“Anna, I want to talk to you about something.” Henry dusted his hands off on his apron.
Anna kept stirring, hoping she didn’t have to face another confrontation.
“I saw you walk off this morning with Topper.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“Yes,” she admitted freely. “He showed me his library.” She stirred a little faster.
“It’s just strange that the winds picked up right as you were returning. Did something happen there?” Henry rocked on his heels.
When Anna didn’t answer, he waved at the air. “I don’t know what I’m getting at.” He took the bowl from Anna and dumped it into an empty pan. “Maybe Daniel’s putting ideas in my head. I’m not saying you’re to blame for any of this—how could you be?”
Anna’s chin trembled as she watched Henry smooth the batter.
“I almost forgot,” Henry said suddenly, spinning on his heel. “The baking powder.” Anna sidestepped out of his way, allowing him to add the white powder to the pan of wet batter. “It’ll probably rise unevenly now, but it would just fall apart without it.”
Something hit Anna like a bolt of lightning. She stood frozen to the spot, afraid that if she moved, she would lose her thought. She needed to talk to Topper. She needed to articulate this to someone, and he was the only one who might give her a chance to explain it.
“Henry, will you excuse me?” she said, not waiting for his answer. She dashed out of the kitchen, scanning the common room for Topper’s bright blond head. Anna was about to go upstairs when Daniel approached, Lara limping behind him, her ankle swollen and a deep shade of purple. James spotted them from his station by the front door and came to Anna’s side.
Daniel looked furious.
“Anna, I need to talk to you.” Lara put her hand on Daniel’s elbow, but he shook her off. “Now.” His eyes were shining and his hands shook. “How exactly did you come to us, Anna?” he demanded.
“I’ve t-told you,” Anna stammered. “I ran away from my home in Pentacles.” She tried to meet Daniel’s wild gaze.
“Did you walk? Did you ride a horse?” Daniel took a step toward Anna. “How? And why here?”
“Daniel,” James said, but Anna put her hand on his arm.
“I told you, some friends put me in a boat, and after that I can’t remember what happened. I must have blacked out. I just woke up in Cups.”
“How did you find us? Our villa?” Daniel asked, his posture tensing.
“I came across James on the beach that night. You know that.”
“What friends helped you? You said you had no one.” He clenched his fists in frustration.
“Daniel,” Lara cautioned.
“What’s going on here?” Topper rushed up to the small group.
Daniel waved him into their circle. “Topper, you’ve traveled from Cups to Pentacles. If she was unconscious, floating on the sea, could she just end up here? Is that even possible?” Topper looked from Anna to Daniel.
“I don’t know what you want me to say!” Anna shouted, feeling backed into a corner, her face reddening from a combination of anger and embarrassment.
A gust of wind slammed at the boarded windows and everyone jumped.
“How far is that exactly?” Daniel barked, now looking positively manic after the scare from the wind. “We’ve never seen anyone from any other land, and you are able to just drift here? It doesn’t make sense.”
Anna took a slow step back, scared of Daniel’s rising anger. James pushed his way in front of her.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this to you, but calm down, Daniel,” James reproached him. “What is this even about?”
“I’ll tell you what this is about.” Daniel pointed a finger at Anna. “She is the only thing that has changed since we’ve been having these horrific accidents.” He let that settle in the air between them. “I’ve been going over and over it in my mind, and she is the only variable. How long have we lived here? Our whole lives.” Daniel threw up his hands. “Nothing like this has ever happened!” he shouted.
A heavy silence fell over the room. Anna felt tiny seeds of doubt being planted in every person whose eyes she met. Tears spilled down Lara’s cheeks as she leaned into Daniel. Terra stared at her from a corner of the room. People gaped at her, their mouths half-open, but not one of her friends came to her side.
“Why don’t we take a break?” Topper said. “Let our heads cool.”
Anna needed to do something to gain their trust back. If the Hierophant King was coming after her, she couldn’t leave these people unprotected. Not to mention the heartbreak she would endure if they cast her out. And where would she go? She had no place to run now.
“You asked me when I got here if I was mistreated,” she said. “I was. I was locked in a room and made to stay there. You saw how pale I was when I got here, how weak. I was never even allowed outside.” Everyone was watching her. “It’s the reason why I could not swim or ride a horse or cook when I arrived.” She wrung her hands as she spoke, choking back tears. “I wish I could tell you more about where I came from, but I just can’t.” She addressed the whole room now. “I can never repay all of you for what you have given me. I’ve never experienced anything like the joy I have felt these past few weeks. I’m sorry for what’s happening. There aren’t words for how sorry I am.” She made a move to head up the stairs, and James did not try to stop her or follow. Like the others, he simply stared, shock clear on his face.
As Anna’s foot hit the first step, Lara broke away from Daniel and grabbed her arm. “We’ll get through this. Whatever it is,” she whispered. Anna gave her a weak smile and headed up the stairs to her room.
She threw herself on the bed, arms and legs spread wide, feeling utterly bereft. After a few minutes she heard a light knock on her door.
