by Box Set
“Glowing butts?” Ryn bursts out laughing. “When I find a girl who’s worthy of impressive stunts, it’ll be more like a magic carpet ride to watch the sun set than a bunch of tiny, glowing asses in the air.”
“Yeah, well, maybe that’s my thing.” Or not. I have no idea where the ‘glowing butts’ comment came from. Although it might actually be kind of pretty now that I think about it. “And magic carpets don’t exist,” I add.
Ryn tilts his head back to gaze at the sky. “That’s why it’ll be so impressive.”
* * *
My hands don’t feel quite so tender the next day, which makes room for the pain in my arm. Ryn changed the dressing and bandage before we fell asleep last night, and the wound wasn’t looking good. It doesn’t bother me too much, though. We’ll be back at the Guild tomorrow, and after the metal band has been removed, my arm will heal quickly.
We walk even slower than yesterday, and by the time the moon has risen high in the sky and we’re too tired and sore to continue, we still haven’t reached the crossover point into the fae realm.
“If we continue at the same pace, it will take at least another four hours,” Ryn says as he examines the map.
“Okay.” I drag myself to my feet. “Come on. We can do it.”
“Don’t be silly.” Ryn closes the book and sets the bag down. “We can do it in the morning.”
“No. The morning is for us to get through the forest to the Guild. Have you forgotten about that part?”
“V, you’re going to fall over pretty soon, which means I’ll have to carry you, and despite how strong and muscular I look, I’m not exactly feeling up to it at the moment.” He pulls me down onto the grass, and I realize I’m too tired to get back up again.
* * *
Friday morning arrives, and I’m desperate. With every step we take, I can imagine the clock ticking away. Everyone else is probably back by now, and here we are, the top two trainees in our class, not even able to use our own magic.
Around about mid-morning, the houses begin to get further apart. When we finally reach a forested area and Ryn says, “This is it,” I could just about cry with happiness. With renewed strength, we hurry through the trees.
“If humans were walking here,” I say, “they’d just keep going until they reached the other side, right?”
“Yes. It’s only the fae who can cross over into another realm while in this forest.”
Part of me wonders if I’ll be able to tell when we’re no longer in the human realm, but the moment it happens, I know. Not just because it feels and looks different, but because of the sudden downpour we find ourselves in.
We’re home.
Finally.
And the magical storm that began a week ago still rages on.
Twelve
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I shout above the roar of the rain. A fork of lightning rips through the sky and strikes the tree we’re standing beside. With a crack and a groan, an enormous branch tumbles to the ground. We dive out of the way, hitting the ground and sliding through the mud. I sit up and wipe the brown muck off my face.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
“We can’t travel through this,” Ryn shouts to me.
“We have to. How else will we get back?”
“Let’s just wait a bit.” He pulls me to my feet and leads me back a few paces. A second later we’re standing in the quiet forest of the human realm, with nothing disturbing the peace save for a few chirping birds.
I put my hands over my face. “Why is this happening?”
“Things could be worse, V.” I hear Ryn sitting down. “We could be dead, you know. How many other people have fought the Unseelie Queen and lived to brag about it?”
“I don’t care,” I moan.
“Stop being a baby and sit down. We’ll give it half an hour and see if the weather clears.”
I plop onto the ground and begin wiping mud and mush off my dress. “I can’t believe this. We should have been back at the Guild days ago! And here we are, sleeping in the dirt, sliding through the mud, and smelling like crap.”
Ryn snickers. “Oh, baby, I love it when you talk dirty.”
I shove a fistful of muddy leaves into his laughing mouth. “There.” I smile sweetly. “Now you can talk dirty too.”
He spits and splutters. “Okay—” he wipes a few more leaves off his tongue “—you know I’m going to get you back for that at some point, right?”
“I don’t get why you’re not upset about this.” I throw my hands up. “You’re just as competitive as I am. Doesn’t it bother you that we’re about to lose so many points?”
“Violet. You and I are so far ahead of everyone else in the rankings that even if we get a big fat zero for this assignment, which won’t happen, it’s still going to be either you or me graduating at the top of the class.”
I push wet hair out of my face and lean back against a tree with a sigh. I suppose Ryn’s right. The two of us have been fighting for the top position since we began training; no one else ever really stood a chance. The thought doesn’t make me feel much better, though. I don’t want to know that it will be one of the two of us. I want to know that it will be me.
“Why do you want it so badly?” Ryn asks, watching me closely.
I shake my head. I’ve never told anyone my reason, and I’m not about to now.
“If I guess correctly, will you tell me?”
I shift my head so I can see him. “You’ll never guess.”
With a grin, he says, “Challenge accepted. Okay, let’s see. It can’t be something as simple as the money. I know your parents left you with enough of that.” He watches me closely; I keep my expression neutral. “Right. So is it because the only thing you’ve ever wanted in life is to see your name written in the Hall of Honor?” He hesitates. If he’s waiting for a hint from me, it’s not happening. “No, I didn’t think so,” he continues. “And it can’t be the visit to the Seelie Court because I doubt you’ve ever wanted to meet the …” He trails off and tilts his head to the side. “No, wait, that’s it. You want to go to the Seelie Court.”
