13
Selena
I woke on a hard bed of bunched fabric and opened my eyes. Uneven wood propped up the ceiling, and large, bumpy stones lined the walls.
It was some kind of manmade cave. It smelled damp, and the air felt heavy.
I touched the blanket covering me. It was Julian’s traveling cloak.
How many times during this quest am I going to wake up in unknown places?
I turned my head and found Julian sitting at the small, open entrance. He faced outward, his back toward me.
“Julian?” My throat was so dry I could barely speak.
He stood and spun to face me, relief on his face. But instead of running straight to me, he rushed to the pack resting on the wall and pulled out a golden apple. Then he hurried to me, eased me up, and held the apple to my mouth while propping me up with his other arm. “Eat,” he commanded.
I might have been weak from using so much magic, but I wasn’t a baby. So I sat straight, took the apple, and bit into it. The sweet juice was nectar flowing though my veins. I finished it down to the core and devoured it multiple times after it replenished.
Once I’d had enough, I placed the apple down on my lap and wiped my hands on my pants. “Good as new.” I smiled at Julian, not caring that I probably looked like a disheveled mess. He’d told me often enough that I always looked beautiful to him no matter what, so I no longer worried about things like that.
He took the apple from me and placed it back in the traveling pack. Then he sat down, leaned against the wall, and sighed. “The plague is real,” he said flatly. “I thought the rumors about it were ridiculous. But they’re true.”
I stood and walked over to sit next to him.
My skin brushed his, and he flinched away.
“Do you think…” I paused and swallowed down my fear. “We were so close to them. Could we have caught it?”
“I don’t think so,” he said. “You saw their wounds, right?”
“Yes,” I said, since they’d been difficult to miss.
“They were bite marks,” he continued. “And they were the only parts of them that didn’t heal. The plague must spread from biting. Not by air.”
“So we’re safe from it.”
“Most likely.”
We sat there in silence for a few seconds.
“Did you sleep at all last night?” I asked, since the dark circles under his eyes were impossible to miss.
“I needed to guard the entrance, to make sure you were safe.” He stared forward, focused on the stone wall ahead. “We can’t kill them. And from what everyone’s said, we can’t cure them, either.”
“Nothing we tried against them killed them,” I corrected him. “That doesn’t mean there’s nothing out there that will.”
“You struck them down with hundreds of lightning bolts from the sky.” He laughed darkly. “If that won’t kill them, nothing will.”
“You don’t know that.” I reached for his hand, but he pulled it away without looking at me. My heart froze at the awful, hollow feeling of rejection. “What’s wrong?” I asked softly.
“You could have died back there,” he said. “We both could have died.” He faced me, but his eyes were cold and distant. The hard exterior of the chosen champion of Mars.
He hadn’t looked at me that way since before I’d told him we were soulmates.
“But we didn’t die.” The words nearly got stuck in my throat. “We got past them, and we made it here. Alive.”
“And what if I hadn’t been there to help you?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I watched him closely, wishing he’d stop being so distant and actually see me—whole, strong, and right in front of him. “Because you were there with me. We’re at our best when we fight together. We’re a team. We love each other, and we’re here for each other. Forever.”
He should have softened at those words.
He didn’t.
What’s going on with him?
The zombies must have shocked him more than I’d realized. And he’d sat there all night, obsessing over every gruesome moment of that fight.
Plus, this was his realm at the mercy of these awful zombie-like creatures. Not mine. Of course it was going to affect him more.
I searched my mind for something—anything—to give him hope. “Maybe the Holy Wand can cure them,” I said. “Maybe that’s why we’re on this quest. It was probably some crazy, long-term scheme by Prince Devyn. He did say he wants the best for the Otherworld. And faeries can’t lie.”
“I hope so,” he said.
I reached for his hand again, slowly.
He didn’t pull away.
Instead, he stared at where my hand rested on his. He was so still—so stiff—that it seemed like he was in physical pain.
“I love you,” I said again, trying to coax out the warm center that I knew existed inside of him. “We’ll figure this out.” I moved in to kiss him, but he cupped my cheek with his other hand, stopping me.
“I love you, too.” Each word was hard and strong, like he was stating a fact instead of feeling what he was saying. And while he was looking at me, it was with resolve. Not with love. “But we have to go.” He dropped his hand from my face and straightened. “You saw those monsters. Those…”
“Zombies.” It felt ridiculous to say out loud.
“Do you have them on Earth?” he asked. “Because if you know how to fight them, or how to cure them—”
“We don’t,” I interrupted before he could get more excited. “They only exist in fiction.”
“So what does your fiction say about them?”
“They’re animated corpses,” I said. “They can usually be killed by destroying their brains, but…” I shrugged, since we both knew what had happened when we’d tried that.
He leaned against the wall and sighed in defeat. “You’re just as clueless as I am.”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t mean the answer isn’t out there.” I moved in again to kiss him, desperate to get through to him. To feel close to him.
Again, he pulled away.