“Come in,” she said, hopeful that one of her friends had come to check on her. Or better, that Daniel would burst inside and tell her that it was all a misunderstanding. But when she looked up, it was Topper who stood towering in the doorway.
Can I help?” the Hermit called out to the Magician, who had been conjuring a series of objects with her wand for what felt like hours. She was surrounded by twenty tall white candles; a giant bunch of fragrant sage; dried rosemary; a tall jar of seawater, sloshing in its glass bottle as if it were alive; and a thick tangle of cabbage root.
The Magician examined the pile at her feet. “Find a bird feather.”
The Hermit hopped off the rock where he had been seated. “May I use one of your candles for light?” he asked. The Magician nodded, pointing her wand at one of the candles. It lit at once.
He beamed and took it. “I really like you having your magic back. I wish you didn’t have to hide it.”
“You and me both,” she said. She was starting to drag her supplies in front of the tapestry where they had seen Anna walking on the beach.
The Hermit poked into the surrounding trees, at first finding nothing but cobwebs, sticks, and branches. But then there it was, hanging off yet another branch. A sage-green tail feather from a Dartford warbler. It was long and velvety soft and tipped with apricot.
“Will this do?” the Hermit asked, spinning around to show the Magician. “Ah!” he gasped.
The Magician had shaped the ingredients of her spell into an infinity symbol six feet wide. It was stunning, the light from the tall candles flickering in the night, casting shadows on the palms and sea in the tapestry. The Hermit joined her and offered her the warbler feather.
“Very good,” she said.
The Hermit tilted his chin toward a space that was obviously missing the candle he held. “May I?” he requested.
“Yes, but do it quickly. Place the bird feather in the middle, and be careful not to knock anything over!”
When the Hermit was finished, he gingerly stepped from the center of t
he second loop.
“Stand back,” the Magician ordered, waving the Hermit behind her. “It’s a spell to break barriers and bind those who love one another.” She took the vial of iridescent powder that brought Anna’s tapestries to life and threw the whole thing at her infinity symbol without even opening it. The vial hit the ground, smashing into thousands of tiny pieces and scattering shimmering dust. An iridescent light swam through the loop of the infinity pattern, coiling back and forth, purple with sheens of gold and green. The ground around them began to vibrate.
“My love for Anna is infinite, as is my love for my brother. Break the barrier between us so that I might reach her. Unite our familial blood, a tie that binds us regardless of dark or light, earth or heaven, stone or water, fire or ash.” She swayed as she whispered the words. Then, quite suddenly, she pulled her wand back as if drawing an arrow in a bow and shouted, “Anoixahtaye!” She thrust her wand at the glowing infinity loop.
“Look!” the Hermit said, pointing and leaping from foot to foot.
At the edge of their small clearing, the mossy, green bridge was materializing.
The Magician scurried around the infinity symbol, rolling up the tapestry frantically. She didn’t know how long the bridge would stay there, so she motioned for the Hermit to grab the stack of the other now tightly bound tapestries.
“Let’s go! We may not have much time.” The Hermit stuffed the stack into his knapsack, hurrying after the Magician. Once in the middle of the bridge, overcome with feelings of exhilaration, the two looked over the side as Anna had, and discovered a vast expanse of nothingness. They giggled like giddy children.
The Magician grabbed the Hermit’s elbow, and together they ran across the bridge and smack into a wall of viscous goo.
She grimaced.
“Keep moving! You can push through it!” called the Hermit, his body sinking through the wall.
The Magician pressed herself into the sludge, and in a moment they were gone.
“Should we go after them, Sire?” Senator Bassett appeared from behind the bushes, ready to follow the two double-crossing traitors across the bridge. The King marched out from the brush.
“No. Not yet. They’ll be back, and we’ll be right here waiting for them when they do.” The King clenched his jaw. “With an army this time. We need to be prepared for whatever comes back out or whatever might wait for us on the other side.”
Bassett sucked his teeth. “But, Your Majesty, what if they don’t return?”
“They’d never leave the Fool behind to rot in the dungeons,” the King assured him. “Guards should be posted here around the clock, and have the general make sure the troops are at the ready.” The King glanced back at the bushes. “You can come out now, boy.”
Drake emerged from the brush, his face dirty and tearstained.
“You’ve done well, young man. Your loyalty will be rewarded.”
Topper stood in the doorway for a moment, looking at Anna. She stared back at him, her big black eyes welling with tears, her cheeks and the tip of her nose flushed pink from crying.
“May I?” He gestured to the bed beside her, and she nodded. He sat down next to her and tipped her chin gently up toward him. “You look so sad, Anna.”
Topper’s tone was full of concern, and devoid of expectation. His compassion and thoughtfulness broke something free in Anna. She took his hand and covered it with both of hers, shifting so that her body faced his.
“I have been lying.” She scanned his expression to see his reaction.
He nodded but held her gaze. He put his hand over hers and squeezed gently.
Anna told him everything. Her story came spilling out, gaining momentum as she spoke. The Tower, the King, Marco, her advisors, and her tapestries.
They dropped hands and Anna began to wring hers. She cried as she spoke, and every now and then she turned to him to make sure he was still listening, still there.
