by R. A. Rock
Tess held her breath but her heart was hammering in her chest. She hoped the wyrm’s hearing wasn’t that good. There was the sound of the wyrm shuffling one way and then reversing, searching for them.
After a long minute, the wyrm continued on up the tunnel looking for easier prey. Tessa let out the breath she had been holding and relaxed. The wyrm was gone.
“Thank you,” Nyall said, his hand on his chest. “Now we’re even, Tess.”
“I’ll take that,” Runa said, grabbing the chest from Finn’s lax hands and walked backward out of the cave. She didn’t even say thank you to Tess for saving her life. But then, Tess hadn’t really expected her to.
“In the name of Severance, Runa, give that back,” Tess said.
“I don’t think so.”
“Shadows take her,” Tess said as Runa turned and ran out of the cave and up the tunnel to the right. Tess gave chase. She ran hard until her throat was raw and there was a pain in her side. She tasted blood but she ignored it. With a leap, she jumped on Runa, taking her to the ground. They rolled over and over until Runa was on top.
She smashed the chest into Tess’s head and because of the Truce spell it felt like Runa had patted her. Runa made a frustrated sound and got off, starting to run again. Finn was there by now and they got Runa into one of the cul de sacs, cornering her.
She ran for Tess, who kept her from getting out, dodging this way and that to keep her from escaping. With a scream of frustration, she turned and ran around the other way, heading straight at Finn. He stood his ground, but when she got closer, she pulled a tiny dagger and dragged it along his thigh, leaving a cut in the fabric of his pants and a deep scratch.
He yelled in pain and, while he was distracted, she dodged around him and took off.
“Finn,” Tess yelled.
“I’m fine. Get the chest and hide it!”
She could see that he was limping but it was only a tiny stab wound, since that’s all Runa could do with the Truce spell, even at its edge. He would be fine. Tess pursued Runa, finally catching up to her near the place where the tunnels turned to hallways.
Tess felt a desperate energy enter her. If Runa made it to there, she might truly lose her in the castle. She could not let her get to the hallway.
With a burst of speed and strength, Tessa tackled her once more and wrenched the chest out of her hands. Runa grabbed for it, but Tess turned her ring and winked out.
Runa’s shriek of rage echoed throughout the tunnels. Tess was worried about Finn but she remembered what he had said. Get the chest and hide it.
She needed to get it back to the Keeper’s quarters. Now.
It took a tense five minutes to get into their room, but she made it. Tess found the secret compartment they had discovered by accident and put the chest in there. Then she went and washed up.
When she was finished, she was calm enough to wonder where Finn was. Tess didn’t know what to do. Had something happened to him? Did he have to hide? Why wasn’t he back yet?
She felt frantic. He should have been back by now.
Something was wrong.
Tess walked as quickly as she could through the hallways and, as soon as she reached the tunnels, she ran. Her terrified thoughts kept her company all the way.
When she got to the tunnel leading to the golden room, her heart stopped. Finn was lying on the floor of the tunnel, unconscious.
At least, she hoped he was only unconscious.
Chapter 25
“Finn,” Tess cried, fear filling her at the sight of him lying on the floor, his limbs loose and unnaturally floppy. She knelt beside him so scared. When she touched his hand, it was cold.
No. No. No. She couldn’t lose Finn. Not when she had only just found him. He had worked his way into her heart and she couldn’t imagine her life without him anymore. What would she do if he was gone?
“Calm down, Tessa,” she told herself. “He’s not going to die.”
Tess knew she needed help. She couldn’t call Nat because if Runa was telling the truth, then she was locked up. She felt her throat close up at the thought of her sweet friend down in the dungeons. But she couldn’t think about that now. She needed to focus.
Izzie. She needed Izzie but she couldn’t leave Finn. She thought hard, and then pulled a message spell from Finn’s bag of spells. She sent one to Isadore immediately, explaining that Finn was hurt and she needed his help.
“He needs a healer, Tess,” Isadore said, clearly upset. Tess wasn’t sure if he was annoyed because Finn was hurt or because she had summoned him down into the wyrm tunnels at lunch time.
“Why did you summon me?” Isadore said, not realizing how desperate the situation was. “I was just eating.”
“He may need a healer but he needs to not get captured by the King or Dark Queen more, Isadore. If they get him it won’t matter if he’s healed or not.” Tess gave Izzie a dark look and he made a face but fumbled with his kit, opening it and studying the vials, potions, and other magical spells within. The bottles made a soft clinking of glass on glass.
“Fine, fine. Tell me what happened. Quickly.”
So Tess described the events with Perdira, Nyall, and Runa, finishing with how Runa had stabbed Finn with what was probably a poisoned dagger.
“Why did you leave him?” Izzie said, aghast.
“We knew the swords had poison on them, or so she told us. I wasn’t thinking the dagger would have poison on it, too.”
Izzie made an annoyed face, pursing his lips.
“And I had to get the chest and hide it.”
Izzie just gazed at her.
“Finn told me to.”
He still didn’t say anything, only looked.
