by Krystal Wade
I glare at him. When I wanted nothing more than to have a moment of peace in my head, he provoked me.
“I am sorry.” Arland slides his hands down my arms, resting only when our fingers are laced.
“For?”
He smiles, warm and enchanting. “For invading your thoughts earlier.”
“I am sorry, too.”
“For?” he asks, mimicking my pitchy tone.
“For being so angry with you when you did.”
Mom steps closer to us. Her smile beams in the golden light shining from me and Arland. Our magic must be growing stronger; it comes now when we don’t even realize it. “You share thoughts already?”
Arland steps back, but keeps me nuzzled in between his torso and arm. “The more magic we use, the stronger our connection.”
“This is good.”
She’s giving me something. I don’t know what, but I just know she’s giving me something I need to hear. “Why?”
“Do I honestly have to repeat myself?”
“Because the two of us together are the key,” Arland and I say in unison, sharing the same annoyed tone.
“I still have not had my questions answered,” Perth says, eyebrows drawing over his eyes.
Arland rubs my arm. “I do not know why, but since Darkness has taken Brad’s body—”
“Brad? The man who hit you?” Perth rejoins us and stands next to my mom.
“Brad did not hit me, and how did you find out?”
“If he did not hit you, there was nothing for me to find out.” Perth flashes his cocky grin. “So is it true?”
Frustration boils in my chest. “Br—”
“Brad is not from this world. He accidentally traveled here with Katriona, was injured by coscarthas, and was in a coma,” Arland answers for me.
“One of the children overheard a conversation in the kitchen, and I overheard her telling another; that is how I know he hit you.” Perth stares at me. His almost white eyes, stark in comparison to the Darkness, look greener than normal. They hold a less milky appearance, a light shade of parched summer grass.
“And I remember seeing the two of them brought in. I thought Katriona was dead, too. Her exposed skin was covered in blood and dirt. But none of that tells me why he hit her or why he has anything to do with Darkness being able to reach her.”
“When we healed Brad, he was already too infected to be released from the hold Darkness had on him,” Arland says.
“In a way, the poison continued to work. Brad was tainted, but we were unaware. We believed it to be jealousy when he hit her, but it was the confusion working itself into his brain. When we attempted to return him home, we were attacked. He seemed willing to die. Then, as if he was fighting the poison inside, he … ” he pauses and glances down at me.
“I can handle it.” Hearing how hard Brad fought against the poison can be no worse than seeing the battle.
“Apologized to Katriona. I knew something was wrong with his apology, but it was not until her conversation with Griandor that I fully understood. Darkness is Brad; Brad is Darkness. Somehow the connection Katriona and Brad share allows Darkness to appear as an apparition before her.”
“Why are we worried about an apparition?” Perth asks.
“Because,” I say, “the more magic Darkness steals from Draíochtans and Encardia, the stronger he becomes. His apparition will go from harmless to deadly. And he is already strong enough to touch me.”
Perth cocks his head to the side, looking Arland up and down. “Arland protects you from this?”
“Yes.”
“And if he is assigned to her security, High Leader Maher cannot send him away,” Mom adds.
“How close do you need to be?”
Securing his hand on my hip, Arland pulls me against him tighter. “We do not know for sure. To protect her from her dreams it seems as if I need to be touching her, but to protect her from Darkness it only seems I need to be within one hundred feet of her, or have her in my sight. After what happened earlier tonight, I do not wish to have her out of my sight.”
Perth paces back and forth, wearing down the already dead grasses.
Mom inches closer to us, leaning her head in as if she doesn’t want anyone to hear what she’s about to say. “What happened earlier tonight?”
“How did you miss it?” I whisper. “Brad was up the hill. He fought against Darkness, talked to me even, but it was Darkness touching me when Arland came back.”
“I wonder if the harder Brad fights, the easier it is for him to appear before you,” Mom says. “We have many things to consider.”
Perth stops his grass trampling and looks up at us, with no ounce of confidence anywhere to be found on his face. “My father will be suspicious, but I could find a way to twist it, so he believes your standing outside her door as a guard is a punishment. However, I do not know how to keep her in your direct line of sight.”
Brit steps out of huddle of people. “I do.”
Is anyone not listening?
Arland sighs an aggravated sigh, lets go of me, then crosses his arms over his chest.
Brit bounces on her toes. “At least, I think I do.”
“Well, go on, Brit. What is it?” Mom asks, waving her hand in the air.
“My connection to Kate … I mean Katriona.”
Mom shakes her head, Perth returns to pacing, and Arland releases another sigh.
“No one believes me?” Brit frowns.
“Why am I even here?” She throws her hands up, turns then storms off toward the others who probably don’t need to be standing away from us since they all know what we’re talking about anyway.
I should stop her, but I don’t know how her connection to me is supposed to help either. If I’m supposed to be in Arland’s direct line of sight, how could Brit being in my head do anything to help that?
“That’s the point, Katriona. You’re supposed to be in my head,” she yells from next to Flanna who eyes me as if I’m a monster. “Like when the shifter took over your body. You were in my head and conjured old magic powerful enough to heal yourself. You touched Arland and talked to him. If you are in my head, he can see you.”
