by Lea Doué
He grabbed a pillow off the bed. “I’ll play guard again and sleep outside the door.” He had once acted as Lily’s guard when Eben was trying to help solve the puzzle of Tharius’s curse.
“Thank you for taking care of my sister.”
“My pleasure.” He gave her an exaggerated bow.
She grinned and threw another pillow at him. Once he’d closed the door, she tucked Hazel under the covers and snuggled up next to her. Despite the kicking, she slept better than she had in days.
*
A knock woke her in the morning, and the scent of bacon drew her attention to the desk. Someone had brought breakfast. She nudged Hazel awake. After eating, they washed up and donned their cleaned clothes. Hazel’s leggings had a few more holes than her own. They braided each other’s hair, a comfort rather than a necessity, and joined the men in the courtyard.
The bonfire had died down overnight, but a trickle of smoke still rose into sky.
“Your braid is coming undone,” Hazel said.
“Drat. Yours is, too. Those ribbons were from the dressing table, weren’t they?”
“Yes. Why?”
“You can’t take things out of the fortress.”
“Oh.” Hazel frowned, and then recognition lit her face. “Oh.”
“Here, use this.” Eddy sliced off the ends of his rope belt and held out a piece to each of them.
“Thanks.” She tied up her hair again while Hazel did the same.
“Ready?” Holic said. “Good. Here’s the plan. We’re going to search in two groups.” He stopped, staring at something beyond the gates.
“Sissi,” Gwen whispered, loud enough for Eddy to hear. Hazel’s hand closed around her own.
The girl sauntered out of the forest, her bare feet and legs splattered with mud. A man-sized burgundy shirt swallowed her small frame, front laces untied, sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Strings of black pearls wrapped around and around her waist, and a small pouch dangled from them. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek braid and adorned with… bows?
No, not bows. Moths. Beautiful giant moths with six-inch wingspans. Black and burgundy and creamy white patterns decorated their wings. And they were alive, fluttering but unable to fly away, stuck somehow to Sissi’s hair.
“How horrible,” Hazel mumbled.
The girl stopped a few feet from Holic and flirtatiously eyed each of the brothers from head to toe. Holic’s ears turned red, but not from embarrassment. He was angry. Eddy stood perfectly still, and Theo folded his arms.
Sissi cocked her head to the side. “You’re missing one.”
Before Gwen or anyone could respond, Eddy lunged for Sissi. His hands wrapped around her throat and he shook her. “What have you done with her?”
Sissi grinned and held onto his wrists. The moths fluttered wildly.
Theo grabbed his arm.
Eddy shrugged him off. “What have you done?”
And then Holic spoke, loudly and calmly. “Prince Edric, this is not how we do things.” Their father’s words.
Eddy froze, panting, and then released Sissi. He staggered backward, his expression distraught, like he might cry.
Sissi smiled smugly as if nothing had happened. “I know where she is.”
Hazel’s hand shook.
Gwen let go of her and stepped forward. “Tell us where she is, Sissi. Please.”
Her grin disappeared, replaced by a quivering lip and mournful eyes. “I was going to, but Edric was mean to me, so I don’t think I will now.”
“At least tell us which way to go.”
Her expression changed to one of thoughtful interest. “I have something you want, and you have something I want.” She glanced at Theo.
He frowned and uncrossed his arms.
“We’ll make a trade,” Sissi said.
Gwen was afraid to ask. “Just tell us what you want.”
She tiptoed up to Theo, who leaned away from her, and ran her fingers down his arm. “I want him.”
“What?” Gwen and Theo said at the same time.
Sissi glanced over her shoulder at Gwen with a disgusted look and then smiled sweetly at Theo. “I want you to undo your brother’s mistake and free us all. Just take the last of Uncle Ris’s potion, and I’ll tell you where your little friend is. We can all live happily ever after.”
Holic took a step forward.
“No way,” Eddy said. “We can find her without your help.”