“I didn’t think he was in any danger or I never would have left him,” Tess said, close to tears. “We’re Joined now, Izzie, and I don’t take that lightly.”
Izzie seemed contented by this answer. “Well, let’s see what we can do.”
Then, before their eyes, Finn turned a sickly shade of grey and his breathing became erratic. He began to shake.
“What’s going on, Iz?” Tess said, fear stabbing her in the guts.
“I don’t know. What did you say Runa called the poison?”
“Cinnamon? No, that couldn’t be it. Cinna…” She wracked her mind.
“Could it have been cinnabar?”
“Yes.” Tess pointed her finger at him. “Yes, that was it. Cinnabar.”
Izzie’s expression changed from worry to fear.
“What is it?”
“Depending on how much she gave him, it might actually harm him down here so far from the epicenter of the Truce spell.”
“What do you mean, Izzie?”
“I mean, that cinnabar is a deadly toxin that attacks the brain. It would take months or even more than a year for his brain to recover from such a poison.”
“What?”
“We need to keep it from getting to his brain.”
“Right. What do we do? Just tell me. I’ll do anything.” And even to Tessa’s own ears, she sounded desperate.
Izzie gave her a frightened look that mirrored how she was feeling and dug back into his magic kit. He pulled out various bottles, stones, jewelry, and vials but shook his head at each one.
Tess vibrated with impatience but didn’t say anything, not wanting to interrupt his train of thought. Finally, she had to speak.
“How long do we have, Izzie?”
Isadore frowned. “Once the shaking starts, not long.”
His expression was grave.
“I don’t have anything that will specifically help with the poison,” Izzie said. “But I have an idea for how to modify a ward spell to protect his brain.”
“Why don’t you just use Elixir? That can cure anything.”
Isadore held up the bottle of Elixir and shook it. It held only a few drops. She took it and dumped it on Finn’s wound.
“It’s better than nothing,” she said. “How come you don’t ha
ve more?”
“I’ve sold out of all my Elixir and I forgot this one was empty. I didn’t think to replace it.”
Tess took a sobbing breath and tried to calm down. “What do we do with the ward spell? Tell me. Let’s do it. Now.”
“Well.” Izzie pulled out a small box and opened it. There were four spiky balls that Tess knew would attach to anything. Whatever was within the field of the ward would be protected from anything that might harm it. “What if we put these around his head?”
“Oh,” Tess said, getting it. “And then the wards would protect what was within the field, which in this case would be Finn’s brain. Once we’re out of here, we can give him Elixir as an antidote to the poison, right? As long as it doesn’t reach his brain?”
“Yes, that’s right. The wards will protect him until we can deal with the poison. Let’s set them up.” Izzie picked up the spiky balls and set them in a rectangle around Finn’s head. Then he poured a liquid on each one. Tess watched as there was a flash of magic and a small pulse went out from the ward. The spiky balls were gone.
“Where did the balls go?”
“They’re used up by the spell. The wards are in place now and Finn should be safe from the poison until his natural healing powers take care of it. That should only take about a half a day.”
“Thank the Stars,” Tess said, a weight lifting off her chest. “How do you know how to do a spell like that anyway?"
“I didn’t do the spell. It’s a premade one. All I have to do is activate it.”
“Ah,” Tess said. “Got it. Now, how are we going to get Finn—”
Suddenly she froze.
“What’s that sound?” Isadore said, eyeing her nervously.
Tess listened and felt like crying.
“It’s the wyrm,” she said, suddenly remembering what Runa had said. “Runa said it didn’t matter if the poison killed us or not—”
“Because if you can’t move and the wyrm gets you, you’ll be dead for sure.”
“Right.”
The shushing sound of the wyrm moving through the tunnels was getting slowly louder. Tess covered her face with her hands.
“We have to get him out of here, Izzie.”
“How?” he said, terrified. “He’s too heavy for us to carry. I suppose we could drag him.”
Tess thought of the golden room but it was now closed with the gate that had shut them in and there were magical wards all over the place that would prevent them from using the rings to get in. Except…
Tess suddenly had an idea. What if she dragged Finn into the golden room using the ghost rings through the hole in the wards that Perdira had made? She would just drag Finn into the other room and they would both be safe from the wyrm. She hoped anyway.
“Stars and Shadows,” Tess swore softly. Then she turned to Isadore, using her Captain of the Guard tone. “Izzie, run. Now. Get out of here. You have to go as fast as you can. Leave your kit and get out. You can come back for it later.”
Isadore stood up. “What are you going to do?”
“I have an idea,” Tess said, her eyes filling with tears. “I don’t know if it’ll work. But like I said, I won’t leave him.”
“May the Stars shine their light upon you, Tessa,” Isadore said, turning and starting to run as fast as his stout body could move.
“And also on you,” Tess answered, though she knew that he couldn’t hear her. She prayed that Izzie might make it out of there alive because if he didn’t, it would be his death on her head.
Tess turned back to Finn and reached down to clasp his hand. Then she turned her ring and his. Once they were insubstantial, she could somehow still sense his hand. She was sure she could drag him. Now, all she had to do was find the hole in the wards that Perdira had made.
