He must not know. I open my mouth, prepared to tell him what happened.
And nothing comes out.
I swallow hard. Papa waits expectantly, concern creasing his brow.
“It was fine,” I hear myself say. Papa doesn’t look convinced, so I add quickly, “Some of the boys were kind of jerks. But I don’t care. I did way better than all of them.”
Papa smiles. “That’s my girl,” he says, and a guilty knot twists in my stomach. I never lie to my father.
I’ve never been ashamed to tell him the truth before.
“We’ll have to celebrate your first day of training,” Papa says. He rises slowly, gripping the edge of the chicken coop for balance and reaching for his cane. “What are we having for dinner?”
“Cod stew again,” I say, wrinkling my nose.
Papa laughs. “Well, there’s no reason we can’t make it a celebration anyway.”
I can think of several very good reasons. Like the fact that I don’t feel like celebrating. Or the fact that I just lied to my father and I don’t know how to take it back.
Abruptly, a terrible thought occurs to me. Papa is friends with the Seekers, especially Larus and Ludvik. What if Papa talks to them about the competition? What if he asks them how I’m doing in training, and they tell him the truth?
“Papa,” I say quickly, “you’re not going to talk to any of the Seekers about the competition, are you?”
He glances down at me and misinterprets my concern. “I’m not going to try to influence their decision, of course. That wouldn’t be fair.”
“But will you talk to them about it at all?”
He frowns, not understanding. “I suppose I might casually check in on how a certain competitor is doing.…”
“Please don’t,” I say quickly. “It’s… No offense, but it’s embarrassing. Nobody else’s parents will be popping in to check up on them. I’m already one of the youngest competitors, and I don’t want them to think of me that way. Like I’m too young to do it by myself and need my papa to watch out for me. I want to do it on my own.”
He studies me for a moment. “All right. If that’s what you want.”
“Thank you.” I swallow down the guilt rising inside me and force a smile. “Can we convince Mama to make bilberry pie for dessert?”
Papa laughs again, resting his free hand on my shoulder. “I suspect we might need to pick some bilberries first.”
“They’re starting to come into season,” I say, putting as much fake cheer into my voice as I can. “I’ve seen a few around.”
“Perhaps we should wait a while, until they’re fully in season,” Papa says. “But I can think of something else we might have to celebrate in three weeks, can’t you?”
I fake-smile again. “I might have something in mind.”
Papa squeezes my shoulder, and I swallow the lump in my throat. He believes in me. Elisa needs me. And I want to be a Seeker more than anything. I have to win that competition, no matter what.
Once I become a Seeker, it won’t matter that I lied.
* * *
Dinner passes in a blur, with Elisa pestering me for details about training and me deflecting her questions. Mama unknowingly helps me out, changing the subject often. She’s still not happy about me competing, though she’d never say so. For tonight, at least, I’m grateful that she wants to talk about something else.
I won’t lie to them forever. Just for now, just until I figure out what I’m going to do. I need something more convincing than what I told Runa. I need a plan, one my parents will approve of. If I can come to them with confidence and a surefire strategy, they won’t worry so much. And I won’t be so ashamed to tell them the truth.
The problem is, I don’t have a surefire strategy. I don’t know exactly what I’m missing at Seeker Agnar’s training session, but I’m sure it involves working with some of our island’s magical creatures and learning the spells that Seekers will need to know. I have no one to teach me the magic. And even though I know a lot about our island’s animals, that knowledge isn’t a replacement for actually working with them. I have no access to anything, not without a dragon that can fly me into the Realm.
I don’t know what I’m going to do.
Mama seems to sense my distraction; she only makes me do half the dishes before letting me loose. I play dolls with Elisa for a couple of minutes, but I’m so unfocused that she grumbles and goes off to play by herself in our bed. Papa has returned to his own bed to rest his leg, and Mama is ever present in the kitchen; there’s nowhere else in our hut to be alone to think. With no other options, I head outside.
