There was a bleak, cold chasm below me, and I was dangling from a rope. The air felt moist and burned my throat with each breath. The darkness began to shift, and someone lurked in the murky distance. Below me a whirlpool formed. My grip tightened as I was moved with the flow of the swirling shadows. My muscles felt weak, and the chill air began to settle into my bones.
The gloom underneath lurched and the rope grew taught as if someone was taking hold of the bottom. My breath came faster which scoured my throat even worse, and my muscles protested as I made them pull my own weight. I struggled up until my hands turned slick with blood. In a vain effort, I looked up, hoping to find anything to grab onto. There was nothing. Realizing I was climbing to nowhere, my lifeline frayed and became thinner even with my hands wrapped tightly around it.
When there was nothing but a thread remaining, it snapped and I fell. Hands from the shadows grabbed me and shook violently. Afraid it was Jin or worse, I tried to lash out. My muscles were weak, but I'd be damned if I was going out without a fight. I threw a punch.
"Cassie," Rider whispered, "wake up."
"Cassie," a voice hissed and drove the chill even deeper.
I reached out to the warmth of Rider and opened my eyes.
My hand was clamped around his arm. After reassuring myself it was Rider, and I was safe, I was able to pull away.
"Are you okay?" he asked, keeping his voice low.
My night vision was pretty good, but I looked around, and it played tricks on me. Across the dark camp, there was the shade of an old man who stepped around a tree, disappearing. Swirls of pitch night were opening up around us. Resisting the urge to reach out and grab Rider's arm again, I closed my eyes and took a few steadying breaths.
When I looked again, the camp was normal. "It was a bad dream." The night had grown chill, so it was no wonder my dream was full of cold. "Sorry to wake you up." I tugged up the sleeping bag and buried myself inside.
"Would you like to talk about it?" Rider asked.
"I'm okay. It's been a lot all at once is all." I'm sure my voice was muffled, but I was equally sure that Rider could hear me. "Good night, Rider. Thank you for waking me up."
"Good night."
In the morning, I felt grungy and without the option of a shower, it didn't make for a pleasant morning. At least there was coffee.
We hiked further into the woods.
"Is this how Deliverance started?" I asked around noon.
Vincent chuckled lightly behind me.
"Nah, we need banjos for the beginning," Logan said.
"Oh, right." Feeling a twinge of good luck, we moved west and followed a creek. Once we were back on track, I picked up my line of conversation. "So, what you're saying is, we've jumped into the middle of the movie. I'm not finding that comforting."
Logan and Vincent laughed. After the previous day of silence, it was comforting.
"I think it looks like the movie you showed me last Halloween," Rider said. "Dale and Tucker?"
"Wait, does that make us the college kids?" I asked.
Rider laughed, and at least for a short time, we felt more like a team.
With my encouragement, we crossed the water. Shortly after that, I called for a halt.
The trees were sparser here, but we would be in good shape for setting up camp.
"You think this is the spot?" Logan asked.
"For camp I do." I tried to nail down the feeling behind the decision, but it radiated from everywhere. "I think the rest of today's hike needs to be on my own."
Rider and Logan stopped and looked at me.
"We do not know what is in these woods," Rider said. "It is better if we stick together."
"Do you really think the leprechauns will come near me with three other people around?" I asked.
Rider began to object.
"Or with even one other person around? They haven't been seen in centuries. The best chance we have is for me to go on my own.”
"She's right." Vincent didn't even look up from setting up camp. "She's got luck on her side."
"Luck will only get her so far, there are smells out here. Of predators." He glared at Vincent. "What do you think they will do when they sense Cassie?"
Vincent grimaced and looked up at Rider. "Would you rather have us wander around out here for nothing?"
"Yes, if it means she stays with us," Rider said.
"She goes on alone, but not far." Logan added to me, "And get back here before it gets dark."
"Right." I checked over my water supply and food while trying hard to ignore the fact that they'd argued about me going when I had already made the decision. In my mood, it was best not to linger. "I'll see you all soon."
When it came to distances, I was the worst. There was no way for me to judge how far I walked, but I kept a steady pace and moved where my inner guide suggested. There was a small clearing by a stream where I stopped, sensing that now I had to wait. The water rushed by and the breeze blew gently. It wasn't the kind of feeling that you got at a fairy homestead or a gnome hill, but it was a pleasant place to sit.
So many things can go through a person's mind when they have time alone with nothing to do. Thoughts that I had been determined not to think about had been stuffed into small corners of my mind and were now stumbling out. The easy ones, my job, Rider, Logan, and Gran, flew by fast. My mother and my ex took up some time, but those had been squashed down so long that it was their natural state to be ignored.
Thoughts of Vincent were becoming densely tangled into the case, but it was memories of pain and fear that knotted things up. There was guilt there as well. I should have spoken with him after the night with Jin. He was probably as bad off as I was, but I was keeping him away.