I feel a certain disquiet stirring within me, but I keep my voice even as I say, “And how do you figure that? Did I blink the wrong way?”
“That’s interesting,” he says, ignoring my question. “I always assumed it would have more to do with your mother than any—Aha!” He points at me. “It is! It’s something to do with your mother and the Seelie Court.”
Unless he can hear the unsteady beating of my heart from where he’s sitting, which I know he can’t, he should never have been able to figure that out. My expression remains neutral as I stare at him for several moments, trying to think up another story. But he looks so sure of himself that I know he’ll never believe a lie. “How did you guess?” I ask eventually.
“I’m pretty good at reading people. That’s something you might not know about me, V.”
I press my lips together and look down at the ground. I hope he can’t tell how much it unsettles me that he’s figured out my secret. Who would have thought he was so good at guessing?
“So, are you going to tell me the rest of the details, or just leave me hanging?”
For the first time, I consider why I’ve never told anyone. It’s no one else’s business, of course, but I suppose I’m afraid other people will think it’s silly. And several weeks ago Ryn would have been the very last person on earth I’d have shared this secret with, but I know the other side of him now. I’ve seen his fears, witnessed his heartbreak. Something tells me that if anyone’s going to understand why this is so important to me, Ryn will.
“Fine,” I say. “But if you laugh at me, I swear I’ll make you feel so much pain you’ll never want to laugh again.”
“Okaaay,” he says slowly. “You’re a little scary sometimes, V. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to keep all laughter under wraps.”
“Okay.” I fold my arms. “So it isn’t a lie that I very much enjoy being th
e best trainee in our year and would like to be rewarded for it, but, as you guessed, there is another reason that makes it even more important to me.” I take a deep breath. “Apparently, back when our parents were training at the Guild, everyone wanted to visit the Seelie Court. That was, like, the coolest thing about being the top graduate. And my mother … well, I guess she was a really fun kind of person, and when she graduated at the top of her class, she wanted to take advantage of her one visit to the Seelie Court. So, according to my father, she took a whole lot of her own things with her and hid them somewhere. She thought it would be cool if someone from a future graduating year found her things. And even if no one ever found them, it would still be cool because she’d left her mark there, kind of like humans carving their initials into trees.” I stop to take a breath.
“How would she have known if anyone ever found her stuff?” Ryn asks.
“Well, my father said she left a recorded mirror message there asking for her favorite book to be returned to the Guild with a message for her. I haven’t heard of that happening, so I assume her belongings are still hidden. Just think of it, Ryn. I could see her in a mirror, talking to me! And I could finally have something of hers! Her first piece of jewelry, a story she wrote at junior school, the candle she burned on her eighteenth birthday—whatever else she left there. If I could just find all those things, then I’d finally know something about her. I mean, at home there are clothes and books, but what does that tell me? Other than the fact that she loved reading poetry, I barely know anything. And I want to know her. I want to know what she was like when she was my age. I want to feel some kind of connection to this person I have no memories of.”
When I finally stop talking, Ryn just looks at me. What is he thinking? Is he thinking anything? For all I know, he got bored and dozed off while I was talking. Or maybe he’s biting his tongue to hold his laughter in.
Suddenly, I regret telling him. “You think it’s silly. I know, it’s just stuff, right? How is that supposed to make me feel—”
He leans forward and catches my hand. “It’s not silly at all, V.”
I wait for him to say something else, but he doesn’t. Neither does he look away. Or let go of my hand. My skin is still rather sensitive from the vine burn, so his grip kind of hurts. It’s also kind of amazing in a skin-tingling, heart-thudding, head-rushing sort of way.
Insane. That’s what I am. Definitely insane.
I gently pull my hand away and reach for Ryn’s jacket. I’m starting to get cold. “Well, anyway, that’s my sad little story. Now it’s your turn.” I cross my arms, being careful not to bump the really painful wound hidden beneath the bandage. “You have to tell me something personal, something previously off-limits.”
Ryn taps his fingers together and looks thoughtful. “Okay, remember when we had one of our major confrontations recently about Reed, and you shouted at me to ‘get over it’?”
“Uh, yes.” I feel guilty about that now; I was rather mean.
“Well, I’m trying.” He looks down at the ground. “It isn’t easy with my mom around. She’s sad a lot of the time, and I know it’s because she misses him. And there are reminders of him all around our home. Like all the things in his bedroom, and the target he set up at the end of the passage.”
“Your mom was so mad when he did that,” I say, remembering it clearly. “She said it was too dangerous to throw knives inside the house.”
“But Reed begged her to let him keep it there. He promised to be careful.”
“And no one could ever say no to Reed.”
“No.” Ryn’s smile is sad. “And then there’s the fact that my father isn’t around. He left us because he and my mother just couldn’t handle Reed’s death. They should have been grieving together, you know, but somehow they always ended up fighting instead. So he left. And now his very absence is a constant reminder that Reed isn’t around anymore either.”
A shiver courses through my body, and I pull the jacket tighter around me. “But your mom doesn’t mind having Calla over?”
