by D. N. Hoxa
What if they killed everyone and left me for dead, too?
I desperately wanted to talk to Hiss, to gather some courage from his words, but he was nowhere to be seen. And I was done waiting.
I didn’t tell anyone that I was leaving. I slipped out of the circus grounds while it was still daylight. I needed something to do and a way to get my mind off the coming fight before I lost it. And I knew exactly where to go to do that.
I found Manun’s Waterfall within minutes. The Shade must have sensed the state I was in, and it indulged me. The sight of it took my breath away just as fast as the first time, and while I watched the two-headed giant spilling water from its mouths, my mind was free of doubt, as if by magic.
Letting go of a long breath, I made my way down the hill and toward the pear tree. It never bore fruit anymore. I’d eaten the most delicious pear off its branches once. Now, even though I would have loved to taste it again, it gave me nothing.
Taking off my shoes and jacket, I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and sat on the grass near the water. The silence should have been strange, as it was the first time, but not anymore. I was used to watching the water falling without making a single sound. Maybe my ears weren’t worthy of it. I had the feeling that it would sound just as majestic as it looked.
I touched the water with my fingertips and enjoyed the feel of it for a while. There was no time, I knew that, but my mind was so calm right now. So peaceful. I needed this more than anything else.
I needed it because it reminded me of Mace.
My thoughts drifted his way, and I wondered where he was, what he was doing. I wondered if he remembered me—what had really happened. I wondered if he missed me the way I missed him, if his heart ached at the thought of me.
Eventually, I shot out my magic into the water and asked the Shade, and Manun, for the Seer Eye. It didn’t take long before the glass box touched my fingers, coming up from somewhere deep. I grabbed it in my hands and brought it closer to me to inspect it. It looked exactly like the last time I’d seen it—an eye with two pupils, suspended in the middle of a glass cube by tiny silver needles.
Hiss had gone away to try to find out how to make use of this, and it had been foolish not to wait for him before coming here, but I was here now. Regret wasn’t going to change that. And I had no idea what to do with the Eye, or what it did by itself. I just held it against my chest, closed my eyes, and I spoke to it in my mind. I asked it to show me the future.
How ridiculous that sounded. Nobody could truly tell you the future.
Yet here I was, hoping for a glimpse into what lay ahead of me.
I thought about failure since I’d come back to the living in this very Waterfall. I thought I would be prepared for whatever the Seer Eye would show me—if it showed me anything.
I wasn’t.
My thoughts were with Mace, in Gaena, and I dreamed of a life that could never be reality. We were free in that life, Mace and I. We were together. The world wasn’t falling apart.
And it was beautiful.
Hours must have passed while I sat there, holding the eye to my chest, smiling to myself at memories that had never happened. Then, my mind darkened.
It came out of nowhere, the darkness, and it was foreign. It came from the outside and slipped into my thoughts, dimming them little by little until it overran them all completely.
When the picture of a face I knew as well as my own popped in front of me, my eyes opened. They opened, but I didn’t see the Waterfall or the water falling in the pool. I didn’t see anything but my brother.
He was still the same as the last time I saw him, thick silver hair, darker than most of our kind, falling in waves around his head. His wide eyes, fair skin, and his lips as red as strawberries made him to my eyes the most beautiful elf that the gods had ever created.
But there was no beauty in him now. His silver eyes were wide open, and his lips were parted, almost blue in color. Through the corner of his mouth slipped dark red blood.
Elid couldn’t breathe. I could hear the sound of metal clashing with metal, of heavy things falling to the ground, screams—but I couldn’t hear him at all. He moved his lips, but his words were lost, and he didn’t see me like I saw him. He only looked at the sky as the light left his once bright eyes.
He was dying.
My entire body was frozen. Elid was dying and there was nothing I could do about it.
The shock must have gotten me up to my feet before I realized it. When the waterfall was in front of me again, my mind was still consumed with the image of Elid taking in his last breath. My magic attacked my own heart, wanting it to stop beating as much as my mind did. If something happened to Elid, what sense would there be to life?
I looked down at my empty hands. Tears blurred my vision as they rushed out, and for a moment, I thought the Seer Eye had disappeared. I must have dropped it when I’d stood because it was there, on the grass next to the water.
“You liar,” I spit, as if the Eye could hear me. My body moved on its own accord, and I kicked it with all my strength. I didn’t think about breaking it—I just wanted it out of my sight. It was a liar. Elid was okay, and I told myself that while the box sank in Manun’s pool. There was no reason to panic. Elid knew how to fight. He’d fought so many battles already, and he knew exactly what he was doing. He was my father’s son. I trusted him.
But his face in front of my eyes didn’t disappear.
Putting on my sneakers and my jacket again, I started to run up the hill, desperate to get away from Manun’s Waterfall now. It had been a mistake coming here. Damn my impatience. Whatever made me think that I had the strength to endure a glimpse of the future if it looked like that?!
The Shade had never felt more foreign. My feet slammed on the asphalt, but I couldn’t think of the Circus grounds for the life of me. I couldn’t tell the Shade where to take me—I just ran. My heart beat, but I couldn’t feel it. All I could feel was the desperation to see my brother.
