A small panicked voice stopped him before he’d gone more than a few steps. “No! Not that way.”
Arret and the others glanced back at Emerald, her green eyes glowing out of her childish face in the dark. She glanced at her mother and seemed to hesitate as they looked at her expectantly. “… Daisy says the Juggats are that way. Feeding on a large killing of Willa deer.”
“What are you prattling on about? There have been no signs of Juggats, and that way is the quickest route across.”
Elise stared at her daughter’s guilty eyes. She was sure Daisy hadn’t told her anything. Still, she was well aware of her ability as a seer. If she said it was dangerous that way, she wasn’t going to question her.
Arret added. “I’ve been instructed to get you to the border safely, I say we go the way we planned…”
Elise interrupted him. “Then go, Emerald and I will cross a different way.”
“Through Jordan’s spine, mama. That’s the safest way tonight.”
“What the hell? That way in the dark? The thorns will rip us to shreds.”
“But we will live, and right now we are wasting time.” Without another word, Elise moved towards the east and another path that cut through the small woods that narrowed to nearly impassable within the first few feet.
Swearing, Arret and the others followed.
Movement through the spine in broad daylight was tricky, but it could be done. At night the thorny protrusions, tipped in a viscous fluid that stung and burned if it broke the skin, grabbed the unwary with vicious intent.
The night air floated with the multiple curses and hisses of pain as they fumbled their way through. “As much blood as we’re losing, the Juggat’s will smell us a mile away.” Arret snarled, yanking one arm free of a ripping branch, only to ensnare it in another.
Elise winced and pulled her own hand free. Her mount sneezed, the sound loud in the night, and chuffed in irritation, shuddering. The horses weren’t escaping unscathed either.
On the other end they emerged into the open and stared in relief up at the twin moons, lighting up the open expanse of prairie they still had to cross. A sudden roar in the distance, followed by an answering snarl of pissed off, broke the silence. They estimated it was close to a half mile away, across a wide plain. Juggat Dragons feeding. They didn’t like to share.
Arret emerged from behind, pulling thorns from the back of his hand and his mount’s neck. “We need to hurry before they smell blood fresher than what they just killed.” The horses sensed the danger too, moving restlessly and pawing the earth in agitation.
They urged their mounts into a canter.
#
Dawn was less than an hour away when they reached the border. The horses were done in, sides heaving, heads hanging low when they dismounted. The group shared their dwindling water supply with their horses. This was where they parted ways. The sentries would return to Morei’s stronghold. Elise and Emerald would continue on, through the portal into Drae Hallow, if they could find it.
Six pairs of eyes turned in Emerald’s direction. “So, where is it? Arret asked.”
Emerald stared at the mass of boulders. A dark spot in the middle beckoned, but she knew that was wrong. The shadows lied now. That way was blocked. Once it had been a way in, but Momma’s friend Sadie had sealed it over a year ago, before she was born. She followed the long line of boulders strewn along the edge of a mighty cliff that dropped away into a deep canyon. A shiver went through her that felt like an unwelcome memory. She thought back to the dream, the feeling of falling forward into space. She gulped.
“There.” She pointed a slim, shaking finger towards the canyon.
“Where?” Elise asked in confusion.
Emeralds freckled skin paled further. “I remember. Anyone up for a leap of faith?” Something shimmered in the air, several feet off the edge of the cliff, dangling in midair.
Elise turned, grim faced, towards the sentries. “You need to go. You have little time to get back and hidden before the Juggat Dragons wander this way towards their dens. I hate to think you are going to be their morning snack.”
“What about you? Is she saying you have to leap off that ledge into empty space? I’d rather take my chances with the Juggat’s”
Elise’s lips thinned. “And that’s exactly what you will do if you don’t shut up and go,” she finished pointedly.
Arret sighed and nodded to his companions. “Let’s go. I’m suddenly sure I don’t want to see how this comes out.”
Elise and Emerald watched them move out. A series of sharp trills some distance off sounded. The Juggat Dragons were coming.
Elise turned to her daughter. “Just where exactly is this portal again.” She asked, turning to unsaddle her horse. They’d stand a better chance of making it back without the loose tack slowing them down.
Emerald frowned, her brow knit in concentration as she pulled the bridle over Daisy’s head. “You heard me. Bale says we need to hurry.”
Elise started, turning in her direction as her mount took off without waiting, eyes rolling white with fear, hooves kicking up sod. “Who told you what?”
Emerald shook her head. “Never-mind.” She gathered her pack up and slung it to her shoulder and moved towards the Canyon’s edge, skirting along it for several yards before stopping.
Elise joined her. Together they stared at the faintest shimmer of air that resembled the feeling one got from staring through a thin waterfall. The surface of the portal glimmered and shuddered… five feet away from the edge. Between its surface and the edge of land they stood on, was a lot of straight down.
“We need to jump?” Elise asked, face paling..
