by K.N. Lee
I liked it.
“Hey,” he said, approaching. “Good job wearing your boots. We’re going on a little trek.”
I shrugged. “I’m not a fan of the shoes we are forced to wear to class. I’d much prefer my boots any day.”
“Right,” he said, hardly interested, and walked past me to enter the forest. It was almost as if he hadn’t asked me to come there and I was taking up his time. “Follow me.”
Shoulders slumping, I kept up behind him as we stepped away from the academy and into the darkness.
Rhys led me through the tightly-knit trees, and into the woods bordering the north end of the campus.
Fallen leaves crunched underfoot. Each step released the scent of remembered sunshine as I followed him. We went through a break in the trees I had never noticed before.
“I thought you needed glasses to see.” Something whizzed by my face, wings whirring, and I flailed at it.
It was a bat…at least I hoped it was a bat.
Stepping closer to Rhys, I ignored his snicker.
The breeze diminished as we walked farther down what seemed to be an actual path. It started out narrow and overgrown but was better maintained the farther we walked. I could walk next to Rhys without bumping into him, something I couldn’t do when we first started.
“I wear them in the daytime,” he said. “My eyes are sensitive to light.”
“Oh,” I said. “That makes sense. But, why?”
“You are just full of questions tonight.”
“Well, why not? If we’re soulmates and all, I might as well get to know you.”
He grunted.
“You’re unbelievable,” I said. “Who says the term soulmate even means anything? Its not like we have to be together, Rhys. We can abandon this whole concept and go back to the academy right now. I really don’t care.”
He paused, and glanced over his shoulder. “I do,” he said, and a flutter entered my chest.
For a moment, I had no words. The winking lights of fireflies appeared and disappeared all along the trail. There were more of them deeper in the woods all around.
More and more appeared, and became ridiculously distracting.
“What’s with all of these fireflies?” I asked, waving them away as they got closer to my face.
“They’re sheeries.” Rhys stopped and pointed toward a blue light coming straight for him. The glow landed on his fingertip. He brought it closer for me to see the tiny winged person on his finger, naked and skinny. “Do not ever follow one these little beauties into the woods.”
Another sheerie landed on Rhys’s hair and started to pick through the dark strands.
“They look harmless,” I said, but remembered Dr. Grant’s lecture on them in our class.
Rhys reached out and tilted my head toward him, forcing me to look away from the mesmerizing creature and into his tawny eyes.
“They’re not.” She had never heard him sound so serious.
A purple sheerie landed on the end of my nose, and I went cross-eyed trying to focus on it. Rhys flicked it away just as it opened its tiny mouth filled with sharp, pointed teeth, ready to bite me.
“That little bugger was going to bite my face!”
“I told you,” he said.
“Great,” I said, as we continued deeper into the forest. “So, is there anything else I need to know about?”
“Like what?”
“I mean—are dragons real? Unicorns? God, I’d love to see either of those. Oh, and what about the Tooth Fairy?”
“Dragons are real, but they don’t live around here. You find them in the higher mountain ranges.”
The woodsy trail twinkled with brilliant pastel sheeries, and I tried to keep up as he quickened his pace.
“There are some out in the Rockies. The biggest colony is in the Himalayas,” he went on to say. “The jury’s out on whether unicorns still exist in this dimension. No one has seen one in a hundred years.”
After that, we walked in silence for a bit. The woods were dark. Thanks to the sheeries, and my second-sight, I could see the ground in front of me. When we first entered the woods, the air had smelled of fallen leaves and fading sunshine. Deeper in, it smelled sweet, like honeysuckle and primrose. The scent of skunk had long since dissipated.
“So, what’s your deal then?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“How did you come about being a superhero?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t something I planned for. I was born for it. Bred for it.”
“I see,” I said, though I didn’t know what he meant. “So, what are you then? When I first saw you, I thought you were just another human. I thought maybe you’d been open to your innate powers, but never imagined you were Night Blade.”
“I’m a wyzard.”
Oh crap.
I nearly stumbled on the thick underbrush.
“Okay,” I said, trying to hide my surprise—and how impressed I was by his many layers.
“There aren’t many of us around anymore,” he added. “Best to use my gifts, right?”
I nodded. “That’s what I always say.”
It wasn’t. I was used to hiding mine.
“The fae are kind of a crap shoot, just like humans. Treat the ones like the sheeries here with extreme caution. Same with the Tooth Fairy and his buddies.”
I stopped, and narrowed my eyes as I looked ahead at his back. “You’re joking, right? The Tooth Fairy isn’t real.” Why I balked at that and not the rest of it, I wasn’t sure.
I still half believed the whole evening was some kind of dream. Either that or the weirdest first date in the history of the world.
“Nasty piece of work. He isn’t anything like the stories you heard as a kid. He collects teeth, yes, but forcibly.”
“Insane,” I said, under my breath, and continued on.
We passed through the patch of moonlight. On the other side of it, the trail veered to the left, but Rhys went straight. It felt no different beneath my feet than it had before, but there was no visible path. My eyes and brain at war with the rest of her senses, leaving me a little dizzy.
