But the creature was still coming. The spider crawled to the very edge of its web.
And stopped.
What’s it waiting for? Rook thought as they continued to back away. It should have attacked them by now. Unless…maybe it wasn’t like the mastiff hounds. Maybe if they just left it alone, it wouldn’t come after them.
The sound of glass crunching behind them made Rook turn slightly to glance over her shoulder.
She choked back a scream.
It was two more spiders, clinging to rubble piles on either side of the pathway.
These two were half the size of the one in the web, but it hardly mattered. They were still large enough to be terrifying, and between the three of them, they had Rook and her friends surrounded.
“Drift,” Rook said in a small voice.
“I see them,” Drift said. She was shaking. “I’m trying to come up with a plan, but I’m having a little trouble thinking straight.”
Rook squeezed Drift’s hand, letting her know she wasn’t the only one scared out of her mind. “Fox, how are you holding up?”
She received a growl in response.
They pressed together in a loose triangle, the four shadow foxes ringed around them. The two spiders crawled slowly down the rubble piles, cutting off any escape route that Rook might have tried. There was nowhere for them to run, although Fox might be able to jump over the spiders if it came to that.
“Drift,” she said quietly. “Are you strong enough to fly yet?”
Wind fluttered Rook’s hair before Drift replied. “I don’t think so,” she said, regret in her voice. “I can barely stir the air.”
“It’s all right,” Rook said, trying to sound reassuring. “Maybe if we—”
But she didn’t get a chance to finish. The spider in front of them launched itself off its web and scuttled toward them, a blur of legs and shining, empty eyes.
“Fox!” Rook screamed.
Two of the shadow foxes burst into action, leaping at the attacking spider. Rook expected them to pass right through it, but to her shock, the foxes landed on the spider’s back, sinking their shadow teeth into the monster.
There was a flurry of twisting legs and shredding darkness as the spider fought back, biting at the foxes, who didn’t seem to be hurt by the blows. More than that, the spider was distracted. If they could get past it, maybe they could tear through the web blocking their path.
A sudden shriek and a whimper cut through the air, and a weight fell onto Rook from behind, so heavy that she dropped to her knees. She twisted to see what had struck her, fearing another spider.
It was Fox. He was back in his human form and had collapsed against her.
“Fox! Fox, are you all right?” Rook guided his body to the ground and crouched beside him to check his pulse. Had one of the other spiders bitten him? She looked around wildly, but the other two shadow foxes had attacked the spiders behind them, fending them off. As far as she could tell, they hadn’t gotten anywhere near Fox.
“Is he hurt?” Drift asked. She was looking the boy up and down, checking his arms, legs, and neck for any sign of a wound.
“I don’t think they touched him, but I don’t know what’s wrong!” Frantic, Rook shook Fox’s shoulder, but the boy was unconscious. His skin was so pale. Rook laid her ear against his chest. His heartbeat was strong, but she didn’t know how long that would last.
“Rook! Drift! Get him out of there!”
Rook looked up at the voice. Dozana stood about twenty feet away from them. She was cut off, blocked by the shadow foxes that were still wrestling with the two smaller spiders. Rook never thought she’d be glad to see the Voran wizard, but she would take any form of rescue she could get at that moment.
“Drift can’t fly yet!” Rook shouted back. “We can’t get to you! Use your power on the spiders!”
Dozana shook her head. “I’ve used too much already. You must run around them. Hurry, while Fox’s power has them trapped! He won’t last much longer!”
Of course. Rook’s chest squeezed as the truth dawned on her. The shadow foxes were a part of Fox. They weren’t real creatures with minds of their own. Fox himself directed them. The energy they used to exist was Fox’s energy. And it was being drained four times over to do battle with the spiders.
“Help me lift him,” Drift said. “Put him on my back.”
Rook scrambled to do as she said, hauling Fox up and draping him over Drift’s shoulders. Drift grunted and stumbled under the weight, but then she steadied herself and nodded toward Dozana. “Let’s go.”
