As I would be. “Any chance you could take care of this sooner?”
“Impatient!” she said.
That was me.
“But me likey you, Fleur. Me do.” She popped from the room.
The bowl was magically empty.
Chapter 29
Past time to leave.
“Now that the beatleycarne is taken care of, you can forget your traps,” I said to Tria. I grabbed my backpack and started stuffing things inside. “I’m out of here in a few minutes. Any suggestions for what I should bring with me?” My hands shook worse than my voice. I didn’t want to do this. How could I head out alone? But it was bad enough I endangered myself. I couldn’t live with it if one of my friends was harmed.
“I have an idea,” Tria said, standing. “I’ll flit to my room and bring you my Seeker Stick. If you want it.”
Moira and Alys exchanged amazed looks.
“You’ll let her take your Seeker Stick?” Moira gulped out.
Tria’s face colored. “It’s the next best thing to me going with her.”
“What’s a Seeker Stick?” I asked. “And why would I want to take it with me?”
“If you get lost, it’ll guide you,” Tria said.
I scrunched my face. “Like a compass?”
They looked at me blankly.
“A compass,” I said. I wasn’t exactly sure how to use a compass if they offered me one, but I’d figure it out. It wasn’t as if I had a phone with a GPS. I propped my knuckles on my hip when they continued to frown. “Come on, you guys. You know. You use a compass to guide you through the woods. It always points north?”
“You want to go east to reach the Cerberus caves, don’t you?” Patty asked, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. “You’ll just get lost if you go north.”
I shook my head and barely held back my eye roll. “If you explain how to use it, I’ll be glad to take your stick,” I said to Tria.
“Good. Be right back.” She flitted from the room.
Patty lifted her velvet blue blanket and held it to her chest. She pressed her eyes closed and whispered something too low for me to hear, then handed me the bit of fluff she’d slept with since she was a baby. “I warded it to keep you warm at night.”
Snagging the end of the blanket, I used it to tug her close to deliver a hug. It went on a long time that would never be enough. We pulled away from each other, hiding our tears behind our forced laughter.
She latched onto my forearms and held me still while she pressed her forehead against mine. “I want you home by tomorrow. You hear me?” No denying the shake in her voice.
“I have two days.” I’d probably need them.
“Two days, then,” she croaked. “Be home in two days.”
“I will.”
“And don’t do anything dangerous,” she added.
I shrugged. We both knew I couldn’t agree to that promise. I’d be in danger the entire time I was away from the Academy.
I didn’t ask her what she saw—Patty possessed a divination skapti and she’d already reached a Level Two. Even if she would be willing to tell me, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know if I’d succeed or fail. Best to go into this with my eyes wide open and my heart ready to take on whatever was thrown my way. Like when I’d chosen my moonstone, I’d control my fate.
Alys slunk from the room as Moira stood and walked over to me with something in her hands that hadn’t been there a second before.
“I ported this here,” she said. “It’s a plenty. I picked it up at the mall today to give my little sister for the holidays, but I want you to take it with you.” She handed me the small bowl.
I stared down at it. “What does it do?”
“Wish and whatever you want to eat will appear.”
I grinned. “Cool. Even nachos?”
“Always nachos.” She held out her hand as if for a shake but when our fingers touched, she yanked me near and whispered by my ear. “I know you’re scared. I would be, too. But I also know you can do this.” She leaned back and smiled through her tears. “Watch out for nips.”
Creatures that had swept through the trees overhead when I’d visited Donovan’s aunt and uncle. I hadn’t fully seen them and wasn’t sure I’d wanted to. Just hearing their chitter had creeped me out.
Tria reappeared with what looked like a creaky wooden wand in her hand. She held it out to me. “Tell it where you want to go, and it’ll take you there.”
“As simple as that?”
“Even simpler. And once you’ve found the bone and cupla, ping me and I’ll be there in half a second to bring you home.”
