“We outta here?” Donovan said, coming around to join me while Falia and Capria scrambled to their feet. Capria nuzzled my hands, and I scratched behind her ears.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll figure something else out.” I nudged my head at Donovan. “We need to go somewhere and strategize.”
“Sure.” His glace drifted over the Cerberus. “Would you mind if we came to visit the pups next summer? I can bring Fleur then in my dragon form.”
Silly idea when I wouldn’t be alive.
“Now we’ve offended her,” Grugeon blubbered. “A kind wizard who saved our pup and gave the others such a fun day, they still talk about it. She came here for a reason and we’re driving her away before she has a chance to speak.” He tilted his head. “Why did you come here?”
“I wanted to ask your help,” I said. “I need a cupla stone.”
Grugeon gasped and even bigger tears fell from his eyes, plopping on the ground around me like beach balls filled with salty water. “Run, Capria. Darling! She’ll steal your stone and your rest will be filled with nightmares for the remainder of your days. Brinsy! You, too. Run!”
Their stones played a role in their dreams?
Grottin butted my back, sending me stumbling toward Capria. Arms flailing, I nearly fell over her, but her tail whipped out to steady me.
Donovan growled, his hands clenching to fists. “Leave Fleur alone.”
“What do you plan to do about it, dreamwalker boy?” Grottin barked out, baring his long, pointy white teeth before turning to his pups. “Capria. Brinsy. Listen to us. Don’t make sudden moves. Get up and back away from the girl.”
My shoulders drooped. Did they really think I’d hurt the pups?
Capria didn’t seem to share their fear. She hummed and wiggled, her tail flicking back and forth on the ground as she begged me to resume rubbing her belly.
“I’d never hurt them,” I told Gunner, Grugeon, and Grottin. I held up my hand. “And you’re right. I came here for a reason. I’m dying.”
Capria groaned. She scrambled around and onto her feet. Nudging me closer to her, her tail protectively encircled my waist.
“A beatleycarne’s lardlet released Serum on my hand,” I said, rubbing Capria’s soft, fluffy cheeks. Brinsy got up and circled around to stand between me and his parents as if he felt I might need his defense. “Ka—Someone said they’d heal my hand if I brought them a cupla stone.”
The adult Cerberus’s growled low and deep, a scary symphony.
“Katya, you mean,” Grottin snarled. “Foolish wizard. Didn’t they teach you at school never to trust the sorceress?”
“She’ll trick you every time,” Grugeon wailed. “Now you’ve done it. You’ve made a pact with a Bespeller that can never be broken.”
“Don’t think we’re your solution,” Grottin shouted. His head snapped forward and butted me away from Capria. “You won’t get a stone from us.”
Capria bleated in terror and scrambled to get between us when his head reared back again.
Fear bolting through me. I stepped backward so quickly, I almost fell.
Grugeon snatched up Capria and dropped her into her nest, then Brinsy, leaving me to face their wrath alone.
Donovan’s hand jutted out to take mine but passed through me. We both shuddered.
Wings flapping, the Cerberus parent lumbered up into the air, roaring with rage.
Teeth bared, it snarled and dove toward me.
Chapter 32
Backpack in hand, I ran for the tunnel leading to the entrance of the cave.
Donovan was right behind me. “Go,” he yelled.
The Cerberus snarled, three heads bellowing in unison. Wind buffeted around me as its enormous wings flapped. Dust filled the air, making me cough. And the ground shook beneath me. How could they be making that happen? If their magic extended to controlling the environment, I was toast.
My lungs shuddered, and my heart flailed against my ribcage. I hit the tunnel at a dead run and kept going, my feet slamming the hard-packed soil.
By the time we’d reached the cave entrance, my legs shook like over-extended rubber, and I panted so quickly, the icy air burned my throat.
We darted into the forest where we hit the trail and kept going, running a few more minutes before slowing when we reached a small clearing.