I just needed to see him, make sure he was okay, that’s all. Just a quick peek and I would be fine. I’d fight an army all by myself then. But I needed to see first.
And that was probably why the Shade had brought me to the brand-new building of the Guild’s Protection Unit. To the Gateway.
“What are you doing?” I whispered to myself, and for once, I had an answer.
I was going back to Gaena.
Chapter 20
Chapter
* * *
Mace
* * *
When I woke up this time, I didn’t expect to be in my room in the Winter kingdom or in the Shade castle. I remembered exactly how I’d come to pass out. Something had hit me from behind, and I hadn’t even heard anything moving. My brother Arin had found me. He and his soldiers had found Storm.
I’d been in the woods then.
I wasn’t in the woods now.
I was in the back yard of a house. There wasn’t much in it except junk, broken pieces of wood, and overgrown grass. The fence was high enough that I couldn’t see anything past it, and my arms were tied tightly behind me. They were completely numb. The sun fell on my face, too, and that’s why I was already sweating everywhere. But at least my leg had all but healed.
“He’s up,” said the voice of a man, and a door opened to my right before someone came outside in a rush. Two someones.
The Summer fae thieves.
With a sigh, I lowered my head. Here I was, thinking that my brother’s soldiers somehow got to me, but I should have realized it would be the thieves. It was impressive that they’d made it out of the Shade without at least ending up in jail, but here they were. Showered and dressed in fresh clothes. They looked even younger now. Without all the dirt and dust on them, I barely recognized them.
But I recognized the knives in their hands.
“Make one wrong move, and you’re dead, snowman,” the first said, showing me both his knife and his other empty hand. That’s where his magic would
come at me from.
“Slow down, fellas. That was a hell of a hit. What did you hit me with? My head’s still pounding,” I lied, hoping to get them to talk a little bit so I could distract them.
“Where is it?” the other asked, kicking my good foot for good measure. “Where’s the box?”
I grinned. “The box itself is in the woods somewhere. But what was in it once is now…someplace else.” Hidden under Storm’s saddle.
How could I have forgotten?
“Where?!” both of them barked at me, and the one who’d kicked me on the foot, tried to do it again. When I moved my foot away, he almost fell on his ass. I’d never seen a more clumsy fae.
“You do know that it’s not nice to steal, right? Especially from a Shade,” I reminded them, squinting my eyes against the scorching hot sun. It wouldn’t let me see very well. I couldn’t see where my sword was or what else I could use for weapons to knock these two kids out. My magic was already freezing the rope they’d put around me. Soon, it would be easy to break it apart, and then I’d react.
The problem was, I had no idea who else was in the house at my back.
“Mind your damn business,” the first said.
“Just kill him, Milo,” said his friend. He was really hurt that I didn’t let him kick me a second time.
“Hold on a minute, Milo,” I said with a smile. “We’re all fae here. We can be civil. Why don’t you tell me what that thing is and why you need it? Maybe we can negotiate.”
Milo and his friend looked at one another.
Then, they both moved at the same time. Milo grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head up, while his friend brought his hand and his knife to my throat.
“Where is it? I won’t ask you again,” Milo spit, his saliva showering my face.
“Easy,” I breathed. The ropes around my wrists were almost frozen, but if they kept this up, I would have no choice but to hurt them. I didn’t want to do that. They were just kids.
“Where is—” the heat that came off the hand of Milo’s friend burned my skin.
“I don’t have it!” I shouted, and the rope holding my arms back broke like a piece of ice. If they could tell, they didn’t move away. I slammed my forehead on Milo’s nose first. His friend’s knife cut a clean line up to my jaw, but it wasn’t too much damage. My skin would heal. Milo fell back with a scream, and his knife dropped to the ground. His friend panicked and backed away, giving me enough time to get all that rope they’d tied me with off me. They’d used a lot of it.
Once I was free, I stood up.
“Stand back!” the friend shouted, showing me his knife.
“He broke my nose!” Milo complained, pointing his bloody finger at me.
“Look here, boys. I don’t want any trouble, okay?”
“You can’t kill us. They’ll find you! You can’t escape!” the friend said.
“Shut up, Hector!”
I raised up my hands to show them that I was unarmed. “I’m not going to kill anyone,” I said, a new plan forming in my mind. It actually excited me.
These two were thieves. If they’d received any training for fighting, they’d already forgotten it. They snuck inside the Shade, into that cave, and dug out that old box all by themselves.
They were exactly the type of people I needed to help me get into Talice again.
“I’m sorry that I took that box from you, but if you tell me what it was, maybe we can work something out. What do you say?”
The boys only stared at me for the longest moment. Milo’s nose no longer even bled, but he held onto it anyway.
“We don’t know what it is,” Hector finally blurted.
“We don’t care,” said Milo.
I narrowed my brows. “So why did you steal it?”
“Because there’s a price for it. Whoever brings it in gets a huge reward. I’m talking gold coins by the buckets,” Milo explained. “Every thief in Gaena has heard of it.”
“Brings it in where? Who’s offering the reward?” I asked, and I already had the feeling that I wouldn’t like what I was told.