He was, his bright blue-green eyes trained on her, shaking his head and taking deep breaths as she came to the worst parts in her tale. He dropped his head into his hands when she spoke of the King’s order to execute her, but he did not interrupt.
When she finally reached the part where James found her on the beach, she stopped and melted into Topper’s thin frame. She shook with the violence of her tears and a rushing feeling of release. Topper held her tightly and stroked her hair. He wiped her tears with his sleeve, and when he rolled it up, Anna noticed the base of a black goblet tattoo just like Daniel’s. They sat like that for a few minutes, Anna’s truth hanging in the silence between them.
“I really want to meet your aunt,” Topper said quietly. “But she sounds a little scary.” Anna laughed, her shoulders shaking beneath his embrace.
“She is.” Anna took a deep breath and sat up, smoothing her hands over her hair and glancing down at her dress. “Stars, I can’t believe I’m still wearing this.”
They both laughed lightly. Anna bit her lower lip, feeling new tears brimming in her eyes. She let out a long sigh and turned to him. “Thank you for listening,” she said, smiling sadly.
Topper shrugged. “I imagine that’s a very large burden to carry alone.”
“I was so scared that if I told anyone who I really was, they would make me leave.” She grabbed his hand. “I felt like you were the only one who might understand. Your mind is open to new things, new ideas.” She thought of James as she said this, and wondered if she was being fair to him. Perhaps he would be just as open if given the chance.
Topper bowed toward Anna. “I’m honored to have your trust.” They interlaced their fingers and stared down at them. “I’m so sorry you were treated that way, Anna. That the King hurt you, that he hid your talents from the world. That he went back on his word and your tapestries weren’t celebrated the way they should have been, that you were not given your freedom.”
Anna blushed.
“It makes me angry just thinking of you being confined like that. The injustice—you were a child, an innocent caught up in other people’s conflicts.”
Anna smiled at him, her body filling with warmth. “Thank you.” She rolled her shoulders back.
“What do we do now?” Topper squeezed Anna’s hand.
“Are you going to tell Daniel?” She took her hand away and smoothed a piece of his blond hair behind his ear.
“I think that’s a decision we should make together.” He rubbed his hands back and forth over his thighs. He started to say something and then stopped.
“What is it?” she asked.
Topper ran a hand over his face and sighed. “I don’t think now is the time to bring it up.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I just exposed the deepest, darkest corners of my soul—you kind of have to tell me. It’s only fair.”
Topper gave a shaky laugh and took a deep breath. “It seems like there’s something happening between us. I felt it in the library, and I feel it now . . . again.” He arched an eyebrow at her. “And I fear it might be one-sided.”
Anna wanted to assure him that it wasn’t, but then she thought of James and felt a heavy sludge of guilt slide into her chest.
“There you two are.”
Anna jumped.
James stood in the doorway. “I brought you some sweet potato bread, Anna.”
Topper shot Anna a quick look and hopped up from the bed.
“I should probably go,” Topper said.
“You don’t have to,” Anna said, unnerved at the thought of him leaving. James set the tray down next to Anna and took Topper’s place on the bed.
“Don’t leave on my account, Top,” James chimed in.
Topper stood tall and stiffened his posture. He gave James a small nod. “We’ll pick this up later, Anna?” he asked hopefully, stepping out the bedroom door and into the hallway. Things heavy and unfinished hung between th
em. Anna stared at him an extra beat before he turned around and disappeared from the doorway.
Silence followed Topper’s absence.
“Hi,” James said, nudging Anna’s elbow lightly. Anna turned away from where Topper had stood and looked at James. His light-green eyes were rimmed with red and his brow was creased with lines of worry. “Do you want me to go?”
“No,” Anna said, studying his face, devoid of its usual brightness. “Yes. I don’t know.”
James raised his eyebrows. “You’re angry with me.”
“You didn’t defend me when everyone was turning against me down there.” Anna shifted slightly away from him on the bed. When she did, she felt James stiffen beside her.
“Can you see things from my side? Daniel’s my brother, and I was in shock. We’ve all been through a lot in the last day. Look at this place.” He gestured outside to the patio. “It’s destroyed.”
Anna put her face in her hands. She knew she wasn’t being fair, and right now, Topper’s confession made her feel worse. She gazed at James, and felt her heart soften toward him. She could tell him the truth like she had just told Topper, but something stopped her. It was like he’d said: he was Daniel’s brother. That was where his loyalty lay. And really, how could she blame him for that?
“I don’t think we can resolve this tonight,” she said. She rested her hand on his back. He turned to her.
“I never want to have to choose between the two people I love most in the world.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” she said quietly. Suddenly she had a strong desire to be close to him. To put aside their overwhelming problems and just touch him, have him touch her.
Anna moved over to James and leaned into him, resting her head on his broad chest. James wrapped his arms gently around Anna, the two of them breathing softly.
Anna looked down and realized they both still had their festival clothes on. “Do you want to take a bath?” she asked him. “I’m filthy, and I think it would feel really good.” He raised his eyebrows. “I just want to feel close to you.”
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