Sissi stepped away from Theo. She pulled something out of her belt pouch, holding it out to him on the palm of her hand. It was round and flat like a cookie, but it had the color and texture of dirt.
“Are you sure?” she said. “It’s such an easy thing to do. Just take it, and we’ll all be happy.”
Theo’s hand came up slowly. He was going to eat it.
Gwen reached out to snatch it, not entirely sure what she meant to do with it, but she couldn’t let Theo take it.
Holic’s freckled hand darted out and closed around the wafer first. He held his hand open, eyes wide, as it crumbled and melted into his skin.
“What have you done?” Gwen cried.
Chapter Ten
Gwen gasped as Holic’s blue eyes met her own.
A thin wisp of smoke trickled from his nose, and he coughed, spraying a fine brown powder than glittered like diamonds.
Hazel grabbed his arm. “Holic?”
He shook her off and grasped Gwen’s hands, pulling her close. “How have I never noticed the little flecks of gold in your eyes?”
“That’s the potion warping your vision. My eyes are brown. Like mud. No flecks, no gold.” She shook her hands free. How could this have happened?
Theo spun Holic around. “What did you do that for?” he demanded, his voice thick with anger.
“I couldn’t let you eat it.”
“I wasn’t going to eat it!”
“Well, it’s gone now. She can’t manipulate anyone else with it.” Holic turned back to Gwen. “I don’t see what the problem is. I feel like I’ve just woken from a dream. Like I’ve finally found my true purpose in life.”
“Your true purpose?” Gwen said.
“Yes.” He stepped forward as if to take her hands again, but she backed up. “To love you.”
Hazel gasped and a small sob spilled into the silence.
Gwen closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She couldn’t handle this right now. “I’m going to ignore this… complication for a moment and get back to more important matters.” She turned to Sissi. “You need to tell us where Bay is.”
Sissi’s face pinked with anger. She didn’t even have the decency to get blotchy when she blushed. She stomped her foot and jutted her chin in the air. “I will not. You’ve ruined everything, and you’re going to pay for it.” Her chin quivered, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “I’d hurry if I were you. It’s rather wet out there.”
She turned and stomped off into the forest. One of the maroon-and-white moths broke free from her braid and flew off into the canopy.
“Someone tell me what just happened,” Eddy said.
Silence.
Finally, Theo spoke. “Your little ladybug just tried to seduce me with a cookie.”
Hazel snorted, which turned into a giggle, which turned into hysterical laughter.
Gwen needed to get her inside. “Hazel, it’s—”
“Don’t.” The word squeaked out, and then her laughter turned to tears.
Holic took a step towards Hazel, hesitated, and then tried to wrap her in his arms, but she pushed him away. Hurt and confusion flashed in his eyes. A tingle of hope shot through Gwen. Whatever the potion had done, Holic’s true feelings must still be buried somewhere underneath. This wasn’t a curse with an out clause, but maybe there was still some way they could get the old Holic back.
But first, they had to find Bay.
“Come on.” Gwen took Hazel’s hand and dragged her towards the fortress. She spoke over her shoulder. “Don’t do anythi
ng until I get back.”
She took Hazel to Eddy’s room and locked them in. “I want you to stay here.”
“I want to help look for Bay.”
“I know you do, but you heard Sissi. It’s a matter of time now, and you’ll slow us down.” Hazel was one of the least outdoorsy of the princesses. “And you’re already weak from not eating properly. I’m sorry.”
Tears welled in her sister’s eyes. “Don’t be. You’re right.”
“But I am sorry.”
“For what?”
“For riding off into the forest. For not going back for Bay. For—”
“Stop.” Her shoulders drooped. “We’re all doing the best we can.”
“I’m going to make this right.”
Hazel nodded. “You go find Bay. I’ll stay here in case…”
Gwen hugged her tight. “In case she shows up.”
Hazel nodded and stifled another sob.