“Tria,” I said, trying not to weep.
“Stay safe,” she said softly, her hand landing solidly on my shoulder. “I don’t think I could stand it if something happened to you.”
Choked up, all I could do was stand there with my pack and her Seeker Stick in my hands.
“You,” she croaked. “You better not get hurt. You understand?”
I nodded, blinking hard to hold back my tears. “I’ll do my best to keep that from happening.”
After putting the bowl, blanket, and stick in my pack, then tucking a few more items of clothing inside, I zipped up the bag and dropped the strap over my shoulder.
“Bye?” I said.
“We’ll go with you to the eastern pasture,” Patty said, standing.
“With a herd of Seekers out there?” They’d engulf me in minutes and lock me up. My hand would rot off and I’d…Wasn’t going there.
“The odds of her getting past them are slim already,” Tria said. “Except…” Pinching her chin, she tilted her head before flicking her hand my way. Bits of electricity zipped across my skin.
“A ward, I assume?” I asked.
She smiled grimly. “You’ve got fifteen minutes before you’re no longer invisible.”
Invisible? Cool.
“Guess I better go, then.” I hustled toward the door but turned, because…
Patty finger waved, her face meshed with concern.
Tria, her lips compressed in a thin line, nudged her head. “Go. Fourteen and counting.”
Moira sighed.
Waiting for something I shouldn’t, I glanced around one last time.
No sister.
I wasn’t sure why her absence hurt. Maybe I’d expected…Who knows what I’d expected. Whatever it was, it wasn’t silence.
She hadn’t even said goodbye.
My spine went rigid, but my lips trembled. Weakness would be my downfall.
Flames licked inside me, bursting into a blaze. I didn’t need her. Didn’t want her in my life. She could…
The door to the bathroom creaked open, but Alys remained hidden in the shadows.
Was this it? She’d watch me walk out the door without saying a damn thing?
“Here.” Her thrust out hand emerged into the light. “It’s… It was my mother’s. She had a jewelette made for me before I was born, to protect me from harm. I don’t believe it’s done anything for me, but maybe it’ll bring you luck?” Stepping forward, she dropped a clear crystal the size of a dime and encased in a sterling pendant into my hand.
I cupped my fingers around it. “Thanks.” The fact that she was giving me what might be one of the few possessions she had from her mother meant a lot to me. “I’m only borrowing it. I’ll bring it back.” I turned to my friends. “I’ll bring everything back.”
“Just you,” Patty said with a whimper she cut off with her fist. “That’s all that matters.”
“I want…” Squinting her eyes closed, Alys lowered her head. Her swallow dipped down her throat. When she looked up, a solitary tear slid down her cheek, and she flicked it away. “Don’t get too worked up about this. I’m not crying about you. I’m crying because I was thinking about my mother.”
“Oh. Sure,” I said. Not really. Maybe she did care a tiny bit for me. “Thanks for loaning me your jewelette.”
“Be safe,” she whispered.
I turned the knob and opened our door.
There was no looking back as I left. I couldn’t. If I did, I’d stomp back inside and call for the healers.
Thorn, thankfully didn’t appear when I shut the door.
Knowing the Seekers would be patrolling the grounds and that wards would be set to trigger if anyone snuck out, I slipped through the shadows, taking the skywalk then skirting past the dark admin offices. Even Justine’s office appeared empty, no light shining from the narrow window in her door.
A slice of light did pierce the hall, stretching from beneath Cloven’s door. I wanted to knock, go inside, and tell him what I was doing. Ask his advice, because I worried I was making a big mistake. But he’s stop me from leaving then scold me for making a bargain with Katya.
Scooting through the darkened shopping area, I ducked along the dark hall and into the ladies’ room at the end.
Inside the farthest bathroom stall, I climbed onto the toilet seat. I’d pushed up the window and getting ready to scramble through the opening, when Alex appeared in front of me.
