“I can see the wheels turning in that undersized brain of yours,” Wodrid warned. “I wouldn’t risk it. After all, you do want to see Fate again, don’t you?”
Finn gripped his wind sword so tight he shook. “What about Gerdie? Where is she?”
Wodrid’s smile was smug. “You’ll get Gerdie back, as long as Fate brings me the Rod. Beyond that, I cannot guarantee anything.” He turned to leave.
Finn’s insides filled with rage. Losing all reason, he lunged at Wodrid and launched himself through the hatch.
45
Don’t Mess With Me
THE AIR PRESSED AROUND Fate, thick and still as she passed through yet another portal. The second she stepped across the threshold, the air unleashed, blowing salt air against her face. Birdsong and the sounds of distant waves shattered the noiseless vacuum of space she’d left behind. She gazed out over the ocean from where she stood within the standing stones set high on a hill. The wind rustled the leaves of the enormous oak towering over her.
After traveling through fourteen portals, she was finally back on the island of Innith Tine.
Her pulse raced as she turned to face the massive tree trunk. Slowly, she moved toward the indentation of mossy roots at the base of the oak and gulped down the painful lump in her throat. How many months had she spent nestled against the tree, waiting for Finn to be released from his prison? Even now, it felt as if it had been an eternity.
The pain of that dark time resurfaced as fresh as if it was happening now. If Gerdie hadn’t convinced her to leave, she’d still be here, curled against the oak’s roots, wasting away from heartsickness.
She touched the trunk, remembering how the bark had been black and seeping with blood when she’d first seen the bloodthirsty oak. Chills rippled down her spine. She was grateful to see the tree was normal and the island was as she’d left it–lush and filled with life. Finn’s sacrifice had not been wasted. The oak and the island remained free of Mugloth’s malignant infection.
Fate leaned against the tree. “Finn?” she whispered. “I’m here. I came back for you, just as I promised.”
She waited for the signs he used to give her to let her know he was inside the tree–the change in the air, the sudden hush of leaves, birds and insects. The light breeze against her lips that felt like the softest ghost of a kiss.
The minutes ticked by without any halt to the normal sounds of the forest. Her heart shriveled. Had she been gone too long? Had Finn’s connection with his humanity been severed? He used to speak of the Earthmind and how he often lost himself in his connection with it. Had he become one with the nature and forgotten who he was?
Fate blinked back the tears brimming in her eyes. “It doesn’t matter.” She dug into her pocket, retrieved the invocation Eustace had given her and shook the paper at the tree. “I’m getting you out, Finn! I got you into this and I’m getting you out. I’ve got the secret weapon in my hand. The Green Man can’t do anything to stop me. He has to let you go.”
“Who are you yelling at?”
Fate jumped, so startled, she tripped over a root and fell on her front. She turned over to see Jessie standing over her. She clutched at her thudding heart. “Jess, what’re you doing here?”
Jessie held her hand out and pulled Fate to her feet. She glanced around before giving Fate a weird look. “I don’t see anyone else, so what’s with the insane babbling to yourself all about?”
Fate frowned. “I’m talking to Finn. He’s still trapped in the tree. I’m worried though. I can’t feel him anymore.”
“Feel him? As in imaginary arms and lips?”
“His presence.” Fate’s face grew hot with embarrassment. “When he was first trapped, I could feel him here. But I don’t know what’s happened. I think he might be part of the earth now.” She paused for a second then looked at Jessie with tears coming to her eyes. “I think Mother Nature took him for herself.”
Jessie raised her eyebrows. “I don’t know about all this nature talk, but you’re right on one thing. Finn’s not in there anymore.”
Hearing her worst fears confirmed hollowed Fate out. She gasped as if Jessie had punched her in the stomach. Her chest tightened. She couldn’t breathe. Her legs buckled and she fell to her knees. All the strength she’d been saving suddenly vanished. She was empty.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jessie asked as she kneeled down. She put her hand on Fate’s shoulder. “This is good news.”
“How can you say that?” Fate yelled.
“Because Finn just turned up at the Keep. That’s why I came to get you.”