Tess moved forward, clutching Finn’s hand hard with her mind, since she couldn’t feel his actual hand, only sense its Starlight. She walked straight into the golden gate and bounced right back.
What the Chasm?
She tried again in a slightly different place. Tess tried several more times, same result.
She tried not to cry as she realized that Perdira must have closed the wards again after she left. The sound of the wyrm was becoming so loud that Tess knew it must only be right around the corner. When she looked up, it was almost upon them.
Tess felt despair for a moment and then acceptance. She laid down next to where she could sense Finn, curling up beside him. Time seemed to slow down as she waited for the wyrm to pass through them.
“Finn, I know you can’t hear me,” Tess whispered. “But I want you to know that I love you. And I tried to save you. I tried to save us both.”
Please let this work. Please let this work.
Tessa didn’t want to die. She had never believed that she might truly wink out of existence. And she didn’t want to be separated from Finn when they had only just found each other.
May the Stars’ will be done. May the Stars’ will be done.
Tessa couldn’t really feel her body but she was afraid. She was a field of fear. The wyrm’s papery sound was somehow louder and more intense than before and, if Tessa’s heart had been substantial, it would have been beating like a drum at a Revel.
It drew nearer. And nearer.
If Tess had had a body, she would have curled up and tensed, closing her eyes. As it was, she simply waited.
The wyrm reached them and passed through their nonexistent bodies. It felt very, very strange and unpleasant. Tess wondered if this was what dying felt like. But she didn’t think so.
It was like the wyrm was a comb and its essence was combing through hers. Ugh. It was awful, the mingling. She could sense the creature as it passed through her. The beast was so lonely and yet it clung to life, absorbing Fae whenever it could.
Then it was gone, passed through, and she felt all right.
Tess was pretty sure she wasn’t dead. She turned the ring and watched as her body reappeared. Finn’s body appeared a moment later, though she couldn’t have made that happen because she couldn’t sense the ring when he was invisible and insubstantial.
His eyes were open and he was awake. He had turned his own ring.
“Finn,” she said, feeling faint, she was so relieved.
“Tess, what the hell happened?”
“We almost got killed by the wyrm, but we didn’t.”
“Thank the Stars,” Finn said, wrapping his arms around her.
They went right through.
“What in the Chasm?” he said.
A feeling dread filled her.
She looked at her hand more closely and saw that she could see the floor through it.
Finn was passing his hand through her arm, back and forth, back and forth, making her shiver over and over.
“Stop that,” she said, irritated.
“Tess, what is going on?”
She winced.
“It must be a side effect?”
“Of what?”
“It’s kind of a long story but the wyrm passed through us when we were using the ghost rings. That’s how we didn’t die. But…”
“But now we’re only partially visible and completely insubstantial,” Finn said, his face grim.
Tess flinched.
“It certainly looks that way,” she said.
Finn gave her an unhappy look.
“We’re like ghosts, Tessa, and we can’t touch each other,” he said, giving her a meaningful look. “And we can’t touch anything else, either.”
He tried to pick up a small rock but passed right through it. “Oh no.”
This was bad. This was very bad.
How in the name of Severance were they going to fix this?
Chapter 26
“I can’t believe Izzie won’t help with this,” Tessa said, staring in consternation at the door to the secret compartment where she had hidden the chest—a door they could no longer open.
Tess and Finn stood in the Keeper’s quarters. It was
early afternoon and Finn was starving, though there was no way he could eat when he was insubstantial like this.
“Are you kidding me, Tessa?” Finn said, feeling annoyed, though he knew he ought to be grateful he wasn’t dead.
Tess had saved them, he reminded himself. But she had also created a whole host of other problems when she had done so.
“You almost got the old guy killed. When I stopped by to talk to him, all he kept doing was putting his hand on his chest and saying, ‘My heart, my heart. I ran the whole way back.’”
He mimicked Izzie’s deep, scratchy voice, knowing it would make Tess smile.
“But seriously,” Finn said, hovering over the bed beside where she appeared to be sitting. He tried to put his hand on hers. Of course, it just went right through. “Isadore’s scared out of his wits. I don’t think he’s ever had an actual brush with death. And he’s decided he doesn’t like it.”
“I can’t blame him for that,” Tess said. She didn’t like it either. Those poor Starless Ones on the Earthly realm. She suddenly understood their fear of death.
“He’s also worried about the Dark Queen. He said that he’s already done enough to earn her eternal wrath and he won’t do any more.”
“But if he’s already earned her wrath, what does he have to lose?” Tess pointed out.
“He doesn’t see it that way,” Finn said. “Look, Tess, we can’t force him to help us.”
“Of course not.”
“And once again, whether you like it or not, he does have a point. If he wants out, we have to respect that.”
“Of course, but what are we going to do? We can’t pick anything up. So we can’t open the chest.” Tess began to pace.
“And tomorrow’s the Hundred Years Ball, after which the Truce spell will end, making us vulnerable to the King and Dark Queen again.” Finn pointed out. "No doubt they have spells to contain people who are insubstantial."