Fated Loss

by Claudia Caren

  “We could if we use this potion.” Logan took out four small vials of clear liquid from his pack. “It will make us fly twice as fast.”

  “Where did you get that?” I asked.

  “Logan and I brewed it,” Skylar answered. “It should be right.”

  “So to sum it up, we have to travel the distance of the United States and more, relying on only wings. We can only spare a few hours of rest a day, and we are going to fly through the frigid cold all to face Ash and defeat her in five days. Oh yeah, we also have a pit stop with a Dark Magic expert. Well, isn't that easy,” I said. “We better get started then.”

  ROSE

  Chapter 19

  The potion tasted so much like liquid chicken liver that I had to force myself not to gag it up.

  From the library, we rented the magical map of the Fifth Petal, which was holographic and updated itself when the petal got bigger, the book of Dark Magic, and a few other titles that might be helpful. Hopefully, we will live long enough to return them.

  We gathered our packs, put on our warmest clothes, and started our journey through the Fifth Petal.

  

  The raw cold bit through my many layers of coats and sweaters. I brushed away the dark gray snow that caught in my jacket hood and chilled my neck, but I got blasted in the face with more wind and ice.

  I wonder how Logan and Ariel were doing. They already had it rough and now this? But they didn't complain.

  We flew close to the Eastern Mountain Range, looking for the cave of Jameson Bennett. The cave could be anywhere on the mountain range, but after flying for what seemed like forever, we spotted light coming from a cavern in the mountainside. The sight of warm light after so many hours of flying in the dark was enough to lift my spirits.

  We landed on a ledge outside the cave. Blocking the entrance was a long curtain that acted as a very insufficient door. As the wind blew the sheet around, I caught glimpses of a man inside.

  “Hello,” I called.

  “Go away!” a hoarse voice replied.

  “Please, we need your help.”

  A senior man moved the curtains about an inch apart, so we could only see part of his snowy white hair and one light gray eye. “I said go away.”

  “We love your book about Dark Magic.” I held up the Dark Magic book. “And we need some advice.”

  The man's face flushed. “That blasted book! Look where it got me—stuck in this cave. Can't even go out.”

  To prove his point, he parted the curtains all the way and stretched his hand a foot beyond the sheet. Zaap! A small current of electricity touched his fingers.

  “See,” Jameson grumbled. “What are you kids doing in Ash's petal anyway? Actually, all of Astella is under Ash's control.”

  “That is why we are here,” Logan said. “We need the secret to defeat Ash.”

  “Ha! You four children defeat Ash, the only one who has ever mastered Dark Magic. Who do you think you are?” The elderly man let out a cackle that was between a laugh and a cough.

  “I am the faery from the prophecy,” I replied.

  “Oh, yeah? Prove it.”

  I spot a bowl of water behind Jameson and made it freeze over, I summoned fire in my palm, and I pointed at a small flower inside the cave and made it grow a few inches taller.

  “Ok, fine. You are the Savior. But it doesn't mean you can defeat Ash, and I don't give away secrets.” He turned away, signaling that the conversation was over.

  “Look old man—” Skylar said.

  He whipped back around. “I am not old. Only been living for a century.”

  That stopped Skylar short. “Wait, a hundred years?”

  “And still living,” Jameson replied.

  “How?” I asked, remembering that the very old faeries died first, and a hundred years is definitely old.

  “Live on onions and garlic. A thing we all should teach to our children.” He blew a breath in our direction, trying to scare us away as well as proving his point.

  I pulled up the collar of my jacket to cover my nose. The tar factory smell was already bad enough. Now combined with garlic, it made me want to retch.

  “Anyway, you have to help us. Astella depends on it and you do too,” Skylar said.

  “Fine, if it's the only way to get you to leave. But just know by continuing your journey, you are signing your own death warrants.” Jameson stepped aside and let us through.

  Inside looked more like a lived-in home than a cave. It was cluttered, small, and cozy. Warmth and light came from a small fire with a bowl hanging on a hook.

  “So the secret to defeating Dark Magic?” I asked.

  Jameson sat in his chair and swung his feet up on a desk piled with books and papers. “Well, that will come with a hefty price.”

  “What?” Skylar, Logan, and I said at the same time.

  “You think I am just going to hand over the secret?” Jameson scoffed. “Wow, you are really dense.”

  “We are on a time crunch,” I said.

  “Like I care.”

  “Your life depends on it.”

  “I'm already old. Now who's wasting time arguing? Do you want the secret or not?” Jameson asked.

  I glanced at the others, and we came to a silent agreement.

  “Fine, name your price,” I said.

  “I want you to get two things for me: the Flower of Trust and the Essence of Summer Wind.”

  Ariel coughed into her fist, trying to hide a gasp.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “There is a legend about the Flower of Trust. Two people who think they can trust each other will go into the cave at the edge of the forest, which is now mountains, but they never come out,” Ariel said.

  “Why do you need these items?” I asked Jameson, who was lazily making paper airplanes as we talked about a decision that affected the fate of the world.

  “None of your business!” he snapped.

