A Way between Worlds

by Melanie Crowder

  Ness recoiled and Fi turned her back on the greenwitch. She’d crawl through the wildlands before she took help from her. Fi focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Nobody was going to sling her over their shoulder again, not if it took every last bit of strength she had to keep herself upright.

  Instead of marching in a line, the resistance fighters spread themselves thin. Leaves ducked away from their footfalls and the groundcover sprang back after each step. If the soldiers came looking, they wouldn’t find a single trail leading to the outpost deep in the wildlands.

  They walked for hours before Ness tried again, this time with a handful of snacks and some water as a peace offering. “I am sorry,” she said. “I had no right to do that. Much as being on Somni changed you, living for decades on Caligo changed me too. It’s no excuse, but I haven’t often been confronted with something like, well, you.”

  Fi accepted the food and water grudgingly. “What happened back at the fort, anyway? Are the greenwitches okay?”

  “We couldn’t stay to find out. They’ll meet up with us as soon as they’re able.” Ness tried a smile. “Don’t underestimate them. They have been waiting a long time for this.”

  Fi coughed into her fist, the smoke still working its way out of her lungs. “Where are we going?”

  “To the resistance outpost, deep in the wildlands.”

  Of course. Fi had never been to the outpost. Most of her childhood had been spent in hiding with Aunt Ada. And the Vineans she’d lived with on Somni—Liv and Eb—they’d never talked about it. Then again, they hadn’t talked about much from home. It was easier being stuck on Somni if you didn’t think too hard about what you’d left behind.

  They walked until the sun dropped below the canopy, until there was nothing to show the way except moonlight glinting off waxy ribwort leaves. They walked until the thickets and meadows and jungle vines all blended together. They forded lime-green rivers, the water reaching up to Fi’s ribs, unseen aquatic plants snaking aside to let them pass. They walked until the sky behind them began to gleam a pale gold. They walked until Fi was sure she’d collapse again, this time from exhaustion.

  All through the long journey, Fi could feel the fiery edge of the wildlands just out of reach, the boundary between the scorched land held by the soldiers and the last of the green. It stretched from the fort into the very heart of Vinea, a constant reminder of how close the invaders were.

  Fi let her eyes drift closed and the green rose up, in beads of pure life coursing through the plants all around her. It seemed to all flow in one steady direction, leading the way forward. Without opening her eyes, she continued forward, more sure of her footing than she had been before. Fi lost track of the hours, and the people all around her, and the reason for the long journey.

  And then, seemingly out of nowhere, “Fionna?”

  Her eyes snapped open. Fi stopped so suddenly she nearly toppled over. A woman stood at the edge of a secluded glade, her face in shadow. Fi gasped. Was she dreaming? Had she fallen asleep standing up?

  “Aunt Ada?”

  Her aunt was just as Fi remembered her, and yet not. The grief had worn away, and hard lines had taken its place. Her yellow hair was trimmed blunt beneath her earlobes. And she carried herself differently—not the hunched, frail frame of someone in hiding, but the bowstrung strength of a person who has taught her body to fight back.

  Fi ran across the glade and flung herself into her aunt’s arms. Her breath wavered, her throat closing over anything she might have said. She dropped her head against Ada’s shoulder, the struggle to keep herself upright all through the long night draining out of her.

  Ada released her grip, tucking the ragged ends of Fi’s hair behind her ears. “We’ve been waiting and waiting for you to come home.” She cinched her arm around Fi’s ribs, drawing her deeper into the wood. “You must be exhausted.”

  The others fell back as Ada led Fi toward a wall of rust-colored brush. Towering trees rose from foliage so thick it seemed impassible. Fi ducked under a curtain of dripping moss, then scrambled over a rotting log. When she slid over the other side, the ground dropped off abruptly. Fi stumbled away from the edge, pinwheeling her arms to regain her balance. Vines stretched across the top of a broad hollow, masking its true floor beneath. She couldn’t see a single person down there, not with her eyes open. But when she closed them, the green revealed false walls and temporary roofs hiding the resistance members below. It was the outpost, hidden in plain sight.

