampire,” she snapped. “I’m stronger than you are, your highness.”
“Yes, okay, that sounds great,” Elle said hastily. “Let’s do it. We’ll all be at the bottom of the chasm soon otherwise.”
“Take them first,” Dex said immediately. “Elle and then Astrid. I’ll send rope across in case you don’t get back in time for me.”
Elle barely heard Dex’s last few words as she was abruptly whisked through the air and landed with an oof of breath over Alissa’s shoulder. A blast of wind blew her hair back, and then they were stationary again, back in the woods. Elle tried to catch her breath as a memory flashed through her mind: the image of being tossed over Alissa’s shoulder as she jumped from a window of Gizella Munroe’s home. I’m going to run now, Alissa had said as they landed at the bottom. Please don’t throw up on me.
“I’ll try not to throw up on you,” Elle managed to say with whatever breath remained in her lungs. A snort of laughter escaped the vampire, and then in a rush of speed, the Never Woods blurred around them. The quick, jerky motions morphed into a smooth, soaring motion, and everything slowed just enough for Elle to make out the gaping hole of the chasm for a second before ground flashed into her view again. A sudden landing and several stumbling steps made certain she had absolutely no breath left, and by the time Alissa dumped her on the ground and raced away, she was sucking desperately at the air.
Elle scrambled onto her feet and approached the cliff. A glittering gold line hung across the chasm. She squinted into the night and just managed to make out Dex’s shape at the other end of the rope. The ground was still crumbling away on either side of him, leaving him standing on a rapidly narrowing ledge of rock. Alissa sped past him and streaked through the air, but Elle kept her eyes on Dex as the vampire landed somewhere behind her with Astrid. What was Dex planning to do? Tie the other end of the rope around himself and leap into the abyss? Was his magic enough to keep him from slamming against the cliff on this side at a deadly speed?
“I think there’s still time,” Alissa said breathlessly. “I can get back across.”
“Are you—” Elle didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence before Alissa raced off again. She squeezed her hands together and pressed them beneath her chin. “Please don’t die,” she whispered.
“They’ll be … fine … I’m sure,” Astrid gasped, coming to stand beside her. “Man, that was … a rush.”
Elle ignored her, barely blinking as she watched Alissa and Dex disappear into the trees on the other side. “Come on, come on, come on.” While the ground on this side was utterly still, she could see rocks, stones and dust tumbling away into the darkness on the far side of the chasm. The ledge Dex had been waiting on was now hardly big enough for a single person, and as a flash of color raced out of the woods, th
e final piece of rock cracked off and slid down, taking several trees with it. “Oh no,” Elle gasped. “Do you think she launched off the edge with enough speed? The ground was already falling when she …”
Her words trailed off as she watched her two companions sailing through the air. Less than halfway across the chasm, they reached the highest point of their arc and began falling, leaving no doubt in Elle’s mind: they weren’t going to make it.
Gold light flashed away from Alissa and Dex, forming a line that hit the nearest tree and wrapped itself around the trunk several times. Elle’s eyes darted from the conjured rope back to the falling pair. They clung together as Dex’s magic looped around them. While Alissa’s scream echoed across the cavernous space, Elle held her breath. The rope snapped taut, and instead of falling straight down into the darkness of the chasm, Alissa and Dex swung toward the cliff face at an alarming speed.
Elle dropped to her knees and scrambled toward the edge of the cliff, mumbling, “Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die.” She reached the edge and peered over just as a glow surrounded Alissa and Dex and they slowed suddenly. They bumped gently against the cliff face a few times as if it were a mattress instead of a solid rock surface. Alissa yelled out a few obscenities while Elle breathed, “Ohthankgoodness.”
Astrid landed on her knees beside Elle and started laughing as she looked down. “I’ll bet that was way more of a rush than our ride over the chasm.”
Elle didn’t answer, her eyes still pinned to Alissa and Dex dangling at the bottom of the rope. “Okay, I’m coming up,” Alissa called out in a shaky voice. She began pulling herself up, arm over arm. After a few moments, Dex followed.
“Holy frikkin’ stars,” Alissa gasped when she reached the top and let Elle and Astrid help her up and over the edge. She crawled a few feet away before lying on her back and staring up at the sky. “There were a few moments when I seriously thought we weren’t going to see the rest of this quest. I know a vampire and a faerie can survive a lot, but it is a looooong way to the bottom of that gorge.”
“Yeah, I’ll say,” Dex grunted as he made it to the top of the rope. Elle grabbed his arm and tried to assist as he hefted himself over the edge, which was completely unnecessary because, like Alissa, he didn’t exactly need the help. Once he was on solid, flat ground, he collapsed against Elle and pulled her into his arms. She clung to him as tightly as if she planned to never let go, blinking away tears of relief.
They sat in silence for a few moments, their breathing the only sound that filled the air, and then Dex looked toward Alissa. “Hey, thanks for getting us halfway across.”
She sat up, stuck her tongue out at him, then laughed. “Thanks for getting us the rest of the way, I guess.”
“I can’t believe you guys are joking about this,” Elle said.
Dex pulled away but left one arm around her shoulders. “Hey, it’s fine,” he said as he rubbed her back. “We’re fine.”
“I know, but if you weren’t, it would be my fault. I would be the reason you both died.”
“Hey, we volunteered for this, remember?” Alissa said as she pushed herself to her feet. “And since we’re all still fine, we should probably carry on.”
“Yep, there’s the next footprint,” Astrid said, pointing behind them. Elle watched the imprint of a foot appear at the base of a nearby tree. “And look,” Astrid added. “Those creepy little orb prisoners are on this side too.” Elle raised her eyes and gazed further into the woods. Sure enough, a few glowing white orbs floated here and there.