“You’re right.” He stood, walked to the piles of clothes I’d slept on, and collected them. “We need to find the answer. And we have no time to waste.”
Pain reverberated in my chest. “The time we spend together isn’t wasted.” My voice wavered, and I swallowed down the golf ball sized lump in my throat.
He stopped gathering our things, and regret flashed in his eyes. “It wasn’t wasted,” he said. “But the longer those monsters are out there, the farther the plague will spread. So we need to find that tree, speak to the Sibyl, and get some answers.”
14
Selena
The center of the Otherworld was empty. There were no towns or villages where we could get horses. We had no other option but to walk.
Two days of walking through the wet, endless plains.
The entire time, Julian was as distant as he’d been in the cave. He pulled away every time we touched, like I was as diseased as those black-winged fae.
He’s worried about the plague, I told myself, over and over again. It’s consuming him. He’ll be back to normal once we figure out how to beat it.
If we figured out how to beat it.
I shook the thought from my mind. We had to beat it. The Otherworld might not be my home, but it was Julian’s. I didn’t want his realm to be destroyed, no matter how awful my experiences had been in it so far.
After all, it hadn’t all been awful. I’d met Julian. My soulmate.
And I missed him. Because even though he was physically there with me, I needed him back emotionally.
We’ll find the Sibyl soon, I thought. Then, everything will be fine.
I’d been looping through the same thoughts since the fight with the zombies. But whenever I voiced them to Julian, he gave me one-word answers.
Eventually, I stopped trying.
We took a break to sit down in a field to snack on our ap
ples, and the floodgates broke open. Puddles pooled in my eyes, and once they started to flow out, there was no stopping them.
Julian was next to me in a flash. He cradled his arms around me and rocked me back and forth. “Selena,” he said, his voice strangled. He buried his face in my hair, and I could have sworn I felt wet tears coming from his eyes, too.
I sank into his embrace and sobbed so hard that I was gasping for air. His distance made me feel so empty, and I feared that once this moment ended, he’d force that insurmountable space between us again.
It was torturous enough being ripped away from my family. Feeling so far from Julian on top of that was flat-out agonizing.
I never wanted to leave his arms.
But eventually, I had to come up for air.
I met his gaze, and his eyes were wet, too. He was in just as much pain as I was.
“Why?” I asked, positive he’d know what I meant.
“So much is at stake here,” he said. “You could be right that the wand can save the Otherworld. And I love you so much. You have no idea—”
I crushed my lips against his, and he kissed me back like he was starved for me.
More tears ran down my face. Not from sadness, but because this was the first time in two days that he’d told me he loved me. That he’d let me kiss him, and he kissed me back. He tasted so sweet and familiar that I didn’t know how I’d survived two days without this. Without him.
I clawed at him hungrily, never wanting to let go. I savored every sweet, precious moment. And as we kissed, we sank into each other, lowering ourselves onto the grass until we were lying on it.
I needed to feel his skin against mine. I needed to close the distance physically as well as emotionally.
So I rolled on top of him and reached for the bottom of my shirt to take it off.
He wrapped his fingers around my wrist, stopping me. “No,” he said, and my heart collapsed inward at his rejection. “We can’t do this again. I don’t want to do this again. Not now.”
All the air left my lungs at once. “I don’t understand…”
I sounded so sad. So pathetic.
I shouldn’t have to feel this way. I loved him, but I hated that because of that love, he had so much power over me.
So I lifted myself off of him and plopped down in the grass beside him.
He sat up, too, and I stared at him as indifferently as he’d been looking at me for the past two days.
“Tell me why you’re pushing me away.” I’d never spoken to him so coldly—not even during our fight on the horses. “You’re hurting me.” My voice cracked, and I cursed inwardly at how much he was causing me to break.
He ran his fingers through his tousled, golden hair and sighed. “I’m sorry.” When he looked at me again, it was with as much anguish as I felt.
I scooted closer. My knee touched his, and relief coursed through me when he didn’t move away. “We’re soulmates,” I said softly. “I’m here for you. Whatever’s on your mind, you can talk to me about it.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” He straightened, and the tender moment between us disappeared. “I’m just impatient to find the Sibyl.”
I lowered my eyes. I didn’t believe him.
Somber silence lingered in the air between us.
“Hey.” He reached for my chin and coaxed me to look at him. “I love you.”
“Then show me.” I leaned forward, and my heart leaped when his lips brushed mine.
But he pulled away, refusing to meet my gaze. “We’re almost to the center of the Otherworld,” he said. “The tree could be around the next hill.”
And that tree’s more important than me.
I didn’t say it out loud. Because it was childish.
And also because it was true.
Instead, I stood and wiped the grass from my clothes. “You’re right,” I said, swallowing down my hurt. I needed to focus on the bigger picture. “There’s a ton at stake here. We can’t let ourselves get distracted.”
I spun around and marched forward, more ready than ever to find the tree and leave this horrible distance between us in the past where it belonged.
15
Selena
The Sibyl’s tree wasn’t around the next hill.