“Interesting place to hang out,” he said dryly. I swore he scrunched his nose.
It did smell in here.
“I’m going on a quest,” I said.
“To get a cupla stone and a dragon bone.”
“How did you…” I smacked my forehead. “Where you spying?”
His little wings drooped. “You know I don’t do that.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Then who told you?” When silence greeted my question, I held up my hand. “Got it. It’s a secret.”
“I’d get them for you myself, if I could,” he whispered. “You know that, right?” There was no mistaking the desperation in his voice. “No one other than you has seen me before. Me! I’d do anything for you.”
So sad. Alex was special. “How could they miss you?”
“To everyone else, I’m a simple dragonfly.”
“To me, you’re a good friend.”
“Which is why I need to tell you…” He buzzed in close to my ear. “Trust in yourself. When everything seems lost, know you have the power within you to perform miracles.”
Trepidation crept up my spine like a thousand spiders, making me shiver. I reeled backward, almost falling off the toilet. “What’s going to happen?”
“One more thing,” he said. “Remember. Rules are as fluid as Levels.”
“Rules? Tell me!”
There was no answer. Alex had morphed back into my pendant.
Trust myself, huh? And how could rules be as fluid as Levels?
I thought about the words and their possible meanings as I climbed up onto the windowsill. Without an answer, I tumbled outside, onto the ground, where I was nearly impaled by a spiky shrub. I pressed myself flat, barely breathing, and listened. Yes, I trusted Tria’s invisibility ward, but I wasn’t stupid.
Seekers were smarter than me.
When nothing but the bitter wind howling past the eaves met my ears, I rose to a crouch and, still hearing no movement nearby, I raced for the eastern pasture.
My boots created dull thuds on the frozen ground, sounds I hoped wouldn’t be overheard. When a stick snapped on the gardener’s path to my right, I shuddered. But rather than come to a halt, I ran faster. If someone had heard me, it was already too late. I’d be caught and hauled back to the Academy.
How many minutes had it been? Eight? Ten? This is what happened when a girl forgot to sync with the sundial.
When I reached the woods, my footsteps slowed. I peered behind me, pleased to see no movement. Maybe this part of my quest was going to work. I held back my snort of derision. Quest? I hadn’t even left the Academy grounds.
I tiptoed forward. The path I’d taken months ago when I’d ridden the aldakor waited. The platform would be silent, the aldakor hibernating in their caves for the winter.
I’d just crept into the woods and was squinting toward the hills I’d soon be climbing when someone grunted behind me.
Whirling, I tripped and fell backward, skidding on my butt across the snowy ground.
Donovan came up to stand over me, a half-grin on his face.
He swiped back his hair and then hefted a pack higher on his shoulder. “Jeez, Fleur, were you going to leave without me?”
Chapter 30
When I scrambled to my feet and leaped onto him, I passed through his body and smacked onto the ground behind him.
Sputtering, I turned around and gaped up at him, my mouth behaving like a fish on a line.
“Well. All right. Yeah,” he said, his shoulders scrunching in close to his neck. “See, that’s going to be a bit of an issue.”
I got to my feet and brushed snow off my butt and legs before straightening. “I don’t understand. You’re here but not here?”
He held out his hand to show the pendant from Katya lying in his palm. “Found this and knew I had to help you. But…you know.”
Bespelled.
Except with the pendant. Katya was as tricksy as Sirra.
I reached for the pendant but my fingers slid through his hand.
He shivered.
“Did you feel that?” I asked.
“Yup. And when you, uh, jumped through me. I’d like to say it felt good, because it’s you, Fleur, and I’d love to get close to you soon. But actually, this passing through me thing gives me the chills.”
My chin trembled and my heart fractured all over again, because he was here. He knew who I was.
And I still couldn’t touch him.
His hands reached out as if to gather me close but stopped to hover near, without touching. Would I ever be close to him again?