Finally, he stopped in front of a tree that was at least six feet across. “Get ready for your life to change, Skylar.” His gaze never left mine as he began to speak in a language I’d never heard.
“De réir an grásta na déithe, a dheonú dom mbealach isteach.”
The tree in front of us shimmered.
I stumbled backward, mystified as the roots of the tree began to glow, and light up the entire surrounding area as more of the trees followed suit.
Mouth agape, I stared in shock as a door opened in front of the tree.
11
A few sheeries had followed us through the woods.
Their winking lights glinted from flecks of mica embedded in the tree. That’s when I realized that it was actually covered in stone.
Somewhere along the way, the path had changed to cobblestones under our feet. The great wooden door, studded with squares of beaten metal, swung open.
Rhys gestured toward the open door. “After you.”
“Uh, no,” I said. “After you.”
“Very well.”
I followed Rhys from the forest and into a long narrow tunnel. The chill in the air was even stronger once we stepped onto the moist dirt floor.
I kept close, not wanting to get left behind.
It was much bigger inside than one could tell from outside. And, we walked down a series of tunnels that were completely dark aside from the orbs bouncing around Rhys, and my sight of the life-force around us.
“Where are we?”
“Underground,” he said.
“I figured that,” I said. “But, why are we here?”
He glanced back. “To see the Ancient,” he said, nonchalantly, as if I was supposed to know who she was.
I rubbed the gooseflesh on my arms and kept close, almost an inch from his back as we walked a series of maze-like tunnels.
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“The Ancient?”
He nodded. “She’s a faerie elder. She’s been around since the beginning. She knows everything.”
As I walked in, wringing my hands, I thought about what would happen to my sisters if I ended up dead.
I inhaled as I met Rhys’ ethereal eyes and prayed that I wasn’t making a huge mistake by trusting him.
We came to wide space, with candles lining the room, and a woman sitting in the center.
“Go, on,” he said. “She’d been waiting for you.”
My skin tightened and I felt fear rise. My breath caught in my throat and I stared in awe at the woman before me.
Rhys stood beside me with his hands folded before him. “Don’t be shy,” he said, brushing his shoulder against mine.
Her aura was purple, as was her long hair that draped over broad shoulders. She looked just as her name hinted.
Ancient.
But, not in a way that took anything away from her beauty. Though her skin had deep wrinkles, there was a stunning woman looking back at me.
Narrow eyes the brightest blue I’d ever seen looked up at me.
“Sit down.”
A smile came to her full lips as she looked me over, her hair gently swaying around her face as if a breeze came in.
Her voice echoed along the walls of the room, and inside of my head.
Hesitantly, I sat before her on the hard-packed dirt floor.
“What a glorious day this has been,” she said as she leaned forward for a better look at me. “The Half-Blood Princess has arrived.”
Half-Blood Princess?
I glanced over my shoulder to Rhys. “What is she talking about?”
He nodded his head to the Ancient. “Ask her, Skylar. I’m just as in the dark in all of this as you. I thought I was just coming to collect yet another mage. I had no clue you could be her.”
“Yes, Skylar,” the Ancient said. “I’ve been studying you for some time now.”
“Me?” I asked. “Why me?”
She stroked the back of my hands and smiled. “No one has told you,” she said as she ran a hand through my hair.
My skin ignited with tiny prickles of cold as she did so. Then, warmth filled me as she pressed the pad of her thumb to my forehead and closed her eyes.
“It’s simple, really. You are indeed the lost heir of the Adriel Throne, the with the power of all the elements.”
She laughed, and I blinked, mystified. I barely heard what she said. It was like I was under her spell.
Faerie magic.
“Well done, Rhys,” she said. “She’s even more beautiful in person.”
“You’ve seen me?”
The Ancient nodded. “Yes—well, I’ve seen you, but not your physical body. Your energy, shall I say.”
“Oh,” I said, and licked my lips. What would I learn next? I couldn’t even fathom what new secrets I’d find out about myself.
“Questions,” she said. “Ask me anything.”
“What is happening?” I asked, with a nervous laugh. “Let’s start there. First, I get plucked from my home and forced to come to the academy. Now, you say I am an heir to some throne I’ve never heard of.”
She nodded, narrowing her eyes as she looked at me. “It’s all a little jarring, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I said, eyes widened. “Exactly.”
“Well, the truth you sought after is sitting right before you.”
“What truth?”
“The Adriel Throne is not in this dimension. But, it still influences the balance of power here.”
Baffled, I slumped back in my seat, utterly speechless.
“You see, time and space are nothing for beings like us. We can go where most cannot.”
“Is she truly my soulmate?” Rhys asked.
She looked from me to him, and gave a single nod. “Yes,” she said. “She is.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“Are you okay?” Rhys asked, sitting beside me.
I looked at him, and nodded. “Yes. It’s just a lot to take in.”
“Your father was from a long line of kings, and his execution has left everything out of balance. Out of whack,” the Ancient said.