Fate stared at her in amazed silence.
“Did you hear me?” Jessie said, using fake sign language. “Finn’s at the Keep and he’s waiting for you.”
Fate grabbed Jessie by the arms to stop her ludicrous hand motions. “Are you serious? Don’t mess with me. My heart can’t take it.”
Jessie looked insulted as she stood and brushed leaves off her knees. “Come on. Not about this.”
Fate’s heart was racing at the thought of seeing Finn. She’d gone from barely breathing to breathless with anticipation. She rose to her feet, swaying with elated dizziness.
Jessie reached out to steady her. “Oh, and your snake friend’s there too. Gotta say, he’s not nearly as adorable as you made him out to be. He’s anaconda-sized-big and scary.”
Overwhelmed with happiness, Fate smiled. “Sithias came too? Wow!” She looked at Jessie’s scrunched up face. “Don’t worry, you’ll get past the snake thing and grow to love him as much as I do.”
“If you say so.”
Fate walked over to one of the standing stones to activate the portal, then stopped when she remembered the beacon Farouk had given her.
“What’s that?” Jessie asked as Fate drew out a small gadget from her pocket.
“It’s a beacon.” Fate placed it deep under one of the oak’s thick roots. “Farouk’s going to use it to connect to Oldwilde and make a portal to it. A permanent one.”
“Why? Planning on buying property here?”
“Funny.” Fate surveyed the pristine island. “At first I wanted Farouk to make it for insurance purposes. You know, in case I failed to get Finn out and needed to return to the Keep to find another solution, I wanted to make sure I could easily get back here at any time in the future.”
“But the problem’s solved. Why would you ever want to come back to this place again? From everything you’ve said, it’s full of nothing but horrible memories.”
Fate couldn’t explain the pull she was feeling. Maybe it was because Oldwilde was where she’d shared her first kiss with Finn, where she’d discovered the true meaning of selfless love. She might feel differently once she was with Finn, but something told her she should keep the door open.
“I don’t know why. I’m just not ready to let go of the place.” Fate moved next to the standing stone.
“It’s all the same to me.” Jessie stepped in next to her and placed her hand on Fate’s.
Taking in an excited shaky breath at the thrill of seeing Finn, Fate activated the portal, feeling the eerie tug of dimensions bending as her surroundings buckled and warped. Within seconds, the distorted blur of surrounding images reformed into a circle of standing stones with a backdrop of stars and giant hoops crackling against the Keep’s protective shield.
Fate sighed with relief. “Nice! We didn’t have to go through another half dozen portals to get back here.”
“Copy that.” Jessie lifted her aeronaut pack onto her shoulders.
Fate did the same, barely able to buckle the straps for the way her hands were trembling. Her entire body buzzed with eagerness. She was about to see Finn. Had he missed her as much as she’d been missing him? Would he still look at her the same way?
“How do I look?” Fate reached for her wild mane of long curls. “Am I a complete disaster?”
“Not unless you count that volcano on your forehead.” Jessie smirked.
“What? No! No
zits, not now.” Fate worried her fingers over her forehead.
Jessie laughed. “Just kidding. I’m sure you’ll look amazing to him. Only I can tell you’ve missed your beauty sleep.”
Fate did her best to smooth her unruly curls with her hands. “Gee thanks, those back-handed compliments are always such self-esteem builders.”
“Glad I could help.” Jessie turned the ignition, revving the pack’s dragonfly shaped wings into motion. “Shall we?”
Nodding, Fate gulped, started her aeronaut pack and launched skyward. As they neared the breaching door, her heart hammered violently against her ribcage and her pulse pounded in her ears. Jessie hit the button to open the hatch. As it spiraled open, Fate peered in, hoping to catch a glimpse of Finn before she went inside.
Jessie looked at her. “You first.”
Fate nodded stiffly as she closed in, navigating her way through the hatch, suddenly awkward, as if she’d just learned how to fly the machine. “Some entrance,” she grumbled to herself as her feet touched down on the sanctuary floor.
Eustace, Farouk and Darcy were gathered round the big table, studying the 3D projection of the Keep. Finn was nowhere in sight. And where was Sithias? Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach. Had she been tricked into coming back?