She fetched her sister some food and water from the dining hall. “I’m locking you in. Sissi may be back, and the girl is, well…”
“I understand. I’ll be fine.”
Gwen grabbed a couple of clean cloths from Eddy’s basket and filled them with food on her way out, tying the corners and tucking the ends of one into her belt. Back in the courtyard, she gave Holic the other bundle.
“I’m going with you,” he said.
“No, you’re going with Theo. He’ll keep you from getting lost, and I’m used to searching with Eddy.”
Jealousy and hurt flickered in his eyes.
She didn’t have time for this. “Sissi warned us to hurry, and I’m not willing to risk that she’s bluffing. Now go.”
“We’ll meet back at nightfall, if we don’t find her sooner.” Theo said and trekked off eastward with Holic following reluctantly.
She waited for Eddy to take the lead as he’d done the past few days.
He stared towards the sunrise, and didn’t speak for at least two minutes. “Do you remember what Sissi said when you first saw her? About never finding the girl?”
“Yes.”
“And just now she said we’d better hurry because it’s wet out there. Well, there’s a place we haven’t gone near because it’s so far away from where I found you. I didn’t think anyone could have gotten that far, and I just don’t go there. It’s too dangerous with my blindfold on. There’s a stream, and underground ruins that flood sometimes. I think that’s where Sissi’s talking about, and with your help, we may be able to find something. Do you know which way is northwest?”
“More or less.” She took his hand without asking. He was the only brother not in love with her, so he wouldn’t get the wrong idea, and leading him would increase their speed. “Let’s go.”
He told her about the place as they walked. It was farther downstream than the falls, where a smaller stream branched off from the main one. A place of sunken ruins with hidden holes that dropped down into rooms and hallways.
“It’s the perfect place to get lost or to hide someone,” he said, “but I can’t imagine why Bay would have gone that far. She should have seen the fortress first and stopped there.”
Gwen’s stomach knotted with worry over both Bay’s safety and Hazel’s future. Not to mention Holic’s predicament. Eddy hadn’t said a word about any of it.
“What are we going to do about your brother?” she asked.
He squeezed her hand. “I honestly haven’t the slightest idea. I’m trying not to think about it right now.”
She understood and let him have time to think. Or not think. They would have to discuss it eventually, though.
They wound their way through a sea of ferns, crunching the tender leaves underfoot in their haste, the fresh green scent at odds with the tension urging them forward.
“Hazel should be all right,” he said after a while. “You said yourself that she wasn’t sure about her feelings for him. She’ll get over him and move on, right?”
“It’s not that easy. She loves him, but she won’t admit it to herself. It seems obvious to me, but what do I know?”
“You’ve never been in love?”
She couldn’t admit she’d had feelings for him once upon a time. She wouldn’t admit they might still be there. “I’ve been busy taking care of my sisters. I have eleven of them, you know.”
He paused before responding. “Who takes care of you?”
“I take care of myself.” She hoped her tone would end that line of conversation.
Ferns gave way to stubby grass strewn with rocks and piles of stones. Clusters of pink phlox laced the air with the fragrance of honey and hay, scents that normally would have lightened her mood.
He stopped and tipped his face upward, listening. “The trees are thinning out, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” But how could he tell? She mirrored him, closing her eyes and focusing on her other senses. Sunlight warmed her face, and the shush of wind in the leaves had grown softer. The colors of the forest had drowned out those details.
“We’re getting close, if I remember correctly.” He shook his head. “I haven’t been this way in a while. Could you find me a walking stick?”
She tested a few, looking for the right combination of strength and smoothness. Splinters weren’t life threatening, but she would spare him that if she could. She finally found a good one and handed it to him.
He held out his free hand. “Better stay close.”
She put her hand back in his, chiding herself for finding comfort in such a small gesture. As they continued, she called for Bay as loud as she could while leading him around depressions in the ground that could be sinkholes. Better safe than sorry. They picked their way through the trees and her throat grew sore.
