The words had barely left his lips when I saw the coin dissolve in his hand. It evaporated into tiny particles of gold, which spun through the air toward me. I pulled back into Dash’s chest as the golden dust dove through the air toward my hand. I gasped as it hit my skin and a golden tattoo formed around my wrist. The gold particles continued swirling across my skin, as though they were alive, until they finally settled in a solid, crisscrossing design that wrapped around my wrist like a handcuff. My favor had been pronounced, and now I was bound to it.
“What’s inside the chest? How will I know when I’ve found it?”
“The contents are of no concern to you,” the creature replied. “Just bring me what’s inside the chest of Bethalial. The chest is not what you expect, and you will know when you’ve found it.”
“Right.” He was so cryptic it was unhelpful. Was he trying to make it difficult for me to get him the object he wanted? I hoped he knew what he was talking about and I would recognize the chest when I saw it, because he wasn’t giving me a whole lot to go on.
“And how am I supposed to get into the Southern Realm?” I asked
The grin that had covered the nameless one’s face throughout our conversation grew wider still. “The barrier around the Southern Realm was also affected by the Christmas star,” he said. “So, I’m sure you will find a way through.”
I glanced up at Dash, who was staring at the nameless one with hard eyes. He looked like he wanted to argue, but there was nothing we could do. I needed to find the chest and get the object for the creature. Once I did, I would be free of him, and he would tell us how to fix the barrier.
“Come on, let’s go,” I murmured, refusing to look back at the nameless one again.
“I’ll see you soon,” the creature purred.
I hated the promise in his voice, but there was no denying the truth of his words. I would be back, and hopefully, it would be with whatever was in the stupid chest.
I had to take Dash by the hand and pull him hard to get him to leave. Blitz and Vixen were both shooting me worried looks, but thankfully, neither of them started to air their concerns. We were all worried, but I had a feeling that Dash was suffering more than everyone else—even me.
I didn’t have room for worry right now though. I had a new mission and one I had no choice but to accomplish. I was going to find that damn chest, and once I’d handed over its contents to the nameless one, I was going to leave the prison for the last time and never return. That, at least, I would make sure of.
Chapter Seven
It was clear that Dash wasn’t happy about the mission I had been given by the nameless one. He muttered darkly under his breath as we walked back through the searing hot desert to the golden arch that marked the entrance to Incarceror. He didn’t make eye contact with any of us, keeping his gaze locked on the red dirt ahead of him. His whole body was tense, and I kept quiet, fearing that one wrong word would cause him to snap. Vixen and Blitz must have felt the same because we were all silent as we made the long trek back to the coal mine.
Night had fallen over the mine by the time we reached the golden arch and passed through. A full moon shone above us, and the air had an unexpected chill to it. Anything was better than the hideous heat in Incarceror’s desert though, so I welcomed the cold gladly.
As soon as we stepped through the arch, Jack appeared in a swirl of magic. His eyes immediately fell on the golden tattoo around my wrist. He scrutinized it so intently that I began to feel uncomfortable under his stare and wished I could cover it up.
“Successful trip then?” Jack said, finally pulling his gaze from my arm.
“That’s none of your business,” Dash growled. His whole body practically shook as he spoke, and he was acting like he was one wrong look away from losing control of his emotions and shifting into his reindeer form.
“True,” Jack agreed, pasting a smile on his lips. The grin didn’t quite reach his eyes though and they flicked in the direction of my wrist once more. I crossed my arms over my chest, making certain the tattoo was covered. I wasn’t sure why Jack had such an interest in me, but he clearly knew what the tattoo meant. He was probably dying to know what the nameless one had asked of me.
“Can you take our bands off now? We need to get moving,” Vixen said. Her voice was strained, and I could see there was worry in her eyes. She wasn’t looking at me, and neither was Blitz, but the two of them radiated anxiety.
Jack nodded and began to remove the magical golden bands he’d placed around our wrists so we could enter the prison. First, he took the bracelets from Vixen, Blitz and Dash, and when he approached me, I turned to the others.
“You guys go on ahead. I just need to speak with Jack a moment,” I said.
All three shifters frowned at me in response. Dash opened his mouth to argue, but Blitz grabbed hold of his arm and started pulling him away. “Leave her to it, Dash,” he murmured.
A look of uncertainty was still firmly plastered across Dash’s face, but I gave him a confident smile and nodded for him to carry on without me. He kept his feet firmly rooted to the spot and his eyes locked on mine for a few seconds before he finally exhaled and let Blitz pull him away.
Jack watched me as I waited for the shifters to get out of earshot. He was still smiling, as though he knew something I didn’t, but there was also a hint of curiosity and anticipation in his expression. His eyes darted to my wrist again, and I caught him studying the favor tattoo. For once he was quiet, and he kept his jokes to himself as he waited for me to speak.
I didn’t know much about the frost, only that he was bound to the prison for the crimes he committed against the Northern Realm. He seemed mischievous and joked with us whenever we came to the prison, but I’d begun to notice there was more to him than his sly smiles and sarcasm. There was wisdom in his eyes that only came with old age, and the way he had spoken to me on this most recent visit made me think he was more serious and more knowledgeable about what was going on than he portrayed.