They ran, pressing themselves as close to the rubble piles as they could to get around the spiders and the foxes. Luck was on their side. The foes were locked together, biting and wrestling, so the spiders paid no attention as Rook and Drift edged past them. Once they were clear, Dozana ran to meet them.
“Give him to me,” she said, and Rook helped her gently lift Fox off Drift’s back and into her arms. Through all the jostling, the boy never stirred. They had to get him somewhere safe in a hurry.
“What about the shadow foxes?” Drift asked as they took off, moving as fast as they could with Dozana carrying Fox. “What’s going to happen to them?”
Dozana glanced over her shoulder. The sounds of fighting were already receding. “We have to hope they disappear in a few minutes,” she said. “The problem is the shadows are still draining Fox’s power. But the farther away we run, the weaker the link Fox will have with them. Eventually it should cause them to dissipate. Unfortunately, then the spiders will be free to come after us.”
“Then just use your power!” Rook snapped. “Like you did with the hounds.”
Dozana grimaced. “Nobody’s power is infinite, Rook,” she said. “You should know that by now. I need to conserve what I have to get us to the portal site.”
They moved down the street, stopping and backtracking every time they came across another web blocking the way. The sticky strands were everywhere. Rook waited, tense, expecting another spider to jump out at them at any moment.
“Why are we doing this?” Drift demanded when they had to double back a fourth time to find a different path. “The constables are gone! Why don’t we just get out of here? We’re no match for these creatures on our own!”
“Because Captain Hardwick was right about the portal site,” Dozana said, panting as she hauled herself and Fox over the remains of a white picket fence—all that was left of someone’s house and yard. “The magic is building up to dangerous levels. It’s going to explode, and we have to stop it.”
“Then why did you trap Hardwick and his men?” Rook asked. “They could have helped us, protected us!”
“And thrown us all in prison when this is over,” Dozana said, narrowing her eyes at Rook. “Do you really think any of the Regarans would thank us for saving their city? All that nonsense Hardwick was spouting about trust between us—don’t believe it for a moment. Now that we’re free, we’ll still save the city, rid it of all the wild magic, but we’ll do it my way, and we’ll save ourselves in the process.”
“What do you mean?” Rook asked, grabbing Dozana’s arm, forgetting about the spiders for a moment. “What are you going to do?”
Dozana smiled down at her. “Not me, Rook—you,” she said. “You’re going to reopen the portal to Vora. We’re going home.”
“IN HERE,” DOZANA SAID, POINTING the group to a dark, gaping hole in a large pile of rubble. It looked as if an animal had tunneled into it long ago, creating a hollowed-out space that was just big enough for the four of them but hopefully too small for the spiders to follow.
Rook helped Dozana ease Fox’s unconscious body into the hole, with Drift following to keep an eye out for the spiders or any other creatures that might be stalking them.
The refuge was hardly comfortable. The smell of stone
dust and wet, rotting wood soured the air, and only pencil-thin shafts of moonlight filtered through the gaps in the rubble. Splintered boards with thick nests of exposed nails were everywhere. But the space was safe enough and relatively dry, so they stayed. They all needed a rest.
Rook sat cross-legged on the ground, Fox’s head resting in her lap, while Dozana helped Drift improvise a bandage for her injured leg out of her shirtsleeve. Rook watched them, quietly trying to absorb what Dozana had told her.
“I don’t understand,” she said at last. “The portal exploded—I can’t open it again, not like the Vorans did.” She had tried over and over to open her own door, but she couldn’t break the barrier between worlds.
“I say you can,” Dozana said, tying off Drift’s bandage and then turning to Rook. “It’s true that it took a great deal of magic to open the original portal in Vora, but ever since we climbed over the red heartstone wall, the animus inside you all has been growing stronger. You saw how Drift was able to create that tornado, how Fox attacked with four shadows of himself working independently. By the time we reach the portal site, you will be so filled with power that you can open a doorway to any world you want and funnel away the leftover magic as if it were nothing.”