“Your prince,” Hector spit. “A Winter prince.”
I was wrong. I hated it. The image of my brother Ethonas took over my vision. This was his doing. He’d put out that reward, I was sure of it.
Why? What was that white ball covered in hay?
Suddenly, the thought of a talking white horse popped into my head. What was it that the spirit had said? Something about a Stone of Creation…
My stomach fell. I turned my back to the boys for a moment to get my head together. Could it be that that small white ball was the Stone she’d been talking about?
Why was Ethonas after it?
When I turned to the boys again, I found them exactly as I’d left them.
“We need that box,” Milo said, trying to sound brave, but his voice shook terribly. “We need it, do you understand? We’ve been searching for it for days, and we dug it out!”
“I understand that, boys,” I said, walking closer to them, but they immediately stepped back. “But I really don’t have it anymore. What I can do is find it, though. I know where it is, and I can find it. When I do, you two can take me to the prince, and we can split the winnings among us. What do you say?”
The boys were very confused. They didn’t know whether to believe me or not, but what did they have to lose? It was obvious that they weren’t from here. Whoever this house we were in belonged to, they were going to be back soon.
And I needed them to say yes. They could hide me better than I could hide myself. They were Summer fae. They knew this kingdom better than me, and if they took me to Ethonas, I could kill him with my own hands. I wouldn’t kill Arin, but Ethonas was no brother of mine. He’d hated me since the day I was born, and now, it was finally time to settle things between us once and for all.
“Right, then,” I said, when the boys still stared at me. “Point me toward my sword, and I’ll be out of your way. Good day, boys.” I bowed with a smile and turned to enter the house.
“Wait!” Milo called. “Wait, hold on a minute.”
“We found it. We deserve the earnings,” Hector said.
“And I agree. Come with me, and let’s go get it back. You can have every bucket of coins the prince gives us for it.” A lie. If I knew Ethonas—and I did—the only reward he’d give to a thief was death.
“You better not lie to us, mister,” Milo said. “Or we’ll kill you.”
“We will,” Hector confirmed with a solemn nod.
I was tempted to laugh, but I managed to stop before they noticed. “Understood. Shall we?”
The boys followed me into the house.
Chapter 21
Chapter
* * *
Elo
* * *
“Pain Seeker.”
The voice didn’t even make me turn. Hiss had found me, no surprise there. My feet were stuck to the asphalt right across the street from the new Guild Protection Unit. Its fences were higher, the building was reinforced with iron and probably a dozen spells that would hit me from all sides at once.
How would I get in there?
“Elo, talk to me,” Hiss said, making his way up my leg like he always did. He slipped under my baggy jacket and wrapped himself all around me until his head came over my shoulder. “What is it?”
“Elid,” I breathed. “I saw him dying. I need to go back.”
“Step back,” Hiss said. “Slowly.”
“No.”
“Now, Pain Seeker. Toward the cafe on your right. Step back.” There was an authority in his voice that I had never heard before. I found it impossible to disobey. I turned right and walked toward the tables on the sidewalk right outside a small cafe, the only one in that street. I didn’t see where I was going; I just let my feet guide me.
“Tell me,” Hiss demanded.
“I went to the Eye. I asked it to show me the future. It showed me Elid. Blood was coming out of his mouth. There was
no more light in his eyes. He was dying. I saw it as clearly as I see you.” Even my voice didn’t sound like my own.
“And why do you care? Elid is the one who poisoned you. He was the one who threw you to the fae,” Hiss demanded. I’d reached the cafe, and only when the lights inside it bothered my eyes did I realize that the sky had turned almost completely dark. How long had I been at the Waterfall?
“He’s my brother,” I reminded Hiss. I didn’t care what he’d done—he was my little brother, and it was my job to take care of him.
“You can’t go to Gaena now, Elo. You know that,” he said.
I stopped at the side of the cafe and looked back at the Guild building.
“I can put them all to sleep.” I could kill them if needed, too.
“And what about the sidhe?”
“I don’t care!” I said, too loudly. “It’s Elid, Hiss. It’s my baby brother.”
“And you truly believe that the Eye showed you truth?” Hiss whispered. “Look at me, Elo. I told you when we came here not to trust anything, not even your own eyes. Do you remember?”
“I remember.”
“The Seer Eye is the eye of Signora Vera’s mate. He was a Seer in life, and she hoped to keep him alive for longer by putting magic in his body parts. It doesn’t mean that an eye alone can tell you the future as it should. Magic still requires a functioning body, a whole body, to work,” Hiss said. “I know you’re upset, but this is no way to handle any situation. The sidhe could be here any minute. You need your mind, and you need it now.”
Yet every time my eyes closed, all I saw was Elid. I needed my mind, but my heart couldn’t be controlled. It still hadn’t stopped galloping in my chest.
“I’m sorry, Hiss,” I whispered. War raged inside me. I saw sense in his words, pure logic, yet I couldn’t accept it. “I’m going back home.”
He was only silent for a short second.
“As you wish, Pain Seeker,” Hiss whispered, and he moved faster than he had before. A blink later, he was on the ground, his back turned to me, and he rushed down the street.