“You hear them?” I whispered, peering back through the woods but unable to see far in the dark. I didn’t dare create a light because it would draw them to us. “Or have they decided to give up the chase?”
Donovan shrugged. “Hard to say, but I think we’re safe for now. I doubt they’ll leave the caves. Too cold out here.”
I brushed snow off a fallen tree and sat, wiping the sweat off my face with my mitten. “What happened? I thought they were happy to see me.”
“The pups sure were.”
“Grottin wasn’t, but that’s nothing new. He’s cranky all the time.”
“Things were going okay until you mentioned the stone.”
“Mistake on my part, but what was I supposed to do? That’s why we came here.”
He sat—hovered—on the log beside me. “And now you’re still stoneless.”
“And I’ve pissed off the parent. They’ll never let me see Capria again.” My heart ached at the loss of my friend.
I rubbed my face with my mittens, the scratchy wool bringing my senses into sharp focus.
The forest surrounded us. Other than a few small birds flittering from one tree branch to another and the wind moaning through the branches overhead, not a sound broke the silence.
Dawn was cresting the horizon, shooting bloody fingers up into the sky. The color of warning, I’d do well to heed it.
Almost half my time was gone and I had nothing. If anything, I was further from finding the stone and dragon bone than I’d been before.
“Cloven told me a cupla stone contains strong magical power, which is why Katya wants one,” I said. “Since Grottin said Capria’s dreams would turn to nightmares if she lost her stone, I wonder if the magic relates to the dream world.”
“Like me being a dreamwalker,” he said. “Inik didn’t tell me how she created the potion but now I wonder. There are rumors the Cerberus and trolls have never gotten along. The conflict could come from the stones.”
“Maybe.” It hardly mattered now. Dejected, I scuffed my boots back and forth on the ground, creating grooves in the snow. “Cloven also told me the stones can only be removed from the Cerberus after it’s dead, that the stone is buried beneath their belly fur. I was only hoping they’d have one from a Cerberus who had already died. I can’t believe they thought I’d kill Capria for her stone!”
“They obviously have reason to doubt wizards. I’ve heard visits to their caves are strictly controlled.” Sliding his pack off his back, he lowered it to the ground. “What are we going to do?”
I liked that he used “we,” but I was really on my own. Donovan was the best, most welcome companion, and I’d always be grateful I had this time to be with him again, but he was only partly here. And I didn’t dare keep him for very long. He was lying on his bed, hidden away at the Academy. He’d need to eat, drink, move around.
It was wrong of me to cling to him.
“One idea,” he said. “We could sneak back in, look around, see if we can find a stone somewhere else in the cave.”
“Do you know what they look like?” I didn’t.
He shook his head.
“Then going back into the cave isn’t an option. We barely escaped this time. The Cerberus parent will kill us if we try again. Assuming you can die in this form.”
He shrugged. “Probably not.”
“Any other id—” Movement in the woods between us and the cave made me freeze. Dread slid down my spine, and my heart skipped a beat. Had the Cerberus parent left the cave? If they hunted me, I’d be dead within minutes. I couldn’t flit, and I couldn’t run forever.
Donovan frowned, staring toward where I’d heard the sound.
A plaintive bleat echoed in the woods, and I jumped to my feet.
“Capria,” I whispered. She shouldn’t have left the cave. It wasn’t any safer out here for her than it was for me.
She erupted from the woods and skidded to a stop, sliding forward a few feet. Seeing me, she huffed and lumbered closer to drop her middle head onto my lap. A mournful sigh slid from her lungs.
“She must’ve snuck out of the cave,” I said. “Is that what you did, sweetie?” I scratched her ears and her tail wagged. But it was only a half-hearted quiver. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe, and your parents are going to be angry.” Not with her but with me. They’d assume I lured her out here, maybe even to harm her.
Standing, I walked around her and started for the cave. “Come on. I’ll take you back.” At least to the entrance. I could push her inside and tell her to go back to her family. Hopefully she’d do better with that than she had when she’d followed me to the Academy.