  That raised a red flag for me. If he was up to no good, we couldn't give him those things.

  “State precisely what you are going to do with these items and swear that is exactly what you are going to use them for. Then we might retrieve them for you if you have no ill intentions in exchange for the secret to defeating Dark Magic,” I said, hoping I covered every loophole.

  “Yeesh! Tough conditions. I thought I was the one making the deal. But fine, I am going to brew up a potion that will make me as fast as the wind,” Jameson said with an evil laugh just to annoy us. This guy may be old, but he still had a lot of nettlesome humor.

  “A potion that makes you faster. Can he do anything bad out of that?” I asked.

  “Rob a bank and run away before anybody can catch you,” Skylar suggested.

  “Well, I don't think money matters when the end of the world is five days away. But should we take the risk?”

  “We have to. It's our only choice.” Logan stepped out of the bookcase's shadow.

  He had his fingers to his temples as if he had a headache. Worry churned inside of me. For the last few minutes, Logan was even quieter than Ariel.

  “Do you need to sit down?” I asked.

  “No, I'm fine.” He forced himself to lower his hands.

  “We will get these items for you. Where are they?” I said to Jameson.

  “The first one is in a cave not far from here. You better have a lot of trust in your partner, or you won't come out as you already know. The second one is on top of this mountain. You will know what to do when you see it. You Savior and you young man go get the flower. And you and you”—he pointed at Skylar and Ariel—“go get the wind,” Jameson said, clearly pleased to be giving orders to someone. “Now shoo people.” Jameson made flinging gestures with his hand.

  “We have names you know,” Skylar said on the way out.

  “I don't care. Just go! You don't have much time to waste.”

  

  Logan and I flew out of Jameson
's home and went looking for the Cave of Trust. Running errands for Jameson was not in the plan, and I was worried about how much time we would lose. But we do need to know how to defeat Ash. Hopefully, this won't take long…if we lived.

  Logan noticed my worried expression. “You'll be fine.”

  The fact that he said you not we was not reassuring.

  “We both will survive,” I said.

  “Right,” he replied, but he didn't meet my eyes.

  Logan seemed to know something I didn't. He sounded sure that I will be ok but not for himself. But before I could think about it anymore, we found the cave.

  We landed in front of the cave's enormous mouth. Faint growling noises came from deep within the darkness. I squinted, trying to see inside, but all I saw was a pitch black hole. But that wasn't what worried me. Following the scraggly upside-down U shape of the entrance, there was a large carved inscription. Beware! Two must enter; one will come out. Faith and trust are what I'm about.

  “One will come out—what does that mean?” I asked, getting jumpy. The noises inside the cave made my skin crawl, and the inscription didn't help calm my nerves.

  “It might be figurative,” Logan said optimistically, but I think he was just saying that for my sake.

  I wondered if he was scared under that calm expression. Reading a warning like that and not turning back got to take a lot of courage. But did I have that kind of courage?

  We came this far. We can't turn back now, I thought.

  “Ok, ready,” I said.

  We stepped into the cave and were swallowed by total darkness.

  ROSE

  Chapter 20

  My eyesight either failed, or it was so dark that everything looked black.

  “Logan, are you still there?” I called. However, no sound came from my mouth.

  “Yeah,” he replied. He sounded so close—almost as if he was talking inside my head. Then I realized he was.

  “What is going o—”

  “Run left,” Logan said urgently.

  “What?”

  Then I heard a deep growling noise coming from my left and the click, click, click of claws walking across the rocks.

  “Hurry! It's going to pounce,” Logan said. The anguish in his voice was clear.

  Is he telling me to go left and straight to that monster or whatever it was?

  “Rose, you have to move!”

  But I trusted Logan. He never steered me wrong before, never let me fall. I dived to the left just as something heavy landed close behind me.

  “What is going on?” I asked.

  My hands shook, and I was blind and afraid.

  “It's all right. We just need to guide each other through this cave. Our senses may or may not be correct. Only the other person can see what is really happening,” Logan said.

  “But how come I can't see anything?”

  “You have to concentrate on me.”

  I tried, and I saw what he would've been seeing if he could see. It was still dark, but I could make out the shapes of rocks and other objects. Two feet in front of Logan was a hedge of thorns, and he was about to walk into it.

  “Logan, fly up,” I said.

  He jumped and took off just before he reached the spiky hedge. “Thanks. To survive we have to trust each other and work together.”

  I had no problem trusting Logan to guide me through this cave, but can I do the same for him? Dodging and guiding at the same time is going to be hard, and if I let him get hurt…

  

  Things went well for a while. We kept telling each other where to go, which direction to run, to jump into a pit or not. My senses told me it was a pit, but turns out it was only a three-inch crack in the cave floor.

  “There is a big bird flying above your head, and it's trying to catch you,” Logan said.

  “Ok, just tell me what to do,” I replied.

  I kept running, trying to leave the flying monster behind. But in my haste, I tripped on a small rock and fell down. A loud screech echoed through the cave, and claws grabbed my wrists and lifted me into the air.