Crap, I was crying at work. Who does that? All those thoughts had to be rolled up and crammed into their hiding places.
Concentrating on the sounds of the forest and running water helped to clear my mind. How many people can say they've been truly alone, possibly miles from anyone else? The surprising answer is, almost no one. People may think they're alone, but all types of beings lurk in out of the way places.
After spending some time tuning into the world around me, I spotted three examples.
There was no one to tell me what a leprechaun looked like. What I had expected, the little people in green that you see on posters at St. Patrick's Day were so far from the truth that I wondered who had dreamt them up.
Two people, around three feet tall, watched me. The third was taller than I was and made little alarm bells go off in my mind. The tall man stared at me while smoking a pipe. He faded away into the woods. It was unsettling, and I breathed easier when he disappeared.
The remaining two weren't wearing green as one might expect, or even red, which Logan had said was what the older version of leprechauns wore. Instead, they wore brown, and while their hair was redder than my own, it grew in a tufted way around the head, neck, and face, suggesting they weren't actually of Irish descent.
I was pretty sure they were a type of Lost, maybe one that came here hundreds of years ago and became trapped. But it's hard to say what might have originated in our own world.
The two continued to stare. I didn't make a move beyond looking from one to the next.
Chapter 29
When the luck nudged me to do so, I spoke, the words forming without much thought on my end. "Something was taken from you, and I've brought it back."
One of the two disappeared, but returned quickly with a third person of the same size and shape.
"Uh, someone came and took something from you. I've brought it back?" I hadn't intended it to be a question, but I wasn't sure what I was doing.
"They always come looking." I'm not sure if he was talking to me, or to the others.
"For hundreds of years we go unnoticed, but to a few of our choosing,” another said.
"Now two discover us," said the third.
The first one who spoke continued, "Always looking, but you say
you are returning."
"What is it that you want in exchange?" the second man asked.
"More than we are willing to give, and more than she deserves." The third person clearly didn't like me, I think he was male, but it was hard to say for sure.
They stopped speaking. They stayed well away and appeared to blend in with the trees if I took my eye off them. I waited a moment, reveling in the fact that I was meeting leprechauns.
The second soul wasn't helping me out now, so it looked like I was on my own. "I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to say. I don't want anything and what I have isn't mine to keep."
"Nothing in return," the first one said.
"Well that's not true," the second said.
"She will ask for more than she deserves," the third said again.
"Well," I continued, "I'll give it back no matter what. It doesn't belong to me, but I would like to ask a few questions if you are willing."
"Information can be expensive," the first one sighed.
"Is it worth the luck?" the second one asked.
"We should take what's ours and throw her back," the third said.
I really didn't like the sound of that. "The one that did this. He killed one of you and stole the soul away. I want to know if you saw him. If you know who he is, or if you have any clue, I'm trying to stop him from doing this to any others."
"She wants to help us," the first said.
"What she says may be true," the second said.
"She might want more from the thief than he is willing to give," the third said.
"That's not our concern," the first said.
"She can do what she likes," the second said.
The third crossed his arms. "What she says could be true."
It sounded as if the third was agreeing with the other two, which may have been a signal. All three stepped out into the open but stayed well out of reach.
"What should I call you?" I asked.
They hesitated and looked at each other.
"You'll give us what was taken?" the first asked.
"She has the stolen luck,” the second said.
"You'll return it unconditionally?" the third asked.
I nodded afraid to speak. We really needed to know, but the soul had to go back, no matter what.
"The man who came was like one with you only more," the first said.
"His darkness grows to greater depths," the second said.
"He takes what is not his and walks where no one travels," the third said.
"Do you know what he looked like?" I asked.
The first stamped his foot. "Tall, like your friend."
"Blond like the elf," the second said.
"Hair long like yours," the third said.
I opened my mouth to ask more, but the first leprechaun stamped his foot again.
"She means to trick us," the first said.
"She means what she said," the second said.
"Be patient," the third said.
Somewhere along the way they reversed roles. The three working in unison baffled me.
"I don't want to trick you." They gave me a description to work with. Between Vincent and the AIR data banks, I'm sure we could come up with some leads. Besides, who wants to tick off a leprechaun? Their good luck could mean bad luck for me if I got on their bad side. "Who should I give the soul or the luck to?"
All three blinked at me and rocked on their feet as one.
"She means to give it back," the first said.
The second one blinked in awe.
"You would be willing to hand over the luck?" the third asked.
"It's not mine," I said again.
"You must give it to the one it was stolen from," the third said.
"Is he alive?" My heart jumped. "The other Lost died within days or even hours after what this person did. We can save him?"
"We don't know of the Lost of which you speak," the second one said, "but our friend did not survive."
I slumped, "I was hoping..." Taking a deep breath, I forged on. "Let's give him his luck back."
"Even though he's gone, you're willing to give it back?" the first said.
I had a sneaking suspicion that they were working together to try to catch me in a lie. "Yes."
"We'll take you." The third uncrossed his arms and walked into the woods.