“You’ve known I’m different from the moment you first saw me,” I said, once I was certain we wouldn’t be overheard. “Why?”
His eyes lit up, like he was pleased by my question. “I’ve been around a while.”
“That doesn’t explain how you knew…”
“No, it doesn’t,” he said, still smiling.
I waited for him to continue, but he just kept grinning at me. “Well, could you tell me?” I finally asked when it looked like he wasn’t going to explain. I was getting tired of the frost’s games.
Jack laughed. “It’s no big secret. Your magic doesn’t smell like the other clauses that come here, and I can sense you’re far more powerful than your companions. Your magic is different.”
I frowned in response. “No one else has ever told me I smell different.”
He shrugged. “I doubt anyone else knows how to spot the subtle differences like I can.”
I swallowed and nodded. Regardless of how he knew, it was clear that Jack did know I was different in some way, and that’s what made me the most nervous. I didn’t like the idea that Jack could tell how powerful I was so easily.
“Do you know why I’m different?” I asked. I’d always known that my powers were stronger than other clauses, but my mother had never told me why. I just thought that I was an anomaly, but Jack made me question whether there was more to it.
The corner of his lip lifted in a smirk. “I could guess,” he said. “But I won’t.”
“Because…”
“Because I could be wrong. I don’t like being wrong.”
My brow creased, and I tilted my head as I stared at him. I felt like he was deliberately keeping something from me, and he was enjoying it. I refused to let him see how much it irked me though.
“What is the favor you’ve been asked to fulfill?” he said, nodding at the tattoo on my wrist. His signature grin faded slightly as his curiosity got the better of him.
“I could tell you,” I replied wit
h a smirk. “But I won’t.”
He laughed, shaking his head at me. “Fair enough. I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough.”
He reached a hand forward and clamped his fingers around the gold band on my wrist. In a swirl of magic, the bracelet disappeared, and all that remained was the favor tattoo. I wished Jack could have made it disappear too.
“I guess I’ll be seeing you again soon,” he said, nodding at the tattoo before he turned to walk away.
“Jack?” I called out, and he turned and faced me once more. “Do you know anything about Bethalial?”
Jack’s eyes narrowed and confusion filled his gaze. His mischievous smirk was nowhere to be seen. “Where did you hear his name?”
I hesitated as I considered how to respond. I hadn’t realized that Bethalial was the name of a man. I’d been assuming it was a place, but I guess I’d been wrong. I wasn’t sure if I should tell Jack that I’d heard it from the nameless one or that the creature had asked me to find Bethalial’s chest. I needed as much information as I could get though, and it seemed like Jack could help.
“Around,” I replied.
He shook his head though. “I doubt that. No being has spoken that name in a very long time.”
“So, who is it?” I asked, my curiosity growing.
“Bethalial was one of the yule gods,” he replied. Jack seemed suddenly nervous and was glancing around like he was scared the god himself would appear at any moment.
His answer made me pause. I had been taught all about the yule gods, but Bethalial wasn’t one of them. There were nine of them in total, each one representing a different aspect of life, from Galedria the goddess of joy to Morgon the god of death. Christmas beings didn’t build temples to the yule gods or pray to them, like humans were known to do, but they did leave stockings filled with gifts as an offering to each of the gods on Christmas Eve. I couldn’t remember ever hearing about Bethalial though.
“Why have I never heard of him before then?” I asked. I’d always thought the yule gods were just a myth, but now Jack was talking about them as if they were real.
“Because the true gods do not deserve to be remembered,” he replied quietly.
I frowned at his use of the term ‘true gods.’ If Bethalial was a true god, what did that make the other nine?
“Who are the true gods? Why aren’t they remembered?” I asked, tilting my head as I tried to work him out.
Jack simply shook his head though. “Why do you need to know about Bethalial?” he asked instead.
I closed my mouth at his question. I wanted answers, but I also didn’t want to give anything away, and I’d already said far too much. I wasn’t sure that the frost could be trusted, and I didn’t feel like I should be telling him about the chest.
Jack smiled and nodded when I hesitated, and he realized I wasn’t going to answer, but his eyes were still narrowed slightly with suspicion. “Well, I see we both have our secrets, young one,” he said. “Until next time.”
I stood back as magic started swirling around Jack and he disappeared, leaving me standing alone in front of the golden archway. I wished I’d been able to get more information out of him, but I knew there was no way of doing so without telling him about the favor I owed the nameless one.
With Jack gone, I hurried after the others and found them waiting for me at the sleigh point.
“Why did you stay to talk with the frost?” Dash asked as soon as I reached them.
“I was hoping he might have some answers for me.”
“What answers?”
I glanced around at the three of them. I couldn’t exactly tell them what Jack had said about my powers, but they needed to hear what I had learned about Bethalial.
“The chest I’m looking for belonged to a yule god,” I said.
“What?” Vixen asked. “The nameless one said it was the chest of Bethalial.”