She turned on Jessie as she came in for a landing. “What’s going on? Where’s Finn? Was it all a lie to get me back here?”
Jessie stood speechless, her mouth open.
Eustace rushed over. Fate knew something was terribly wrong the moment they locked eyes. “What is it? What happened?”
“Wodrid’s here. He’s taken Gerdie. And the Orb. We’ll get her back in exchange for the Rod.”
Icy fear trickled down Fate’s spine. “It’ll be game over if we let him have both the Rod and Orb.”
Farouk looked up from the table, his fox eyes stern. “Which is why you’ll have to figure a way out of that occuralizing.”
Fate was flummoxed. “How did he find a way into the Keep? You said he couldn’t get inside. You should’ve listened to me, I told you he’d find a way!”
“He came here with you.” Eustace placed a hand on her shoulder. “Wodrid disquised himself as Steve.”
His meaning took several seconds to sink in before nauseating fear set in. Steve was Wodrid? No, that was impossible. Steve had helped them rid the Keep of every threat they’d faced together. A chill spread through Fate. How many times had she turned her back to him? Trusting he was a harmless guy who liked dressing as a warlock even after the party was over. If she was honest with herself, she’d sensed something was off about him. But she’d ignored the signs. It was her fault Gerdie’s life hung in the balance.
Fate hung her head. “I should’ve known.”
“None of us knew.” Eustace gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “We were all taken in by his deception. Except for Finn. He seemed to know right–”
“So Finn is here?” She turned to Jessie. “I was beginning to think you only said that to make sure I’d come back with you.”
“Apology accepted.”
Fate looked around again, turning from side to side. “So where is he?”
Eustace took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He only did that when he had bad news to deliver. When her father finally looked at her, his eyes held such deep regret and sadness, she had to look away.
Darcy edged around the table. Grief had softened her usually grim expression. Fate’s body turned heavy and she could hardly move. The worst had happened if Darcy was showing sympathy.
Fate’s gaze landed on the scorch marks on the walls, the tipped over furniture, the books strewn over the floor. A battle had taken place within the sanctuary. A battle between Finn and Wodrid. Sorrow seized her heart like a cold fist. “I have to see him. I can’t accept what you’re telling me. I have to see his body for myself.” She choked out the last few words.
Eustace, Darcy and Farouk exchanged an uncomfortable look and the room filled with an awful silence. Her father finally spoke. “That may prove difficult. Finn tried to go after Wodrid. Without any means of flight.”
“He…he fell?” The words cut Fate’s throat like broken glass.
Eustace shifted in place, his expression pained. “Well, yes, he–”
“Oh my, I could spend the rest of my life in that library. But not until we’ve–” Sithias stopped within the doorway. “Miss, is that you?” He swept all the way into the sanctuary with a librarian robot carrying a stack of books for him.
“Sithias!” Fate cried. She ran across the room, wrapping her arms round the snake as sobs wracked her body.
“There, there, misss.” Sithias enclosed her within the downy softness of his feathered wings and patted her back with his tail. “Don’t lose heart. I haven’t. We both know how strong Finn is. He’s alive. You can be sure of that.”
Fate glanced at her friend, barely able to see him clearly for the tears swimming in her eyes. “Do you really believe that?”
“A hundred percent,” Sithias assured her.
“It’s cruel to give her false hope,” Eustace said, his voice sharp and protective.
Sithias looked at him. “With all due respect, sssir, you haven’t witnessed what I have when it comes to what Finn can do.”
Fate sniffed back her tears and moved one of Sithias’s wings aside so she could see her father. “Dad, he’s right. Finn has amazing powers. He’s done incredible things.”
“That may be,” Farouk interrupted, before Eustace could respond, “but I have not been able to detectify any signs of life on the surface.”
Doubt slammed back in and Fate gulped down the tears.
Sithias drew her back into the shelter of his wings. “Don’t listen to them.” He gave her a scolding look but there was warmth in his amber eyes. “Are you ready to proceed with the assumption Finn isss alive?”