Ryn shakes his head. “It’s weird, I know. I thought she’d have a problem with it, and the first time I brought Calla over, my mom did keep her distance. But ever since then she seems to love it.”
“Maybe it’s because Calla’s such an adorable child that your mom is able to look past her parentage.”
“Probably,” Ryn says. He takes a deep breath and looks around. “Uh, should we check out the weather situation in Creepy Hollow?”
“Yes!” I jump up, horrified that I’ve managed to forget the urgency of our situation. My head spins, and the world around me seems to shift. When it manages to right itself, I find myself leaning against a tree with Ryn holding onto my injury-free arm.
“Standing up so fast clearly isn’t a good idea for you,” he says.
“I’m … just …” I shake my head. “A little dizzy.”
“Is it your arm?” He moves to push the jacket off my shoulder.
“Don’t.” I stop his hand. “We both know it’s probably worse than the last time we checked, so let’s just get back to the Guild as quickly as we can. I’ll be fine once the metal band is removed.”
Ryn looks down at where my hand is touching his. “Your skin is really warm, V.” He places his hand on my forehead. I try to act like it doesn’t bother me to have him standing so close and touching me. Because it doesn’t. Not at all. “You’re definitely burning up.”
“Well, that’s something I’ve never experienced before.”
“You’re sicker than you think you are, V. We really need to get moving.”
“Thanks, that’s really comforting, Ryn.” I push past him. “I’m not the one who wanted to sit down and wait for the weather, remember?” A boom of thunder greets my ears as we cross over the invisible divide between the realms. My hair, which had just begun to dry, is drenched in seconds. “Why did we decide to wait anyway? It’s not like the rain is going to kill us.”
“Yes, but trees that fall over can,” Ryn shouts to me. “That’s why we waited.”
“Well, we can’t wait any longer.” I set off through the storm, then remember that I’ve never actually traveled this route before, and I’m not entirely sure which way to go.
“Would you like me to show you the way?” Ryn asks as he passes me, a superior look on his face. He loves it way too much when he finds something I can’t do. I follow him without a word.
We trudge along the soggy forest floor, dodging the occasional falling branch. Lightning blinds us and thunder sets the entire forest shuddering. The bottom half of my dress clings to my legs. I blink rain out of my eyes and pull the dress higher up and out of the way. I won’t let a stupid piece of fabric slow me down.
It isn’t long before I’m exhausted. My heart is beating too fast, and I can’t seem to stop shivering. And even though it’s probably just the wind, I keep thinking I can hear someone calling my name. My foot hooks beneath a root, and before I can figure out how to save myself from falling, I’ve landed splat in the mud.
So. Freaking. Embarrassing. I am not the kind of person who trips over things. I’m supposed to be coordinated and agile and—who keeps calling my name? I twist around and stare into the shadowy forest. “Who’s there?”
I feel someone’s hand on my arm. I look up to see Ryn. Weird. I’d forgotten he was also out here. He pulls me to my feet and loops my arm around his neck. Great, now he thinks I need help walking.
Violet.
I struggle to look over my shoulder. There’s definitely someone calling for me. And is that the shape of a person I can see moving between the trees? “Wait, Ryn, someone keeps calling my name. Can’t you hear that?”
“Just keep walking, V. There’s no one there.”
I don’t know why, but I listen to him instead of the voice. Probably because his arm is so strong around me that I’d have no hope of struggling free.
We keep moving. Step after step after step. I’ve never been this tire
d. I’m so tired, in fact, that I’m dreaming while I’m walking. I know I’m awake and moving, but my mind is lost to a jumble of confusing images. I float, letting them carry me along like a river. People, memories, colors, mixed up bits of conversations.
The next time I become conscious of my surroundings, we’re standing in the entrance to the Guild, and Ryn is apologizing to the guard for something. “I’m sorry, it was the only way I could think of to get your attention. No magic, remember?” He thrusts his metal-encircled wrist forward as proof. “If you want to see my pendant, here it is.” He fumbles near his neck and pulls a chain from beneath his shirt. “But like I already told you, Basil, she isn’t wearing hers. And she can’t get it for you because she’d need magic to do that, and she currently doesn’t have any. Now please let us in.”
“I’ve been through this before with you, Ryn,” Basil says patiently. “You know the rules. She can’t come in here without first showing me her pendant. If that’s impossible then I’ll have to send a guard in with—”
“I don’t care if you have to send a hundred guards with me, this girl is dying and I need to get her to her mentor at once!”
Dying? What is he talking about?
Things get a bit jumbled. I think there’s some more shouting, and I’m vaguely aware of being dragged up some stairs. When Ryn pushes a door open and I see a woman with blonde and green hair sitting behind a desk, my head clears a little.
“There you are!” Tora exclaims. “I expected you back ages ago.” Her face falters, and she stands quickly. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“We did it, Tora.” I say weakly. “We finished the assignment. Fought the Unseelie Queen. Stole the necklace. Got home before the cut-off.” Or did we? I’m not actually sure about that one. I wrap my fingers around my chunky necklace, trying—and failing—to pull it off so I can give it to Tora. Then, just like every silly girl in every damsel-in-distress story I’ve ever despised, I sag against Ryn and pass out.