Instead, we walked for three hours in silence. The walk was so boring. Grassy plain after grassy plain, with the occasional hill to break it up. I would have thought we were lost if not for the compass that showed we were heading in the right direction.
Finally, right when the sun was starting to set, we crested a hill and saw it.
A tree with a trunk that must have been fifty feet wide. Vines grew vertically down its sides, like a banyan tree. It was twice as tall as a house, and its umbrella of bright green leaves popped amongst the fall colors of every other tree.
“The Faerie Tree,” I said, and I rushed toward it.
Julian followed by my side.
The tree seemed to grow in size as we approached. When we finally arrived, I felt like an insect looking up at it. Colorful birds and butterflies had made homes for themselves in the branches above, and I stared at them in awe.
Julian removed the pack from his back, took out a pomegranate, and pulled a paring knife from the ether. He held the fruit and knife out to me. “Do you want to do the honors?” he asked.
It was the most he’d spoken to me since the incident in the field.
I took the knife, kneeled down, and cut the pomegranate in half. The sticky juice flowed out onto my hands, and bright red seeds dotted the inside.
As instructed, I removed six seeds and planted them in the ground. Then I stood up—both halves of the pomegranates in my hands—and waited.
Nothing happened.
I glanced down at the little mounds of dirt where I’d planted the seeds.
Maybe I didn’t bury them deep enough?
I was about to kneel down and try again when an outline of blinding light in the shape of an arch burst forth from the trunk. I must have instinctively moved closer to Julian, because he wrapped his arm around my waist. His heart beat in sync with mine.
The light dimmed, and a wooden door was there in its place.
The door opened and revealed a tall, ebony-skinned woman standing on the other side. Her braided hair cascaded down to her waist, and she looked straight at us with glowing white eyes.
The light dimmed, and her eyes were a warm, chocolate brown. “Selena Pearce and Julian Kane,” she said with a knowing smile. “I’ve been expecting you.”
My hands tightened around the pomegranate. Its juice ran down my fingers and dripped to the ground. “Are you the Sibyl?” I asked.
“I’m Sibyl, yes,” she said. “There’s no need to put ‘the’ in front of my name.”
Julian bowed his head slightly. “Thank you for seeing us,” he said. “We won’t take up too much of your time. We were just hoping—”
“I know what you were hoping,” she cut him off and opened the door wider. “Please, come inside and share supper with me. Because while the golden apples of the gods are delicious, there’s nothing quite like a hot, homemade meal.”
Sibyl’s home looked like one would expect the inside of a giant faerie tree to look. Wooden furniture with green vines climbing around it decorated the circular-shaped room. Narrow, spiral stairs led to floors above and below. A fire burned in the hearth, and moss grew in the cracks between the stone floor. The hearty scent of spiced meat drifted out of a pot on the stove, and my mouth watered at the smell of hot food.
Sibyl sat us down and served us large bowls of stew.
Julian and I gave each other knowing looks, and neither of us dug in.
She joined us and took a large sip from her bowl. “The stew isn’t drugged,” she said. “I promise.”
“Did you just read our minds?” I asked.
“I don’t have to read your minds,” she said. “I’m a prophetess. I’m well aware of what happened with Jupiter and Mars. However, I unders
tand your hesitation. I won’t be offended if you’d rather have your apples.”
I wanted to trust her. But for the most part, trusting people hadn’t worked out well for me in the Otherworld.
“The stew smells delicious, but we need to be careful,” I said.
“Agreed.” Julian removed our apples from the pack and handed one to me.
On Avalon, we were taught to break bread with someone before asking anything of them. So I took one bite of the apple, but stopped there.
It was difficult to talk while crunching on an apple.
Sibyl watched us as she ate, and I could tell she was waiting for one of us to begin.
I placed the apple on the table next to the bowl of steaming stew. “You said you know why we’re here,” I said. “I hope that means you can direct us to the Holy Wand?”
She swallowed a mouthful of stew and placed her spoon inside the half-finished bowl. “I can,” she said. “But I’m afraid the location of the wand isn’t my secret to share.”
“What?” Electricity sparked from my fingertips. They landed on the table and left pinpricks of burn marks on the wood. “You mean we came all this way for nothing?”
“Selena.” Julian looked at me, the message in his eyes clear.
Calm down.
Three days of treating me like crap, and now he was trying to tell me what to do?
The electricity burned hotter, and it traveled up my arms so I glowed with it.
But as angry as I was at Julian, setting Sibyl’s furniture on fire wouldn’t get us anywhere. So I centered myself and pulled the electricity back in.
Julian nodded and refocused on Sibyl. “There has to be something you want in exchange for the information,” he said. “A deal we can strike.”
She raised her chin. “I am not fae,” she said. “I seek no deals.”
“We were nearly killed by rabid birds and zombie fae to get here,” I said. “You have to tell us something.”
Sibyl shrugged and continued eating her stew.
The Faerie Wand (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 4) Page 6