“I wasn’t finished,” Farouk informed them. Fate roughly wiped the tears from her eyes and edged over to the table as he used the pointer to indicate a red spot on the 3D projection of the Keep. “I have however been getting readings of bioillogical activity deep beneath Quadrant 86, directly below this tower.”
Fate turned to him with hope swelling in her heart. “Is that your way of saying there are live bodies down there?”
Farouk’s ears slanted with annoyance. “Plaindubitably. Disfortunately, they’re far enough below the surface to bloterate my readings, which means I’m unable to tell how many lifeforms are down there. I can tell they have not dug below the subsurface, because they’re moving with the vault. Docuscripts show a hidden section beneath the structure and eludevade to a secret entrance inside the tower.”
“Is this your one and only lead?” Fate had hoped for more.
“Yes.”
“Then I guess we start there. It’s got to be where Wodrid stashed Gerdie. More than likely, Kaliena’s there too.” Fate marched over to the weapons rack, grabbed a laser gun, sword and several daggers. She reached for the crossbow, but realized she couldn’t carry it with her rifle and aeronaut pack taking up the room on her back.
Jessie stepped in beside her to replenish the ammunition for her gun.
“We need to go in with the expectation that Wodrid’s there and he’s found some way to subdue Finn.” Fate holstered her gun and sheathed her sword. She felt good saying that. It sounded believable, which is what she needed to avoid falling apart completely.
“It’s too bad Mason’s still out of commission,” Jessie said. “We could really use the extra back-up.”
“Oh, he’s back on his feet, thanks to the rat,” Darcy said, her black-rimmed eyes leveled on Farouk. “But his orders are to guard the Gorgon you brought back.” Her heated gaze shifted to Fate. “Why is it you don’t even have to be around to put my boyfriend’s life at risk?”
“Is this about the Gorgon’s head?” Fate asked, astonished by Darcy’s short-lived moment of compassion. She looked at Farouk. “What happened? Did it slither out of the box
you locked it in?”
“No, Brune’s been infected,” Eustace explained. “She’s turning into a Gorgon.”
“Ew.” Fate suddenly understood why Brune hadn’t wanted to return to the Keep. She must’ve known she’d become a threat. But Fate had insisted on bringing her back, when in fact, she should’ve left her behind in that cave. She had allowed sympathy to cloud her judgment. If Brune hurt anyone, Fate would have to shoulder the blame for that as well. “Is she dangerous?”
“Of course,” Darcy argued. “She’s a Gorgon!”
Ignoring Darcy’s barbs, Fate turned to her father for answers.
“She’s still unconscious. We won’t know how badly she’s been affected until she wakes,” Eustace told her.
Fate gave Darcy a sheepish look. “You’re right, Gorgon’s are deadly. But we need Mason to stand guard to make sure she stays put.” She walked over to the breeching door and lifted her aeronaut pack, hooking the straps over her shoulders. “Jessie and I’ll handle the rest on our own.”
Eustace stood stiff and nervous. “You must be extremely careful. Wodrid’s power is formidable.”
Fate could tell he was more fearful than ever and wanted to say something to put him at ease. “Dad, don’t worry. I survived my last encounter with him. He’s the one who lost a leg and I’m the one who walked away.” She said it with more confidence than she was letting on.
Eustace didn’t look convinced. “That’s what worries me. He’ll go after you with a vengeance. You mustn’t give him the slightest opening.”
Sithias weaved across the room and stopped next to Eustace. “Trust in your daughter.” He gave her a wink. “She’s stronger and more capable than you can imagine. I should know. I’ve witnessed amazing feats of courage from thisss girl.”
“You should come with us,” Fate suggested. “We can use all the help we can get.”
Sithias drew back in horror. “And how would I help? Kill Wodrid with a litany of insults?” He shook his scaled head. “Unfortunately, I’m not the shape shifter you left behind, and I’ve lost my ability to use the Words of Making. I’m sorry to say I’m nothing more than the amazing artist and playwright you first met. Besides, someone has to record this hissstoric event with the panache your grand story deserves.”
Fate's Keep (Fate's Journey Book 2) Page 35