“How can you be here and know me?” I asked in a croaky voice. It hurt to force the words up through my tight throat.
“When I found the pendant, I knew. That is, me, inside, the guy who knows you, I knew. But I also knew the bespelled part of me would be useless. Most of the time, he’s—”
“You’re talking like he’s another person.” And…so was I.
“In some ways, he is someone else. Inside, I know you, know what you mean to me. But the outside guy, the shell, he’s kinda clueless.”
I wanted desperately to laugh but my lungs had closed off. I could barely breathe.
“I try real hard to make the outside guy do what I want but it’s been a challenge,” he said.
“I think part of him—you—comes through.” That was why he always sought me out and why he introduced himself. The part of Donovan I’d fallen for might be buried behind a wall, but he was struggling to break through.
“When I touched the pendant, I knew I had to help you but I knew that outside guy would bumble around introducing himself over and over. He’d be totally useless when you needed me most,” he said. “Couldn’t let that happen. So, I shifted into my dragon and everything was clear. I went to—”
“Please tell me you didn’t go to Katya.”
“Hell, no. I’ll never trust her again. My Aunt Inik helped me.”
“What could a sketar witch do?”
“She taught me how to dreamwalk.”
“An elemental magic trick?”
“No, something handed down through her family. See, only my spirit is here with you.”
Gulping, I glanced over my shoulder, toward where the Academy lights gleamed in the distance. “Where’s the rest of you? That outside guy.”
“Lying on my bed, in my room. My aunt flitted back to my Coven room with me. She gave me—that other, clueless dude—a potion to make me sleep. She also talked with Bryce. He’s watching out for me while I dreamwalk. He’ll tell everyone I’m sick.”
I tilted my head. “What’s keeping them from sending healers to you? You’re the heir to the throne.”
He growled. “Don’t remind me.”
My shrug said what I couldn’t. There was nothing Donovan could do to change the fact.
“Bryce will tell them my brother sent his own healer to treat me and that I’m
to be left alone while I recover.”
“They’ll think you were awfully sick if you’re not back in class within a day.”
He shrugged. “Bryce will deal with it.” His glance took in the snowy trees and the still forest. “Where we going?”
“Well, here’s the thing you don’t know.” I chuffed out a breath that crystalized in the cold air. With a grimace, I lifted my bandaged hand I’d stuffed into a mitten. “I got Serum on my hand and it’s rotting off.”
“By the fae, Fleur.” He reached toward me but stopped and pulled his hand back before touching. “We need to get you to a healer, not take a walk in the woods.”
“Been there, seen the healers. They want to cut it off.”
“I take it you’re not letting them do it.”
“Not yet. I went to Katya.”
“Crap. Why? You know what she did to me. To us.”
“It’s not like I have options. We have three Bespellers we’re dealing with here. One’s determined to kill me so I doubt they’d be willing to cure my hand. The Court Bespeller might be equally eager to see me dead, thanks to your brother. Katya was the only one left. I thought she could give me a charm to slow or eliminate the Serum’s effect.”
“I take it she didn’t,” he said grimly.
“Does she ever do something kind for someone else?”
“If the price is right, and she benefits the most.”
I could see that. Evil spider sorceress. “I had five days before I needed to think about letting them cut off my hand.”
“Had?” He exposed his palm to the moonlight. “Let me guess. You no longer have five days, and Katya’s the reason.”
“She got pissed off when I challenged her, but jeez, she was trying to bespell me. I threw black threads at her—”
“Wait. What?”
“I’m not a full Unraveler. Yet. But I’ve found my threads.” I couldn’t keep the thrill of discovery from coloring my voice. They’d always been around me, waiting. Soon, I’d pull them near and use them. “I guess that makes me a Level Two. But sometimes a Three and maybe even occasionally a Four.”
“I want to hear all about this. I knew levels were fluid, but…” He grinned. “You always did amaze me.”
Crystal Wing Academy- The Complete Series Page 70