“Don’t leave the garden,” Mama calls after me. “It’s almost bedtime. Don’t make me track you down!”
“I won’t,” I call back, trudging over to the garden bench. It’s mostly dark now, and there’s not much to do but sit. I rest my chin in my hands, staring down at our potato plants. My magic might be useful for making these plants grow and connecting with animals, but it isn’t going to help me get over the mountains and into the Realm. Without access to either the Realm or Seeker Agnar’s training sessions, there’s just no way I can work with magical creatures for real.
I reach idly toward the nearest plant with my magic, nudging its life force with mine and watching it grow instantly. I twirl my finger, letting the leaves unfurl.
“Neat trick,” says a voice.
I jump, looking around. A figure walks through our gate. In the darkness, it takes me a long moment to recognize him. Ari. The empath, and my biggest competition.
I frown. Ari and I have barely exchanged two words before now that I can recall, and he’s never visited our hut. His family lives closer to the center of the village, and we don’t cross paths much, even though we’re about the same age.
“What are you doing here?” I ask. It comes out sounding harsher than I intended, and he flinches a little.
“I, um…” He stops, looking down at the potatoes.
This can’t be good. Is he here about what happened in training today? Heat rises in my cheeks. Whether he’s here to mock me or pity me, either is embarrassing. I don’t want that kind of attention. I don’t want to be singled out. Though I suppose it’s too late for that.
“I need to talk to you,” he says finally. “About Seeker training.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” I say. “Unless you can make Seeker Agnar change his mind, I really don’t think you can help me.”
“That’s the thing,” he says quickly. “I can’t make Agnar change his mind. But I do think I can help you.”
I hesitate. Ari knows the other boys in the village as well as I do. He has to know that I’m his biggest rival. He should be thrilled I got kicked out of training. “And why would you want to do that? You’re auditioning too. I’m your competition. Unless you don’t think a girl can be a real challenge?” I glare at him, daring him to say it.
“It’s not that,” he says quickly. “You’d be helping me out too, honestly. It would be… mutually beneficial.”
“What would be beneficial?”
He pauses, glancing in the direction of my hut. “Can your family hear us out here?” he whispers.
My suspicion deepens. “No, we’re too far from the house.” On second thought, I add, “Although they’d hear me if I shout for help.”
Ari keeps his voice low. “You’re not giving up on becoming a Seeker, are you?”
I have to admit I’m surprised. I didn’t think Ari knew me that well. But then again, my stubbornness is probably legendary around here. And maybe he’s using his empathy gift on me somehow, though I don’t really know how that works. “No, of course not.”
“Good,” he says. “I know you need a way to train. And I need someone to help me out with something while I’m at training in the afternoons. So I was thinking… if you can help me, then I’ll help you. Whatever we learn in training that day, I’ll show you. I can teach you the spells and stuff and go over what Seeker Agnar tells
us.”
This offer is way too good to be true. Whatever his motive is, it can’t be beneficial for me.
I rise from the bench, drawing myself up to my full height. “No offense, Ari,” I say. “But I don’t trust you. I don’t think there’s anything I’d want to help you out with. Sorry.”
“Wait,” he says quickly. “You’ll want to hear about this.”
“Just tell me, then. What is it?”
Ari hesitates, casting another glance at my hut before speaking. “I have a dragon,” he says. “And I need you to help me hide it.”
SIX
It takes me a second to find my voice. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
“I—” I don’t believe him. It can’t be possible. “Where exactly did you find a dragon?” It’s not like they just wander around the village. While they’re free to fly in and out of the Realm, the Seekers use their boundary spells to prevent them from entering the village and surrounding bay, both to keep the villagers safe from dragons and to keep dragons safe from the villagers. They might pass overhead on their way to the sea, but they don’t land.
Ari seems to shrivel a little in the face of my disbelief. “I hatched it.”
“You what?”