Everyone stops what they’re doing.
How could I cast her or her ideas to the side? She’s my sister, and no matter what, she’s always been there for me. “I am sorry, Brit. So sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Brit shrugs. “I know you don’t trust me anymore, but I believe in you, and I believe in Arland and what we’re supposed to do here. And if this is the one thing I’m supposed to do in all of this, I’ll help you as much as I can.”
Trust. What is it? She’s lied for so long, but about something so dear to her. Not me. Allowing her to feel alone when the one she loves has already suffered is just not right. “I mean it, Brit. You are so smart and wonderful, and I am sorry. You have never done anything for me not to trust you.”
Her chin trembles then she puts her face in her hands and cries.
Everyone watches us, shifting gazes from Brit to me.
What did I do now?
I feel strangely self-conscious and confident as I leave Arland, Mom, and Perth and make my way through the soldiers and children to stand in front of my sister. “Why are you crying?”
Looking up, she wipes her tear-drenched face with her tunic sleeve. “I would have preferred if you stayed mad at me, Kate. At least it gave me something to prove. I have nothing to offer if my plan doesn’t work. I already know Brad will never love me the way he loves you. What’s the point? I don’t know why I’m here. I don’t know who would want to love me. I’m just done. With everything.”
“You are here because this is where you are from. Brad is not from here. Maybe he is not the right man for you. Maybe there is someone you have not met who will love you more, who will be better for you.”
She sniffles, looking me over with a raised eyebrow. “So you agree, you don’t think Brad will ever love me the way he does you?”
<
br /> I push a wavy lock of dark brown hair from her cheek. “Brit, I cannot answer that. I do not understand why he loves me as much as he does in the first place.”
“Are you kidding?” Brit laughs. “You two were inseparable for eleven years. For the longest time, I was sure you’d end up waking up and marrying him someday. I couldn’t believe how fast you fell for Arland, but I couldn’t have been happier.”
Glancing around at all the watchful eyes, I meet the only ones that truly matter, then return to face my sister. “Can we have this conversation later? When there are not so many people around to hear things they have no interest in?”
“You do it well, you know?” Her tone is flat, leveled, sad.
“Do what?”
“Fit in here. You already sound like them. You use magic better than any of them.” Brit turns in circles, pointing at the remaining soldiers and children. “You fight like them. This is your world, Kate, but I’m not sure if it’s mine. Not without purpose.”
I grab her by the shoulders, jolting her from a dangerous act of self-loathing. “You have purpose. You have saved my life many times now. You have come up with the best idea for keeping me and Arland safe at Willow Falls. Please, do not give up. I need you.”
All the confidence she’s exuded over the years, the sarcasm, the humor, the love for me, the fun spirit she is—these things are all gone. Instead of the girl I grew up with, she’s grown into something more, something strong but wild, something serious but cautious. She’s a contradiction of herself, and for once in our lives, I have no idea how she’s going to react.
Flanna moves forward, breaking the awkward silence between me and my sister with a tap to our shoulders. “Brit, your idea is brilliant. You two need to speak to one another in private, and we need to get to Willow Falls. Talk in your heads on the way there, okay?”
Nodding, Brit turns away from me.
“Kate?” Flanna asks.
“I understand.” Turning around, I see the open mouths of Mom, Perth, and Arland, but don’t know how to interpret their looks. I keep my head down, stare at my feet, then walk next to Arland.
“So you and my sister get to spend all your time together now, and any time you cannot see me, I will be in her head. Do you think this will work?” I ask, on the verge of tears.
My stomach is an empty pit stretching deep and limitless. I wrap my arm around it, try to smooth the unfamiliar ache, but nothing changes. I feel as though I’ve lost something, as though no one likes me right now, as though I don’t like myself.
“The only thing left is a story. And I am sure when we arrive at Willow Falls, the four of us plus Brit and Flanna will all be whisked into some room to talk to our fathers about things none of us”—Perth points at Brit, Arland, Flanna, Mom, and stops when he gets to me—”really wish to talk about. Are you okay, Katriona?”
I lift my head; we hold each other’s gaze.
“Huh?”
Perth steps closer to me and Arland. “You are pale.”
“He is correct. Are you feeling ill?” Arland presses his palm to my forehead. “Is it possible she is experiencing aftereffects of the poison?”
Mom meets my eyes, and I catch a glimmer of recognition behind them, then she looks back to Arland. “Yes, I do believe that could be happening. Once we get inside and speak with the Leaders, we will make sure she gets rest and medicine.”
Arland looks me over once more. “We should go then.”
“Katriona”—Perth holds out his hand—”are you ready?”
Knots form inside the pit, twisting and turning, and fill every ounce of previously available space. Ready? Will I ever be ready for these lies, for the potential to lose everything I’ve ever cared about? “C … can I have a moment with Arland?”
“It is too dangerous, Arland. I see the torches from here. We are well within scouting distance, and you two have already stood too close to one another,” Perth says.
Mom whispers the hiding spell, walking in a circle around me and Arland.
Flanna, Brit, Shay, Keagan, Cadman—everyone spreads out around us, reciting the spell, providing us with privacy.