“That’s how you plan to get rid of the wild magic?” Drift asked, her voice low and angry. “You channel all that power into Rook and she spits out a portal? How do you know it won’t kill her? That you won’t cause another explosion instead of preventing one?”
“Because the remnants of the portal arch, and the lake itself, will act as a conduit,” Dozana explained calmly. “And because I’ve seen Rook’s power. I wasn’t lying when I said I believe she is stronger than all of us. I think she’s the only one who can get us back to Vora.”
“But you don’t know for sure,” Drift said, “and you said yourself that the Vorans sent us here to escape a magical war. What if there’s nothing left of our home to go back to?” Her voice quavered. “Now that we’ve found each other, isn’t it better to just try to make a home here?”
Dozana cocked her head, staring at Rook and Drift thoughtfully. “Have your memories really been swept so clean? Are you telling me that you wouldn’t risk everything for the chance to return to the place where you belong? A place where you are accepted and loved, and where you might see the rest of your families again?” She leaned back, closing her eyes briefly. When she opened them, her face was creased with lines of sorrow. “Because if I had your power, Rook, I would use it in an instant. I wouldn’t waste it staying in Talhaven.”
Rook tried to gather her scattered thoughts, but her heart was in turmoil. Part of her knew it was foolish to consider Dozana’s plan, especially after what she’d done to Hardwick and his men—the cruel, cold way she’d left them for dead. She had been more than willing to risk Rook’s life on this desperate gamble.
But, her methods aside, could Rook truly blame Dozana for wanting to get back to Vora? It was all that Rook had ever wanted. In that lonely place in her heart, the place that had filled up over the years with the hateful words of the Red Watchers, the mistrustful stares of the people of Regara, and her constant feeling of not belonging, she wanted nothing more than to escape. To find the place where she was meant to be.
Home.
Now Dozana was offering her that chance.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Drift said, interrupting Rook’s thoughts. “You’ve seen how Rook’s power doesn’t always work the way she wants. If something goes wrong while she’s using it, it could be dangerous for her and for all of us.”
Dozana raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised to hear you say that, Daughter.” This time Drift flinched when Dozana called her “Daughter.” “I thought you had more faith in your friend.”
“I do have faith in her!” Drift snapped. “I only want what’s best. You’re trying to twist that around.”
They were talking about Rook as if she weren’t sitting right there. Anger flared inside her. “I can speak for myself,” she said, glaring at them both.
“Think, don’t speak,” Dozana said. “Come to the portal site. You’ll see the power for yourself and realize that with it inside you, anything is possible.”
“And what if we say no?” Drift asked quietly, but the words hung in the air, thickening it with tension.
Some of the coldness crept back into Dozana’s eyes. “In the end, it’s Rook’s decision, not yours. But all of you will accompany me to the portal site.”
With that, it seemed the conversation was over. Rook looked down at Fox, who had slept through the whole argument. She brushed damp red bangs out of his eyes. At least they weren’t going anywhere until he’d regained his strength.
“I should go outside and make sure the spiders aren’t closing in on us,” Drift said. She gave Dozana a sullen glance. “Do I have your permission to do that, Mother?”
Dozana nodded. “Don’t go far, and stay out of sight. We can’t let the spiders trap us in here.”
Drift crawled out of the tunnel, leaving Rook and Dozana alone. Rook felt the older woman’s heavy gaze on her, but she focused her attention on Fox.
“I meant what I said, Rook.” Dozana leaned forward and laid a hand on Rook’s arm. “You can do this, and think what it will mean for the children who have been forced into hiding in this world. If you reopen that portal, you will provide an escape for everyone. You’ll be a hero to all exiles.”
Rook’s mouth had gone dry. She’d been so busy thinking about going home and what it would mean to her that she’d completely forgotten about all the other exiles. Dozana was offering her a way to save them too. She could only nod as the woman sat back, a smile of satisfaction spreading across her face.