Eddy stopped suddenly. “Do you hear that?”
She listened. The stream. Birds. Wind whispering through the canopy.
“There’s another waterfall somewhere ahead,” he said. “It could be falling into an underground room, or who knows where, with all this rain we’ve had lately.”
“Wait. I hear something else.”
It wasn’t wind. Someone was yelling. She rushed forward, but he held her back.
“Take it easy,” Eddy warned. “We’re no use to anyone if we get ourselves in trouble.”
She placed her feet carefully, following the gurgle of the stream, her muscles twitching to go faster like a horse at the start of a race. “Bay!”
The stream appeared to their right, meandering around roots and boulders. Gwen led them along the banks, calling Bay’s name and then listening. Calling and listening.
“Hazel!” It was Bay’s voice, high-pitched. Panicky. “Gwen! Gwen, help me!”
Bay was farther downstream.
Gwen walked as quickly as she could with Eddy tethered to her hand. She couldn’t leave him behind. Stones appeared on either side of the stream, gathering the rushing water and guiding it in a straight line.
“A hallway. The stream is flowing down what’s left of a hallway.”
“And it’s falling somewhere just ahead,” he said. “I’m betting that’s where she’s trapped.”
What had Sissi done?
They reached the falls. The stones channeled the water to a staircase, where it flowed over and down to a mostly-intact hallway, like a narrow ravine. If there had been a main floor, it was now gone, covered over with a layer of turf and moss on either side of the exposed hall. Four wooden doors with barred windows lined the hall: a dungeon. One door hung off its hinges. Two small brown hands clung to the bars on the last door on the right.
“Bay?”
“Gwen, is that you? Gwen!”
“Yes! We’re getting you out, just hang on.”
“Tell me what you see,” Eddy said, a note of urgency in his voice.
She told him quickly while glancing around for… something. “We have to get her out.”
“Gwen!” Her voice squeaked and then broke off.
“Are you hurt, Bay?”
�
�I’m fine, but I can’t swim, and the water’s gettin’ high fast.”
“Just keep hold of the bars.” She couldn’t see the bottom through the muddy water. If it got higher, there was nowhere for it to go but up. The whole dungeon would be underwater.
“How many stairs are there?” Eddy asked.
She counted. “Ten out of the water.”
“Are there any holes in the roof above her cell?”
“No. I’ve got to get down there, but how do I get the door open?”
“Can you see the lock?”
“It’s underwater already.”
“Gwen?” Bay cried out. She couldn’t have heard them over the water.
“I’m here,” Gwen called back. “We’re working on a plan to get you out.”
She needed to get to the girl, see with her own eyes that she was all right, but she couldn’t leave Eddy here alone. He could fall down the stairs or worse.
“What do we do?” she whispered.
Eddy put his head in his hands. “Wooden door or stone?”
“Wood.”
“Ah, that’s actually good. The wood might be rotted, and the hinges will be old. Perhaps the lock, too.” His arms dropped to his sides. “Find a rock, the biggest one you can hold in your hand. If it has a sharp end, that’s even better.”
She scrambled around in the stream until she found one, roughly oval, with a narrowed end. “Got one.”
“You’re going to have to go down the stairs and break the lock, or the hinges if they’re in worse shape. How many steps are there now?”
“Nine.” The water was rising fast, but they still had time.
She untied the bundle of food from her belt and slung it into the grass. Gripping the rock firmly, she edged down the stairs, one hand against the wall as she balanced each foot on the narrow, slippery treads, one after the other. Water pushed against her ankles, urging her on. It gushed around her calves, and then her knees.
Her foot slipped. She fell hard, landing on her backside, sliding down into the water feet first and going under.
The dungeon was deeper than she’d thought. As soon as she hit the bottom, she kicked upward, but something caught her foot. Her head broke the surface, but the water circled her neck, an unwelcome embrace.