The more I hear the words directed at the magic, the looser the knots become.
Perth walks away from us then joins the circle.
Everyone turns their backs on me and my love.
“It appears we have been given the moment. Why the sudden sullenness?”
Throwing my arms around him, I press my head into his chest, allow his sculpted form to be my pillow, my tranquility, my Arland. “I do not know—don’t know. I hate the lies. I want to be me. Want my sister and me to be friends again. Want the damn sun to shine. Want Brad back. I just want things to be easy and right. None of this makes any sense. Going to Willow Falls just seems like a waste of time.”
He rubs my hair with his hand and lets out a silent laugh—the kind a parent does for a child when the child is afraid of something the parent is not. “Kate, Griandor said you must unite us, so you must. It will not be a waste of time. Your mother protects you. She may not tell us everything, but she is telling us what we need to know. You and Brit will be fine; trust is something hard to regain, and no matter how upset she is with you for not trusting her, I guarantee she is more upset with herself. And I promise you, through the lies and through the trickery, you will still be you. You are an incredibly strong woman, and when this is all over, the gods will give you your heart’s content.”
My face burns as I hold back the tears. My chest constricts. I attempt to speak, but a solid lump forms in my throat.
“I love you. No matter who you kiss inside those doors, I will always love you, will always protect you.” He presses his lips to the top of my head.
“I love you, too,” I say into his tunic, running my fingers down his arms until they find his hands.
“Are you ready?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Remember, you hate me, you think I smell horrible, and you love Perth.”
I nod, the lump now solid in my throat.
He nudges my shoulders, pushing me forward. “Go, take his hand. I will stay next to Brit on the other end of the line.”
Turning around, I stare at him one last time, smile at him, soak in his beauty, his warmth, his love. Blood and dirt are caked in his hair and on his clothes; his tunic is shredded … he’s a total wreck, but he’s still mine, and I pray he always remains that way.
My steps are shaky, small, and it takes me a lot longer than it should to reach Perth. He breaks hands with Cadman and reaches out for me. I take the hand of my punishment, and his cold chills me straight to the bone.
“I will lead the way. Follow beside, yet behind, me, and do not touch or look at anyone. If any of my father’s men are out here, we do not need them to form any opinions.” Perth leads us toward the torches I cannot see, and I do exactly how he instructs. As much as I’d love to look at Arland, I will not risk his life, will not risk everyone’s lives.
Instead of worrying about failure, I focus my thoughts and energy on what needs to be done.
Willow Falls, I must unite everyone.
Chapter Eighteen
“I cannot believe we did not pass any Watchers on the way here.” Flanna props her hands on her hips, fingers splayed.
“Does that not seem the least bit strange to anyone?” My fiery, red-headed friend has barely spoken or reacted since Lann’s death, but now she’s a little more normal, tapping her foot next to the wooden door in the ground.
When we stopped in the woods, we were closer to Willow Falls than I’d realized. It took us fifteen minutes to trek the remaining distance to the perimeter, and the trip carried the spookiest quiet I’ve ever experienced. Every breath of every soldier could be heard. A couple animals creeping around the underbrush scampered away as we neared, scattering leaves on the forest floor.
“It does seem strange, but unless we go in that door, we will never know why. So I suggest you go in now, Flanna. Or would you
like me to go in first?” Arland asks, bending down to grab the rusty metal handle.
She stops tapping her foot and glares at Arland. “I am not scared of what is inside; I am afraid of who is not outside.”
He opens the wooden door in the earth; the squeaky hinges sound like nails raking down a chalkboard.
Flanna jumps in without a second glance at any of the others; her pounding footsteps echo off the wooden planks. “Vanora. How fantastic to see a friendly face.”
Her voice is muffled, but she speaks loud enough for us to hear, and I’m sure she does it on purpose. “It is safe to come down.”
“After you.” Perth holds out his arm.
“No. I will not go in until everyone else is safe inside.”
He purses his lips into a fine, pale-pink line. “Understood, but please be sure not to disagree with me in front of my father, okay?”
I’m not positive I’m going to like taking direction from Perth to appease his father, but nod while motioning for the children. “Anna, you and Marcus go in first with my mom. She will make sure you are taken care of.”
Anna holds her brother’s hand in hers, then she and Marcus dash from the middle of the line. Looking up at me with her big brown eyes, she squeezes my waist before they enter the stairway into the earth. Mom pats my shoulder then disappears, followed by Brit, Shay, Keagan, and all the others until Arland is the last man out besides Perth.
I scowl at Arland.
He looks at Perth and me, then rests the door open on the ground. Arland steps in, taking the air from my lungs as he goes.
Perth stares into the abyss of our future. “Arland is right about one thing.”
“What is that?” I ask, clutching at my chest.
“You are an incredibly strong woman. Your soul is pure, Katriona.” He presses his cold hand on the small of my back. “Now, after you.”
I’m not ready to step into this stairwell, not ready for all the possibilities Willow Falls holds. I look over my shoulder, searching for an excuse to stay outside longer, and spot Mirain and the other horses standing side by side behind us. “Who will take care of them?”