When she grumbled, I turned to face her. “What?”
Her heads swooped toward a narrow path that looked as if it led parallel to the cliff and away from the main cave system.
Scampering around behind me, she bumped my backside, sending me stumbling toward the new path.
“You want us to go in that direction?” I asked.
“Is this a good idea?” Donovan asked, scratching the back of his neck. He picked up his pack and shouldered it. “You were right to be worried about her parents. I don’t know what they’d do to me, but you…”
Best not to go there.
After nudging me again, Capria headed down the path, her stomping feet sending clumps of snow flicking up behind her. Stopping, she turned and bleated, then her heads swayed toward the path.
“Anything big on our agenda for the day?” I asked.
His arms splayed wide. “A dragon bone?”
“Ha-ha.” Not really, but he was making an effort to cheer me up. The least I could do was play along.
Capria led us down the path that opened to the left of the cave entrance. She ran beside the cliffside and stopped when she came to a smaller opening hidden behind a cluster of evergreens.
I peered at Donovan before following her inside, wondering what he thought of this. “Keep going?”
“Like you said, you don’t have much choice. Might as well see what she wants to show you and decide from there.”
I generated my elemental magic-fed finger light and stepped inside the dark opening, my feet crunching on long-dead sticks.
Capria plodded ahead of me, not looking back, as if she’d assumed I’d remain behind her, not stand outside the cave, hesitating.
Much smaller, this tunnel was narrower than the other, with drippy stone walls crowding us on all sides. Capria, stouter than me, barely fit.
We traveled inside a few minutes, my light creating shadows that made me jolt periodically, worried the Cerberus parent had found me. Underneath our feet, small things shifted. Sticks? Or bones?
I shuddered and chose not to direct my light that way.
“Still in?” Donovan asked, his voice echoing around us.
“Yup.” Curiosity had shoved aside my unease, making me eager to see where Capria was leading me. Was this about playing or something more intriguing?
Slowly advancing downhill, we remained behind Capria, the passage encroaching on us the farther we walked.
A sharp dip downward was followed by a level area and, at the end, an even narrower opening.
Capria scooched down and squeezed through the slit, popping through to the other side.
Donovan didn’t even need to ask.
“Yup,” I said. “Still in this. You?”
“Where you go, I follow.”
Nice. Maybe someday, we’d travel a road together with him fully knowing me and no need for dreamwalking.
Stooping down, I slid sideways through the narrow opening, wondering how in the world Capria had fit. I edged along with my hands outstretched at my sides, my lungs struggling to expand, though the walls didn’t crowd in that closely. It only felt that way. I’d never been claustrophobic, but I could see why others hated tight spaces.
Capria bleated, encouraging me to keep going.
Filtered light appeared ahead, leading me to believe I was approaching an opening. Maybe a small cave. I hoped so. If I remained in the slim channel much longer, I was going to freak out.
The light grew brighter as I shuffled sideways. I burst from the narrow space, my breathing and heartrate faster than they should be after a short walk.
Capria stood in the center of a decent-sized cave. On the side opposite from me, a glistening silver waterfall trickled down the wall, a mass of ice crystals. The water gathered at the bottom in a wide pool that had frozen across except for where the trickle of water entered.
Vines bare of leaves clung to the walls around me, hibernating for winter. It was difficult to tell, but I didn’t believe they were nightlace.
A smooth, rocky surface extended beneath my feet, toward the pool, creamy brown marble flecked with gold and silver.
And in the center of the room, a pedestal waited with what looked like a stone bowl on the top, emerging from the pedestal itself.
Capria stood partway inside the room. Seeing me hovering near the sliced opening in the wall, she huffed and nudged one of her heads toward the pedestal as if calling me closer.
I turned to see what Donovan thought of all this, but he wasn’t behind me.
Squeezing back into the wall with my heart on fire, I called to him. “Donovan?”
No answer.