He sighs. “It was in an egg. I found the egg and tried to keep it safe, and a few days later it hatched. And now there’s a baby dragon.”
“Why didn’t you report it to the Seekers? It should be in the Realm.”
“I know, but…” Ari glances toward my hut. “Look, it’s a long story, and that’s not really the point. The point is, there’s a baby dragon that isn’t in the Realm, and you and I are the only ones who know about it. I need someone to help me look after it, especially while I’m at Seeker training every day. And you need a way to practice dealing with dragons if you’re going to train for the competition. So we can help each other out.”
My head is spinning. It feels like this has to be some kind of joke. How is it that Ari just so happens to have a dragon? I don’t know whether to believe him.
“I know you don’t believe me,” he says. “I swear I’m telling the truth. Just… come with me. See it for yourself.”
“I can’t right now. My parents won’t let me stay out this late.”
“Can you sneak out?”
I hesitate. This is probably a terrible idea.
But if there really is a dragon…
“I’ll try. Where should I meet you?”
He tilts his head in the direction of Runa’s. “How about the farm on the other side of the hill? It’s out that way, and no one will see us there at night.”
I nod. “Okay. I’ll meet you at the sheep pasture as soon as I can sneak away.”
“Okay.” He pauses. “Er, thanks, Bryn.”
“Ari?” I say as he turns to walk away. “You’d better not be making this up.”
It’s kind of hard to see in the dark, but I’m pretty sure he smiles. “You’ll see.”
He crosses the garden in a few quick strides, vaults over the gate, and melts into the shadows beyond.
* * *
Sneaking out is harder than I thought.
I curl up in bed and close my eyes, pretending to sleep, while I wait for the rest of my family to doze off. But Mama spends ages in the kitchen after tucking me and Elisa in, and my sister keeps waking up coughing. She tosses and turns beside me in the bed we share, her breathing labored. In the bed across the room, Papa snores loudly.
Finally, after what must have been an eternity, Mama enters the sleeping area. I close my eyes quickly, the light of her candle dancing before my lids. Mama’s footsteps are soft as she approaches our bed, checking on us, and I try to lie as still as I can.
A blanket rustles as Mama slides it higher over Elisa’s shoulders. Finally, her footsteps sound again, and the flickering candlelight retreats.
I count to one hundred in my head, hoping Mama will fall asleep quickly. Papa’s snoring deepens, and Elisa has finally quieted beside me. I think it’s safe.
I slip slowly from bed, making sure not to disturb Elisa. The dirt floor is cool under my feet, and I shiver as I tiptoe across the sleeping area. I don’t dare glance over at Mama and Papa. I grab a coat from the clothesline—it’s impossible to tell whose coat it is in the dark—and creep into the kitchen.
The door creaks loudly as it opens, and I freeze, holding my breath. When I don’t hear anything, I slip out through the crack and slowly pull the door closed behind me.
The moonlight guides me through the garden as I shrug on the coat, which turns out to be one of Mama’s, and it trails down to my knees. I tuck my braids into the coat’s hood and yank it up over my head, both to keep out the chill and to keep anyone I might pass from recognizing me.
Now I run.
As I crest the hill, it’s clear I don’t need to worry about being recognized. No one is outside, at least not out here. There are no boats out on the water, no villagers walking the paths, no sign of anyone at all. Runa’s farm stretches out below me, dark and quiet.
I reach the sheep pasture and jump the fence. Mama’s coat snags on the top of the post, and I carefully tug it free, my breath clouding the air as the wind picks up.
“Bryn? Is that you?” a voice whispers behind me.
I turn. Ari strides toward me, his black clothing blending so well with the darkness that I didn’t even see him in the pasture.
“Good thing it’s me,” I whisper back. “If it wasn’t, you just gave away the fact that I’m meeting you here.”
“Sorry. I couldn’t tell…”
I drop my hood, revealing my face. “So where’s this dragon of yours?”