I hurriedly stood and followed. Even with luck on my side, I lost track of them from time to time, so one fell back and stayed with me. The trails they took were for people three feet tall, so I became caught up in the undergrowth and trees on the way. When I walked into a small clearing, I could tell we were close to their home. There was a cave entrance a few feet away, and the entire area felt more alive than any other place I'd been. There were similarities to the homes of other Lost that lived in the wilderness, but somehow this was more vibrant. They took me near the cave and pointed to an area on the ground.
I took a few steps and stopped. "I'm not sure what to do."
"The luck will know." It was possibly the first one again, but I had gotten them mixed up, so it was hard to be sure.
As the sun sank below the tree line, I closed my eyes and concentrated inward. The leprechaun soul gave me the feeling that it was crowded, but it vibrated with relief.
It was home.
With a little hint from the luck, I knelt down and put my hands to the ground. The shards of all the other Lost stuck to my own soul, but the leprechaun had never attached itself like the others. With a little concentration, I felt the warm yellow-green glow flow from me and into the ground.
It left an uncomfortable emptiness behind. I didn't move and stared at the spot for a while. It wasn't until one of the leprechauns stood eye to eye with me that I snapped back to myself. It was the closest one had ever come.
I remained still and watched him closely. "I suppose without the luck, I'll never see you all again."
He winked at me. "Everyone has a little luck." He reached out with his finger and drew what felt like a circle on my forehead.
"What does that do?" I asked.
"Always asking questions," he said. "It marks you as safe. It doesn't mean that you'll see us, but our kind will see you and know you are friend to us."
He moved back to stand with the others.
Before I could stop myself, I asked, "That man I saw earlier with you, the tall man, who was he?"
"Always questions," the first said.
"Even when they make no sense," the second said.
"There was no one there, but you and us three," the third said.
I started to reply, but they shook their heads, so I thought better of it. The sun had set, and shadows were merging together with others to build the night.
"I don't suppose you know which way I need to go?" I asked.
"We will lead you out." The three moved as one and walked into the forest.
There wasn't much choice but to follow, and I knew they wanted to lead me as far as possible from their home.
"I'm having trouble seeing anything," I said after running into a tree branch.
"It's dark," one of the leprechauns said.
I'm pretty sure they were randomly picking directions to walk.
I laughed. "Yes, it's dark. Luckily, my friends can see very well."
"The wild one and the elf," I heard someone say from around my waist.
"They have good hearing too," I said.
"We are almost where they can hear you, but not us."
"You all really didn't see someone standing there when we met?" I asked.
"With luck, you can see what others miss," someone said.
"Even we do not see him. Only his passing. She could not have seen," someone else said.
"Unless he wanted to be seen," said another. "It is time we go."
"I can't tell you how happy I am to have met you all," I said. "I'm sorry it was under these circumstances."
"Be well, Cassie Heidrich."
I didn't hear them leave, but my surr
oundings began to feel drab and empty, so I knew I was alone again.
They hadn't told me which way to go, so I assumed it was the direction they had been taking me. It took me two steps to walk into a tree. Pain jumped up my arm from the injection site when my arm rubbed across the tree bark. I was going to have to talk with Taylor about that spot and see why the pain was still there.
I had decent night vision, but the darks appeared darker here. Rubbing my arm lightly, I took two steps back from the tree. My foot caught on a root, and I fell to the ground.
"Yep, luck is gone," I muttered.
There was no way I was going to get anywhere on my own, so I called out. "Rider! Logan!"
An answering call sounded far away. I stood up and dusted off. When I heard a twig snap, I looked up, expecting Rider.
An old man stood closer than I expected. The moon hit him in a way to make his features stand out.
"Who are you?" I took a step back. "I saw you before."
His beard and hair were long, but they didn't have the unkempt look of a man who might be living off the land.
Why, why, why, did I have to think about Deliverance earlier?
"They marked you." The man was at ease. "That is a rare occurrence indeed."
He didn't seem threatening, but the whole situation was eerie, so I stayed on my guard.
"I think it's rare anyone even sees them." Chancing it in the dark, I closed my eyes briefly and reached out to the Path. This couldn't be a coincidental meeting.
When I opened my eyes, the Path was a mass of brilliant white. That brilliance rushed forward, caused pressure all around me, and then threw me out of the Path.
"No peeking," the man said.
I gasped and staggered back, bouncing off the tree. No one had ever pushed me out of the Path before. I didn't even think it was possible.
"Who are you?" I blinked as if my eyes needed to readjust to the night.
"I am me, and no one else." His voice was higher pitched, almost like an old woman instead of an old man.
Time to raise the bravado. "Look, it's been a long day. What do I call you? Are you human or Lost?"
"I'm as human as you." He laughed hard.
"What's your name?"
"My name?" The man let out a chuckle. "My name! It's been so long since someone's asked me that."
Broken Paths (AIR Book 2) Page 24