I shuffled sideways, panic rising inside me like a tsunami. Where was he? I could swear he’d been with me, that he’d exited the channel right behind me.
With my throat tight, I burst from the narrow passage, into the cave tunnel, and pulled light.
“Donovan!”
I ran through the tunnel, my boots thudding on the stone. Had the Cerberus parents discovered and taken him?
No. Wait. They wouldn’t be able to hurt him. He was a dreamwalker, here but not truly here.
When I reached the entrance, I stumbled outside and looked around frantically. Nothing moved. No one moved.
No Donovan.
Somehow, while I’d been inside, the sun had risen above the tree line, bright and cheerful.
But ice had solidified inside me.
“Donovan?”
There was no reply.
Chapter 33
Alex appeared just beyond the end of my nose. “There you are! I looked for you here and there and—”
“Life’s not good right now,” I croaked out. “I’m not sure I’m up for a conversation.” Or obtuse clues that would lead me nowhere.
His buggy lips drooped. “You’re sad. I get it. But things are going to be okay.”
“I barely…” My throat choked off. “He was here, but we were traveling, busy, stressing about the hike, about how I’d find a cupla stone, and—”
“It’s nearer than you think.”
I shook my head, dismissing his words. Yeah, stones were near. There was a cave full of Cerberus behind me, each with a stone in their belly. But the stone I needed might as well be on Pluto. “I also have to find a dragon bone.”
Donovan and I were supposed to have tonight. I’d planned it all out in my mind. We’d sit by a fire and share what we’d been up to over the past couple months.
We’d be together.
The knot in my belly scrunched tight. “Was having one single second with him where we weren’t in a life or death situation too much to ask?” I belted out.
While we couldn’t hold hands or kiss or whatever, we would’ve had something to cling to.
Because…sometimes I worried I’d never figure this out. That ten years from now, he’d still be bespelled and I’d only be a Level Three Unraveler. It killed me that I might never free him, might never again see recognition for me in his eyes.
“Hanging o
ut together is overrated,” Alex intoned.
The pain inside me wouldn’t let go. It just grew sharper. “I didn’t have enough time with him.” There would never be enough time with him.
“Time…” Alex dropped down onto a boulder beside me, and his wings settled at his sides. “Time’s fleeting.”
My lips thinned. “That sounds like a cliché.”
“No matter how hard you try to hold onto it, time slips away. One second, you’re thinking you have tomorrow, only to find you barely have today.”
Dropping to my knees, I settled back on my butt, not caring that the cold sank through my clothing, reaching for my bones. “Alex.”
“What?”
I sighed and kept my mouth closed. He was my friend, and I didn’t see him nearly enough. The last thing I wanted to do was suggest I didn’t have the heart to listen when he was with me. I swiped my hair off my face and pushed for a smile. It came out weak, but it was better than nothing.
“You don’t need to worry about the boy,” Alex said. “He’s no longer dreamwalking.”
Hearing he was okay helped ease my overwhelming fear. But the feeling was replaced with sorrow.
The potion must’ve worn off. Waking, he’d probably thought he’d laid down for a nap. He’d gotten up and gone to the cafeteria or library.
He’d forgotten me already.
My shoulders curled forward, sheltering my heart, but it was too late. It had already shattered.
“The boy was called back by a Bespeller,” Alex said.
Ugh. Awesome. What now? “His brother’s visiting again?” Wasn’t that lovely. I imagined the king had stopped by to check on the spell, to make sure it remained in full force.
Even if I somehow broke through, he’d tighten the noose all over again.
Alex’s tiny feet shifted on the stone, and his wings fluttered briefly before flopping on either side of his body. “Brother?”
“The king.”
“Oh, him. Didn’t know about the connection, but I guess it’s obvious. The nose. The way the boy tilts his head. Should’ve seen it myself.”
“I didn’t mean that.”
“Then what did you mean?” In the past, Alex’s voice would’ve shouted the words like a challenge. Now they came out in a defeated whimper.
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