“Marvelous,” Alissa grumbled. “I’ll keep my eyes pointed down.”
Dex helped Elle to her feet—she seemed to be the only one still shaken by the fact that two out of their group of four had almost died mere minutes ago—and walked beside her as they headed back into the woods. There was no path this side, but they kept their eyes peeled for each new footprint as it appeared on the trees ahead of them.
“I wish we knew how much longer this quest would take,” Astrid said. “I don’t know if I should be rationing the energy bars zipped up inside my jacket. I don’t want to finish them all and then in two days time I’m eating tree bark and rotting leaves.”
“That’s disgusting,” Alissa replied.
“I haven’t even seen anything that resembles a berry,” Astrid continued. “There’s nothing in this place that could be considered—Oh!” She let out a yelp as the ground suddenly tilted at a steep angle.
“Holy staaaaars!” Elle shrieked as she slipped onto her backside and skidded uncontrollably down the steep slope that had appeared out of nowhere. She tried to grab onto roots and tree trunks, but she was sliding too fast to get a good grip on anything. The ground finally leveled out, and she rolled several times before coming to a halt. She sat up, brushing leaves and twigs from her hair. “Everyone okay?” she called as she looked around. They appeared to be at the bottom of a small, circular valley, with an open clearing ahead and the woods surrounding them on all sides.
“Yeah, I think I’m okay,” Astrid answered.
“Me too,” Alissa added, followed by a similar answer from Dex.
“The footsteps lead across the clearing,” Alissa said as she climbed to her feet, pointing to the imprints in the ground..
“Seems simple enough,” Dex said, “and yet I’m willing to bet something unpleasant will happen before we reach the other side.”
“Yeah, like we’ll get halfway and some horrible creature will jump out of the ground and attack us,” Astrid replied.
“Or the ground will become sinking sand,” Elle muttered. She rose to her feet. “But if that’s the way the footprints go, then that’s the way we have to go. I must just keep reminding myself that the pixie said she wants us to succeed. So even when there are obstacles, we should be able to get past them.”
Dex nodded. “True. So … I guess we should start walking then.”
Elle took a tentative step forward, expecting the ground to try to gobble her foot right off. But nothing happened. She took another step, and then another, and when nothing bad happened, she started walking normally. If she had to tiptoe the whole way across, it was going to take forever.
“So far, so good,” Dex said as the four of them continued forward.
“Why would you say that?” Astrid grumbled. “Now you’ve probably—Oh, see? Now it’s raining. You brought the rain down on us.”
“It’s just rain,” Dex replied. “Probably a coincidence.”
“You think?” Elle said, looking up. “I hate to point this out, but there are no clouds.”
“So freakin’ weird,” Astrid said, tilting her face toward the sky. “Nobody’s going to believe half the things we tell them when we get out of this place.”
Elle smiled. “I like the fact that you said ‘when.’”
“Well of course. I don’t plan to be stuck in these woods for—Ow! Okay, does anyone else feel like this rain is stinging?”
“Oh, ow, yes.” Elle brushed the water droplets off the backs of her bare hands. When she felt her left foot stinging she looked down. “Hey! This rain is burning holes into my favorite shoes.”
“Dex!” Astrid shouted.
“Yeah, I’m on it!” Sure enough, the gold glow of magic was already surrounding Dex’s hands. He raised them above his head, and a rippling, shimmering layer began to form in the air above them. “Keep moving,” he told them. “I can do this while we’re—”
“Holy stars!” Elle yelped, leaping to the side and crashing into Alissa as a ball of flames the size of her fist landed where her right foot had just been.
On Dex’s other side, Astrid let out a squeal and ducked closer to the group. “You can’t make people fly, but you can deflect magical fireballs, right?”
“Working on it,” Dex said through gritted teeth. He was focusing left and then right, both hands raised as the shimmering layer above him became a mesh-like barrier, similar to what Elle had seen in the palace gardens on the night of the Moon
light Masquerade—the barriers she’d assumed were to keep guests from intruding on certain parts of the grounds.
Alissa pressed closer, forcing Elle against Dex’s side. “Crap, crap, crap,” she hissed. “Can you bend that magic around us? To protect us from the sides as well? Something just hit my ankle.”
“Uh, yeah,” Dex said, all his attention still focused upward on the barrier. “It’s just … complicated. With us moving. But I’ve got it.”
They rushed forward as quickly as they could while remaining in a huddle, and the fireballs began to increase in size and number. Looking ahead, Elle said, “We just have to make it to the edge of the clearing. As far as I can tell, there’s no fire in the trees.”
“Great,” Dex grunted. “Because—dammit!” He ducked his head, but nothing came through the barrier. “What the hell? They’re the size of boulders!”
Elle looked up. It seemed as if the enormous fireballs were melding together as they fell, forming larger and larger masses of fire, until eventually there was no break, no gap through which she could make out the sky. Only a continuous stream of flames, as if a giant dragon had opened its maw over the clearing, taken one enormous breath, and was planning to breath out fire for the rest of time.
They could no longer see where they were going, but they hurried blindly onwards inside their moving bubble of protection. “Come on,” Elle panted. “We must be almost there. We must be.” Heat burned her face and sweat formed across her brow. When she looked up again, the mesh-like layer was starting to glow red instead of gold, and tiny patches here and there seemed to be disappearing like paper held over a flame.
“Dex!” Alissa shouted. “Argh, jeez!” She shook her hand repeatedly. “Something just got through. Why isn’t the barrier holding up?”
“Because there’s a damn inferno on the other side of it!” Dex yelled back.
Elle gritted her teeth as the heat began to reach an unbearable level. But just as she thought her skin might be about to blister, the flames vanished, and the four of them raced into the cool air between the trees on the other side of the clearing.
The Starlight Quest Page 5