“This way. Come on.”
We run along the edge of the pasture, keeping our distance from the sheep. Yellow light dances across Ari’s fingertips as he uses his gift, and I call on my gift as well to help illuminate the night. After a few miles, we reach the end of the fields and the dirt lane gives out, disappearing into the undergrowth. We’re on the far side of the bay now, and no one ever bothered clearing a path this far. Water stretches to the south and east. The highlands of the Wild Realm lie to the north. But to the west…
A tiny sliver of rocky beach is nestled against the side of the cliffs. It looks closer than it actually is—we have to pick our way through the overgrown brush for what must be ten more minutes before we finally reach it, the soil underfoot gradually giving way to solid rock. The crashing of the sea and the wind in our ears are the only sounds.
“How much farther?” I ask.
“Nearly there,” Ari huffs, slowing his pace. “See those caves up there?” He points at the cliffs.
“Um, no.” I cross my arms over my chest. “If this is some kind of trick—”
“Reach out with your gift,” he says. “Can’t you feel her?”
My magic is like a second pulse under my skin, flowing through my body with every beat of my heart. It’s always there, but it usually lies dormant until I reach for it. Like I do now. I concentrate on that second pulse, on the feel of the current in my blood, and push it outward. A green light, the color as soft as leaves on a spring day, emanates from my hands as I release the magic from them.
Instantly I sense the other life forces surrounding me. This is my specialty as a naturalist—to detect and interact with the magic of other living things—and nowhere is it more exhilarating than out in the wild. There’s so much life everywhere, in the trees and the bushes and the birds, the insects and the undergrowth and the—
Oh. Now I feel it.
A massive spark of energy, bigger than anything I’ve ever felt before, is thrumming somewhere ahead of us. It’s so overwhelmingly bright that I pull away from it, tugging my magic back. Tentatively, I release the tiniest tendril of my gift, letting it sense the presence of whatever-it-is and guide me forward.
I sense some magic emanating from Ari, too, though his feels funny—I’m not used to sensing empathy gifts. He must be using his magic
to feel the whatever-it-is too. Without speaking, we move forward in the same direction.
Once we get closer to the cliffs, I begin to understand. The rock wall is studded with ledges of varying heights, some easily wide enough to walk on. It isn’t hard to climb from one ledge to the next and walk along the sides of the rock until, about halfway up, we reach the caves.
“Not that one,” Ari says unnecessarily as we pass the first small cave. The strong, bright energy is still somewhere ahead of us.
We ascend another ledge and discover another cave entrance, this one much, much wider and taller. Big enough to fit… a dragon.
Inside the cave, it’s mostly just empty space, stretching out into the darkness. The spark of energy feels even stronger as we get closer, becoming impossible to miss. “Where—”
Ari whistles three high, clear notes, and the darkness moves.
Ari and I duck as something massive bursts from the ledge above our heads and barrels toward us. I raise my hands to call on my gift, filling the cave with green light.
Hovering over us, suspended ten feet in the air, is the most beautiful dragon I have ever seen.
She’s clearly not fully grown, but already she’s as tall as a horse and twice as long. Silver, pearlescent scales, some easily as big as my hand, cover all of her body except her wings, which are light and thin like a bat’s. A row of pointy spines runs from her neck to the tip of her long tail. Her head is massive, with a pointed snout and two big, gleaming yellow eyes. Each of her four feet ends in five taloned toes, every claw sharp and curved.
With a few slow beats of her wings, the dragon descends, landing about thirty feet away from us. Her scales shimmer, and her eyes are bright. Her life force is a big, burning flame of energy as it brushes against my gift, so strong that simply being near it almost knocks me off my feet.
“This is her,” Ari says unnecessarily.
“She’s so—”
But before I can say the word “beautiful,” the dragon lowers her head, opens her mouth wide to reveal rows of massive, pointed teeth, and charges right at us.
Seekers of the Wild Realm Page 5