  They descended ledges cut into the dirt, following the slope gradually downward. The ceiling of broad-leafed lichens and fern fronds let the sunlight through in spears that struck the cavern floor like spotlights. When they reached the ground, Ada led Fi and the others to a narrow room with a long table stretching through its center.

  “Sit and eat. Let me try to answer what I’m sure are a million questions shaking loose in that head of yours.” Ada sat beside Fi, one arm around her waist, the other reaching to draw platters and pitchers close. She waited until Fi had begun to eat before continuing.

  “There are things I could have told you before you left for Somni, things maybe I should have. The truth is, I thought you’d be safer if you didn’t know all of it.” Shadows played over Aunt Ada’s face, deepening the wrinkles around her eyes and along the flat planes of her cheeks. “You should begin to feel it soon.”

  “Feel what?”

  Aunt Ada sent a reproachful look over her shoulder in Ness’s direction.

  “We didn’t have time—we had to cut her training short.”

  Ada nodded. “Fionna, a greenwitch can learn to see the green before her at all times, to feel it thrumming through her veins, and to hear it as clearly as you hear me speaking now. You learned a little about this on Caligo?”

  “Yes.”

  “But here, on Vinea, the green will come looking for you, too. It chooses how strong your power will be, and how it will move through you. Any training you may have been given on that other world was only so you would know how it feels when the power rushes into you—so it wouldn’t paralyze you the first time it happened.”

  Fi frowned. “You think the green will come looking for me?”

  “We do. One greenwitch serves as the direct conduit between us and the green. Your great-aunt Una was the last chosen. Before she died, she was given a vision of the one who would come next, the one who could save us all when things looked darkest.” Ada interlaced her fingers over one knee and leaned back. “It was you she saw, Fi.”

  A buzz like a cloud of insects swarmed Fi’s head. “But I barely know what I’m doing. And my veins don’t even glow right.”

  Ada offered a small smile while she waited for the next volley of questions from her niece.

  “I don’t understand why you sent me away. If I’d stayed on Vinea, and trained as a greenwitch should, maybe I’d be ready now to fight—maybe I’d be strong enough to really help.”

  Aunt Ada ticked her head to the side. “There were some who didn’t want you to go. But it would have been very dangerous to stay.” She nibbled at her lower lip. “And anyway, Una was adamant that in order for you to come into your strength, you had to leave.”

  The resistance fighters and the other greenwitches had settled into seats at the long table, but they hadn’t begun eating, despite the long day of travel. Each one watched Fi, like they were waiting for miracles to sprout from the roots of her hair or something. Fi dropped her gaze to her lap. She was learning to see the green, and to work with it a little at least. But all that hope on their faces? It was too much. It curdled her stomach like nut milk left out on a warm day.

  She was an excellent spy, and she wasn’t afraid to say so. She was a fighter. She was brave. But magic? Somehow she was supposed to singlehandedly save them all? Fi cringed away from their stares. Impossible. They had the wrong girl.

  16

  FI

  AFTER A HOT bath and a nap that stretched well into the afternoon, Ada led Fi be
yond the outpost to the edge of the wildlands. When Liv saw Fi stroll up with the greenwitches, she gave a short, sharp laugh and clapped her arms around her former charge, lifting her off the ground. She set Fi down again with a grunt and a smile.

  “It’s good to see you, girl.”

  Back on Somni, Liv was always watching Fi like a hawk, handing out orders and monitoring how closely her instructions were followed. Until they stormed the temple, Fi hadn’t known for sure that Liv was a leader in the resistance, though she’d wondered. It was one thing to observe the cunning behind Liv’s directives, but it was another thing entirely to see her surrounded by her commanders and issuing orders like a general.

  Eb had known about the magic dormant inside her, Fi was sure of it. Had Liv known, too? In all that time, she hadn’t dropped a single hint. Fi’s chin began to tremble and she bit down hard. Liv was just being Liv. Doing exactly what was needed to get the resistance to the point where they could fight back. It wasn’t a betrayal, not really.