“Rook! Dozana! You’d better come see this!” Drift shouted from outside the tunnel.
“What’s wrong?” Dozana’s smile vanished, and she crawled quickly out of the rubble pile. Rook eased Fox’s head out of her lap and left him in the safety of their shelter.
When she emerged in the moonlit darkness, the wind had picked up, blowing stone dust and dirt into the air. Rook coughed and looked up at the sky. It felt like another storm was coming, but there was no sign of thunder or lightning.
And no sign of Drift.
“Drift!” Rook called out. “Where are you?”
Dozana raised a hand to shield her eyes from the dust swirling in the air. “Go back inside the shelter,” she told Rook. “Something’s coming, some kind of unnatural storm.”
“I’m not going without Drift,” Rook said, but a wind gust snatched her voice and almost knocked her down. She stumbled backward, fighting to stay upright.
Dozana took a step toward her, but the wind slammed into her, lifting her off the ground and tossing her down the street like a toy. She landed on her feet, skidded, and dropped to her knees.
“Dozana!” Rook cried. “Are you—”
But just then, the wind surged, at the same time hands encircled her waist from behind.
It was Drift. She lifted Rook into the air.
“Wha—” Rook struggled to make sense of what was happening as the ground dropped away. Drift had used up all her power pushing back the hounds. She’d been weak, could barely walk. So how was she flying in this wind and managing to carry Rook?
And then she understood: Drift wasn’t fighting the wind. She’d created it to distract Dozana.
Below them, Dozana looked up, her eyes wide with shock and anger. “Stop!” she yelled.
Queasiness seized Rook’s stomach, and for a moment, the sky upended as dizziness engulfed her. It was Dozana’s power, reaching out to weaken them and bring them down. But this time, Drift was faster. Wind roared in Rook’s ears, and the dizziness passed as they climbed higher and higher in the sky, soaring out of reach of even Dozana’s heightened magic.
Leaving
Fox behind.
Rook shouted, “No! Wait! We have to go back!” She squirmed in Drift’s grip.
“Hold still!” Drift screeched, careening sideways in the air, squeezing Rook so tight that the breath left her lungs. “Do you want me to drop you?”
“YOU LEFT FOX!” Rook twisted her head, trying to get a look at Drift’s face, wondering if she’d gone mad sometime in the last few minutes. “DID YOU HEAR ME?”
“Yes, I hear you. You don’t have to make me deaf,” Drift growled. “Just calm down. I have a plan.”
“A plan? What kind of plan means leaving Fox behind?”
“Rook,” Drift pleaded, “I don’t have much strength left—Dozana hit me hard with her power as we were flying away. The last thing I want is for us to fall to our deaths before we can help Fox. Just stay still for a few minutes while I find a place to land us.”
Hearing the quaver in Drift’s voice, Rook quieted. Inside, her heart was raging. She was terrified for Fox, furious at Drift, and wondering where they could possibly find a safe place in the middle of the Wasteland.
Below them, dark shapes scuttled over the rubble. Rook gasped. It was the huge spider and its two smaller mates. They angled away from Rook and Drift toward where Fox was hidden.
“No,” Rook whispered, “no.” Tears clouded her vision. What if Dozana couldn’t protect Fox? What if her power wasn’t enough?
“Rook, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, but there’s nothing we can do.” Drift’s voice broke, and with it went her power. The wind died, and suddenly they were falling, piles of jagged stones rushing to meet them.
“DRIFT!” ROOK SCREAMED AS THEY spiraled toward the ground. “Pull up! Pull up!”
Drift uttered a cry of desperation, and the wind surged one last time. It was feeble and faltering, but just strong enough to create a cushion. Rook hit the ground, hard enough to hurt but not to break. She stumbled out of Drift’s arms and fell, scraping her knees on the ground. Drift landed in a heap a few feet away, but unlike Rook, she didn’t immediately get up.
The Door to the Lost Page 14