“Tell me more,” I said, relaxing my shoulders. This was what I had set out for. Though I was getting way more than I’d bargained for, I was ready for the truth.
All of it.
The Ancient tossed her head back and laughed. “That’s the spirit, dear girl,” she said. “Rhys, go into my cupboard and bring the vial of crystalline light. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
Rhys stood and walked over into the darkness that was another room off of the main area. He came back with the vial. It glowed a bright blue, and was filled with swirling, white light.
She reached over and gave my hand a squeeze. “Time to reunite you with your throne.”
12
“Tonight,” the Ancient said. “Begins your real training.”
I was uncomfortable in my seat, but ready. “Okay.”
“Rhys,” she said. “Sit before her, and take her hands into yours.”
I inhaled and watched as Rhys did as he was told. I looked around him at the Ancient, and lifted a brow. “I’m all for this training, and whatnot, but please tell me what to expect. What am I learning?”
“Tonight, you discover the depths of your power. You will walk through the spirit realm.”
I grimaced. Yikes.
“But, have no fear. Rhys will protect you. You can walk this path together. You will be safe.”
Looking to Rhys, the worry lines in my face softened as he took my hands into his. Warmth flooded me.
Rhys leaned close to my face. I welcomed his closeness. When he pressed his forehead to mine, and lowered his head as if in prayer, I did the same. We sat like that for a moment, and I relished the feeling.
Then, he whispered to me. “Don’t be afraid, Skylar. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I started to speak, and my voice came out as a scream as our bodies were sucked into a black hole. Every inch of my flesh stung and burned, and yet I held onto Rhys’s hand with all of my strength.
Into darkness we went.
Whatever this was—it wasn’t my idea of an adventure.
When my eyes opened, Rhys was beside me, staring at the dark sky.
I sat up groggily, and my stomach retched. I was certain I would vomit, and so I rolled onto my hands and knees and started coughing.
Tears stung my eyes. The pain I had felt still haunted my mind. The cold black dirt beneath my palms made me shiver.
Taking in our surroundings, I realized that our nightmare had just begun. I looked at the burnt trees, and the black tar-like soil.
Rhys helped me to my feet. Despite the ground being cold, the air was hot and steamy, like when my mom would open the oven. I was acclimated to such temperature outside and unbuttoned the white under my dress.
A howl in the distance sent me running to Rhys. I gripped his arm, fearing that if I let go, I’d be ripped away by some unseen force.
“What are you smiling about?” I asked, the fear threatening to seal my throat.
Sweat collected on my forehead and I wiped it clean, only for it to perspire once more. My heart pumped fiercely.
“Where are we? Are there wolves out here?”
He held my hand tightly, and lifted it into the air with his own. “Welcome to the spirit realm.”
His voiced echoed throughout the entire clearing of this strange, dead forest, where the sounds of crunching leaves, and faraway whistles from unknown creatures surrounded us.
I tightened my grip on his hand. “I don’t like it here.” There was no way I was letting him go.
Whatever we faced here, we would face it together.
Rhys didn’t mind, he grabbed my other hand and spun me around.
“What is wrong with you? How can you be so happy right now? I want to go back.”
Rhys stopp
ed. He grinned at me. “Don’t you understand what’s happening? We are in uncharted territory. We are where most mortals will not and cannot go.”
Looking away from him, I tried to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. My head tilted back as I looked up at the sky.
Red like blood, the sky held a silver moon.
“I understand that,” I said. “But, it gives me the creeps.”
I didn’t take my gaze from the sky. Somehow, I was entranced by it. Unlike our moon, this one spun slowly, causing the clouds to form what looked like a swirl all around it. I wondered if that was how we arrived. I hoped we’d be able to leave.
Rhys folded his hands behind his back, and paced before me.
“We are in the land of the spirits. This is sacred land, a land of great power.” He stopped and stood directly in front of me. “I am only here because we are soulmates. We are bound. We were meant to be, before we even came to be.”
For a moment I thought he would kiss me. I can’t believe that thought seeped into my mind when I was so afraid, but there was something about Rhys.
Something special.
Instead of kissing me, he took both of my hands and looked into my eyes. “You’re special, Skylar,” he whispered. “I’m honored to have you as my soulmate.”
It was Rhys. He calmed me like no other could ever do. I felt it deep inside, even though my parents had never explained to me the business of love and soulmates.
“And, what about Tabitha?”
He looked pained for a moment, then shook his head. “We haven’t been together in a long time. Our relationship is in the past. I want to know you. In every way.”
My eyes widened. “Oh,” I said, still trying to wrap my mind around being pledged to a man I had just met. “But, don’t we have a choice?”
He tilted his head. “Of course,” he said. “Soulmates are predetermined, but that doesn’t mean you’re trapped.”
He let go of me, and took a step back. “We don’t have to make anything of this. If you don’t want to.”
I wrung my hands, and turned away from him.
Orion, where are you when I need you?
I screamed as a blast of light erupted in the air before me.