  So why did Fi suddenly feel so alone?

  She leaned forward, listening while Liv explained to the greenwitches how the soldiers from Earth wore goggles that helped them see like cats at night. It was how they’d so quickly identified the children with magic inside them. They also had long-range weapons that could fire across the barren lands, so an all-out charge was pointless. The resistance had been backpedaling, struggling to adapt to this new enemy. Before the greenwitches’ arrival, they had begun preparing to retreat.

  But now, finally, the resistance had a surprise of its own. The commanders were scrambling to adjust plans and shift fighters. They were pouring everything into the upcoming battle, knowing that if things didn’t go their way, it would be their last.

  The greenwitches left the fighters to their strategy, making for the copse of trees at the top of the hill that marked the edge of the wildlands. Ness beckoned, but Fi hesitated, torn. She still felt like she belonged here, with Liv and the resistance. Maybe someday she’d believe her place was with the greenwitches, but she didn’t, not yet.

  She turned away from Liv, reluctantly following Ness up the hill. When Fi reached the top, she braced herself against the trees and stared out across the smoking soil. Ash drifted off the leaves above, settling in her hair like snow. The soldiers had made a hasty camp, placing a ring of tree trunks shaved to points around the perimeter and setting them deep into the ground.

  The children were trapped inside that camp, likely terrified. Fi could have been one of them, easily. She probably knew some of the girls from her time on Somni. She must have passed them in the rectory, or scrubbed the temple bricks side by side, never knowing that like her, they’d be greenwitches someday.

  “Open yourself to the green,” Ness said, and Fi jerked her attention back to the circle. “Listen for any answer it might send you. The resistance is ready, either for an attack or a retreat. They’re waiting for us to tell them the shape this fight will take.”

  “But Val and the others aren’t back yet. Shouldn’t we wait until all the greenwitches can join together?”

  “Fionna, at some point you’re going to have to trust yourself, and the great potential within you.”

  “Ness, I can’t—”

  “Try.”

  Patience had never come easily to Fi. But she closed her eyes anyway. She tried to listen. She did her best to focus, to shed her frustration, and surrender to whatever would be.

  It didn’t work.

  When her eyes snapped back open, Ness sighed. “The tunnels, then.”

  All around, the greenwitches roused themselves from their meditation, their eyelids dragging upward, blinking reluctantly. They looked from one to the other, their faces grim.

  “What?” Fi asked. “What tunnels?”

  “It’s the best plan we have, without guidance from the green. The scorched trees left craters where their roots used to be. Remember, I told you—all we need is one root hanging on to life. We can work with that. So Earth’s soldiers can see in the dark. Can they see underground, too? We’ll beat them there.

  “On its own, the green can’t rise up and free itself from the soldiers. It needs us for that. And we need it. We’ll follow the green from root system to root system, tunneling beneath that camp, and we will take our children back.”

  “But won’t the soldiers hear the ground moving? Won’t they guess what we’re trying to do?”

  Ness dug her hands into the soil, turning her palms over and letting the dirt spill through her fingers. Fi had never seen her look so unsure of anything. “It’s our best option. We can’t wait any longer. We have to strike now, before the resistance is weakened any further.”

  Fi glanced around the circle. No one argued with Ness’s words. No one offered another option. Instead, they stood and descended the hill to meet the resistance. Before Ness followed, she rested a hand on Fi’s shoulder. “We have to trust in Una’s vision that the green will choose you. Maybe it hasn’t yet. But there’s still time. And if it doesn’t, if we’re wrong, what choice do we have but to try to save this world ourselves the best we know how?”

  Fi watched Ness trudge back down the hill. She hadn’t felt this useless since that awful day when the soldiers attacked the cave where her family had been hiding. A sob broke from her lips. There had to be something she could do. She wasn’t a little kid anymore. She couldn’t still be that helpless.