“Who was apparently a yule god,” I replied. “And if that’s true, retrieving this chest might not be our biggest concern. What we should be worrying about is what exactly we’re handing over to that creature.”
“The frost could be lying,” Blitz suggested. “I’ve never heard of a yule god named Bethalial before. And there are only nine gods; even I can remember all their names.”
“Nine gods that we know of,” I said, as I thought of what Jack had told me. “And even those are just stories. What if what we’ve been taught about the gods isn’t true? What if there were other gods we don’t know about? Gods that aren’t in our history books?”
“There can’t be,” Vixen said with a dismissive wave of her hands. “The frost is probably trying to mess with you. Right, Dash?”
Dash had been silent as we talked. His broad arms were crossed over his chest and he was staring at the ground as he thought about his answer carefully. Finally, he raised his eyes to look at his sister. “Whether or not it’s true, Clio makes a good point,” he said. “We need to find out what’s inside the chest, and knowing who it belonged to is a good start.
“Vixen and Blitz—I want the two of you to return to the North Pole and find out who or what Bethalial is and what could be in the chest. I don’t trust the nameless one, and if we’re going to be handing this object over to him, I want to know what it is. Clio and I will focus on finding the chest.”
“Won’t you need help?” Vixen asked, her worried eyes darting between the two of us.
“I think Dash is right,” I said. “The best way you guys can help is by finding out what’s inside the chest.”
“Does knowing really change anything though?” Vixen asked. “You are bound by your favor to give it to him.”
“I am,” I agreed. “But at least if we know what we’re giving him, we can go in there prepared. It might be something of no significant value to us, or maybe it could be an object that helps him break out of prison. We have no idea what we’re dealing with, but like you said, I have to give it to him.”
“No,” Dash replied. “That’s not actually true. The nameless one said she needed to bring the object to him. Not that she needed to give it to him. I think we might be able to satisfy the favor without actually handing the nameless one the object.”
I wanted to believe Dash, but I didn’t feel as confident as he sounded. The nameless one’s intention had clearly been for me to give him the object, and I felt sure I needed to do so to fulfill the favor. I couldn’t put my faith in a small chance that the ancient being had left a loophole. Dash looked so hopeful though I didn’t have the heart to disagree with him.
Vixen seemed more convinced though, and she nodded at her brother. “Okay, Blitz and I will return to the North Pole right away. What do we tell the royals though? They’ll want to know what we found out about the barriers.”
“My advice would be to avoid the royals,” I said.
Vixen rolled her eyes at me. “Obviously, I’m not going to go knock on their front door and ask if I can join them for tea.”
“Perhaps avoiding them is best,” Dash said. “If you have to say anything, tell them that it’s more complicated than we first thought and that I am with Clio and we are working on a solution. In the meantime, have Coop start searching for other ways we might be able to repair the barrier or at least stop it from degenerating further. I don’t trust the nameless one, and I have no idea if we’ll be able to find the chest before the barrier fully disintegrates.”
According to Coop, that gave us a week. Even if we could get back to the nameless one in time, there was no way to know if his solution would work or if he would even provide us with one.
“Okay.” Vixen paused for a moment before she stepped forward and gave Dash a hug. “Good luck.” As she pulled back from her brother, she glanced at me. “Try not to get yourself killed.”
The comment was as close to a hug as I was going to get from Vixen. I nodded gratefully. It was, after all, pretty sound advice.
“Yeah, what she said,” Blitz said with a wink before he and Vixen turned and en
tered the sleigh point together, disappearing in a swirl of mint green magic and leaving Dash and I alone.
“So, any idea how to get to the Southern Realm?” I asked, breaking the silence after several moments.
“No,” Dash replied. “But I know someone who does.”
He walked into the sleigh point and reached out a hand toward me. I took in a deep breath before I placed my hand in his and stepped forward.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” I said.
“So do I.”
I felt a tight jerk in my stomach as the magic of the sleigh line began to transport me away from the coal mine. Where I was going, I had no idea.
Chapter Eight
The first thing I noticed when we arrived at our destination was the heat. The night had been cool at the coal mine, but a searing sun had now replaced the darkness, and I already found the dryness in the air was choking me. I slowly opened my eyes but had to shade them with my hand as a blinding brightness greeted me.
We’d gone from one desert to another; only instead of the charred blackness of the coal mine, I was surrounded by red dirt. It was nothing like the blood-red sand of the prison; instead, the whole landscape was leached of color—a shade of burnt orange rather than true red.
The sand seemed to extend endlessly into the distance, where it met a bright and cloudless blue sky. The only thing between us and the horizon was a rusted tin shed. I was shocked to see a neon sign flashing above the door, which claimed the tiny shack was in fact a bar.
“Where on Earth are we?” I turned to Dash. His skin was pale from using the sleigh line, but his eyes were serious and narrowed on the bar.
“The Australian outback,” he replied. “There’s a dark elf out here who owes me a favor.”
He started making his way to the bar, but I was still trying to process what he’d said. “Australia?” I exclaimed, rushing to catch up with him. “We’re in Australia?”
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