  “Rose, try to get it to drop you,” Logan said.

  From Logan's eyes I could see he was trying to find me, but there was no bird anywhere near him.

  I summoned fire in my palm and touched it to the bird's legs, but it didn't seem bothered by the flames. I swung my legs and wriggled around, trying to make the bird lose its grip. But it just dug its talons deeper into my wrists.

  Just when I ran out of ideas, I remembered the times Skylar and I used to visit the park. Skylar was daring and bold, so when she plays on the bars, she would swing her legs and gain enough momentum until she went around in a full circle. Gramma warned her that she would fall and break her neck. Luckily, she never did. But the memory gave me an idea.

  I swung my legs back and forth in a rhythmic motion. With every sway my legs went faster and faster. With an especially hard swing, I kicked the bird in the head. I think my foot made contact with its eyes because it screeched and immediately dropped me. I flew to the ground, but the danger wasn't over yet.

  “Rose, it's coming back,” Logan said.

  I felt the ground tremble as the bird landed. The bird must be heavier than I thought, or was it something else?

  Logan cleared his throat. “My mistake. It isn't the bird—it's a giant.”

  “A giant?” My voice came out as a squeak.

  Fighting a giant would be scary even if all my senses worked. But fight a giant when I am blind…

  “Move very slowly. It hasn't spotted you yet,” Logan assured me.

  But the ground was rumbling as if the giant was running, and I could hear heavy footsteps going boom, boom, boom. My brain screamed run, and every muscle in my body was tense. But I took a deep breath and forced myself to stay still.

  “Ok, walk forward very slowly,” Logan said. “You can sneak under the giant's legs.”

  I took a light step, but the giant must've had ears as good as a bat.

  “Right!” Logan said.

  I sprinted to the right. Air swished beside my arm, and something heavy cracked the stone floor.

  “Run as fast as you can, Rose.”

  I took off, turning my fear into adrenaline. A few seconds later, I could hear the giant's roar grow fainter and fainter.

  I stumbled to a stop so I could catch my breath. “Thank—”

  “Ack!” Logan yelped.

  “Logan, what happened? Are you ok?” I asked.

  I concentrated on him and saw no danger.

  “Nothing,” he said. “I'm fine.” But I could hear pain in his voice.

  “But—”

  “Rose, now is not the time. There is a rockslide in front of you. You have to walk right.”

  I was too busy dealing with my own problems that I forgot about Logan. How could I let this happen? But Logan was right. If I don't concentrate, I could get him into more trouble.

  “Logan, there is a small stream in front of you. You have to jump about two feet,” I said.

  Logan hesitated for a few seconds then leaped, barely clearing the short distance. After he regained his footing, he stepped forward with his right leg. It buckled.

  “Logan…”

  “Don't worry about me. Worry about that thing in front of you!” he said.

  “What thing?” But I couldn't hear him in my head anymore.

  I stopped running and concentrated on him, but I saw nothing. My hands started trembling, and panic set in. What happened? Was he all right?

  Then a voice spoke.

  You shouldn't trust him. The voice was soft and soothing. Kind of like the tone your mother would use to comfort you.

  “Of course, I can.” I squinted, trying hard to see. But I was still blind, and my connection with Logan broke, so I had no idea what was in front of me.

  Can you? He led you into a trap. How do you know if this isn't another one of Ash's t
ricks, and he is her assistant.

  “He would never do that,” I replied, trying to sound confident.

  People play with others' emotions all the time. He is just pretending to care for you.

  The soothing voice was starting to get to me. He did lead me into a trap, the side of me that believed the voice said. But it wasn't his fault, I tried to tell myself.

  He is probably abandoning you right now.

  “Stop!” I yelled.

  Oh, but you can't stop your own fears, Rose. I know you like Logan. Your breath catches every time he looks at you. But what if he used you like a tool, and after he is done, he will toss you away? the voice said.

  “He is not using me,” I said, but my voice cracked.

  Why did he go on this quest? He is risking his life and won't get anything out of it if we didn't succeed. It will all be for nothing unless…

  “Rose,” Logan said in my head once again, “don't listen to that voice! It is coming from the cave. Don't do what it says. Run left.”

  I tried to see what was happening from his side like before, but there was still no connection. His voice could be a trick, or it could be real.

  You can't trust that boy. He already proved he is a traitor. Walk straight into my open arms and all this suffering doesn't have to happen, the cave's soothing voice crooned. But something was different between Logan's voice and the cave's.

  Logan's voice had real concern. He was worried, and he cared about what happens to me. The cave's voice was soothing, yes, but it was slightly cold, and I couldn't feel any compassion. It only cared about tricking me in to doing what it wants.

  This is why no one ever came out of here before. Everybody failed because they lost faith in each other. But that is not happening with me. Logan came on this mission because he wanted to help. He cared about me and wanted me to succeed. He's not working with Ash, or he would've left me to die in that cave in the ice forest or let me hit the ground when I fell out of the air.

  “I know I can trust him,” I said.

  I bolted left and kept running until I slammed into something.