  Liv. Fi had earned her respect back on Somni. Liv would listen. Fi stumbled down the hill, her tunic flapping behind her. “Liv!” she called. When she drew close, she whispered, “You didn’t let them talk you in to that tunneling idea—”

  Liv clapped Fi on the shoulder without breaking her stride. “It’s already done.”

  “But we’ll never get through the soldiers’ defenses! They’ll know we’re coming once the ground begins moving beneath them.”

  “Fi.” Liv fixed her with a stern look. “I know that the greenwitches’ belief in you isn’t an easy thing to shoulder. But you have a job to do. And you’ve always come through for me when I’ve given you an order, no matter how tricky. This is no different.” With that, Liv strode away to pass word to the rest of her commanders.

  Fi balled her hands into fists. This was different. She’d do anything for the resistance, anything within her power. It was easy enough when she was a spy—all she needed was to be brave, and a little sneaky. But magic? She couldn’t make that happen. If the green didn’t choose her, there was nothing she could do to change that.

  There had to be another way. “Aunt Ada!” Fi dashed to her side. “You have to stop them, please. I’m not ready. I can’t do what they say.”

  But it was already too late. The greenwitches separated, one to the head of each column of attackers waiting at the edge of the wildlands. Their voices filled her head, all talking over one another as they began the attack. Fi’s eyes drifted closed and a groan slid past her lips. Magic swelled in the greenwitches all around her, so strong that she staggered back. Her aunt’s arms closed around her waist, holding her up. The green pulsed at the edges of Fi’s vision, flowing in a steady stream beneath the ground.

  The greenwitches called to the dying trees, snags smoldering in the burned wastelands. With their last bit of life, the trees shifted their roots beneath the soil, tunneling toward the fort. A hole opened in the ground in front of the resistance fighters, dirt spilling like lava out of an eruption. The hole widened, musty air coughing out of the newly formed tunnel entrance. The fighters hesitated, and then they charged into the darkness. Behind Fi, still more fighters shouldered slingshots loaded with explosive sap, covering a third group that charged straight at the gate to distract the soldiers from the rumbling beneath the ground.

  Ada sank to her knees, still cradling her niece, as the green rushed into Fi. It was supposed to be bliss, but all she felt was pain. The searing, singeing, terrible last gasp of life. It consumed her, but no lash of power flowed out of her fingertips. All she could do was watch
helplessly as the Vinean assault broke on the soldier’s camp.

  “The second those kids are safe in the tunnels, light that place up,” Liv shouted.

  But they never got the chance.

  Soldiers sprinted outside the fort, leveling their weapons at the rippling soil, each one pushing a Vinean child in front of him. The column of fighters advancing on the camp halted. They couldn’t attack the soldiers without killing the children.

  The next thing Fi knew, she was thrown backward through the air. A percussive blast hit her ears and the dirt fell away, dropping a trench in the ground. A cloud of dust rose to fill the sky. The tunnel collapsed and the life that had flowed underground—all those resistance fighters—just blinked out.

  Fi screamed. She crawled onto her stomach. Everyone was staring at her—Ness, Liv, the fighters letting their weapons fall to the ground—their faces covered in a mix of confusion, grief, and betrayal.

  They’d all believed she would save them, somehow, in the end. They were wrong.

  17

  GRIFFIN

  THE FENN FAMILY lined up in front of the bull’s-eye leading to Maris. All three wore the spider silk clothing Leónie had given them. Griffin tugged at the ends—it clung a little embarrassingly tight to the skin, and the trailing edges were ridiculous. They were only going to get in the way. But he had to admit, once you got past the whole spider part, it was softer even than the fancy sweater his grandparents had given him for his birthday last year, and not half as cold as he’d thought it would be.

  The Levitator stood to one side of the lens, absently stroking the fuzzy thorax of a silver spider whose long legs wrapped around his arm. He looked nervous. He’d been smug plenty of times, or so unhurried it was infuriating. But nervous? That was new.

  Griffin glowered. “What aren’t you telling us?”