Emerald sent her mother a less than friendly glare and nodded. “You first?”
Elise suddenly giggled, the sound a trifle hysterical. “Oh no. I think this one is all you.”
Emerald nodded, chancing a worried glance back over their shoulders.
“Together then?”
Elise held out her hand and Emerald clasped it in a bone-crushing grip.
They heard the Juggats emerge from the woods behind them, their heavy breath expelled in a roar of rage as they charged their victims.
But they were already running. Together, they leapt off the edge and into space, launching themselves dead center of the portal and praying it would fit them both at the same time.
#
They landed hard on the inside of Drae Hallow on the side of a hill, rolling down its length and stopping within a matter of feet from the water’s edge of Bane Lake in a tangle of limbs and bruised muscles. Neither moved for several moments, staring up into the bright mid-morning sun through the dappled leaves of the young maple trees that grew near the edge.
Emerald was the first to move, standing to look around in fascination at her first look in an alternate dimension. Earth and Wyndoor had certain features in common. But there were enough differences to hold the attention of a young girl, and Emerald was no exception. She gazed around her in wonder, blinking in the bright sun.
Elise was less enchanted. She remembered the last time she’d been on this side of the dimensional portal; starving and waiting in a Magical jail cell to be put to death. The sooner they got what they’d come for and were back on the other side of that portal in Wyndoor, the better she’d feel.
Looking around, Elise tried to remember where she was, feeling disoriented after so many months. Now that she was here, she really had no idea how she was going to go about finding either Jerry or Sadie.
Firming her lips, Elise led them up the trail. She knew her way to the inter-dimensional portal doorway that led to the outside of Shephard’s Mountain?
Thinking ahead to the pattern that opened the passage to the inside of Shephard’s mountain, she worried her bottom lip. She had no idea how to work the code to open the door. But it was the only way to the other side of the mountain where they needed to go.
She wouldn’t bother with entering Breathless. She remember
ed that Jerry Waverly’s house had burned down and he was rebuilding somewhere along the same ridge the Tuttles lived on. She’d start there and hope she got lucky.
Elise turned to Emerald, busy studying the slow ambling crawl of a praying mantis, his head cocked and staring at the young girl in equal fascination. “Are you ready? We need to get going.”
Emerald straightened right away and together they climbed back to the top of the hill and onto the trail that ran along Bane lake until it split somewhere to the north; one path leading into Bitterroot, the other to the portal.
When they hit the fork in the path, Elise barely hesitated before taking the left. The right held any number of memories, not a single one of them good.
#
Emerald reached up and traced a childish finger along the pattern, amused when it lit up and sparkled at her touch. But nothing opened. Elise had already tried, with much the same results. Damn. Now what?
Everything she needed was through the mountain and on the other side.
Expelling a frustrated breath, she looked at her daughter, worry gnawing at her insides. If they weren’t already dead, both Jorta and Ab’et depended on her to find the answers to what was turning back the clock on several centuries of civility and reverting her friends and family to worse monsters than they’d originally been. And despite her grandfather’s claims otherwise, she wasn’t nearly as convinced as he’d been of his ability to defend himself against the hordes that were likely already pounding at his door, so to speak. How long would he be able to hold out?
The only way out that she could think of without the pattern was for them to hide, and then hope they could follow the next Magical that went through without getting caught. It was far from an ideal solution.
“Emerald, let’s move back out of site. I think we’re just going to have to wait and hope for the best.”
Emerald shrugged and followed her mother as they backtracked along the path, searching for a suitable spot to tuck in and wait.
Late afternoon arrived and the shadows thickened on the ground and grew long, deepening the shade of the large Oak tree they sat in, only a few feet off the ground. Emerald seemed content to observe from the vee of the large branch she reclined on. Elise was less enchanted, but it was a warm fall morning and the weather was pleasant at least. Both dozed.
#
The path that led behind her house and meandered through the woods towards Bane Lake was hard packed earth and easy for Wendy’s motorized chair to tool along on a bright fall day. She admired the orange and yellow foliage and the deep crisp loamy scent of early fall as she reached her own little private spot. She angled the chair off the main trail until it was nearly out of sight behind the huge maple, the carpet of bright leaves crunching beneath the wheels. Anticipation gnawed at her gut as she took a last look around and called her fox.
The tingle along her fingertips and down her arms and legs hurt, the pop of joints and reforming bones making her shudder in agony. Every bit was a welcome pain as dead muscles came alive with feeling. Within a matter of moments, Wendy Seul had shed her human skin and clothes. In their place sat a small red fox, pink tongue lolling happily as she stretched this way and that, feeling the squeeze and pull of muscles useless in her human form. The twinge of pain in her right back leg reminded her that not all the damage was repaired. But she could run! She hopped off the chair and returned to the trail, moving deeper along its length. It narrowed as it turned towards Bane Lake, and the possibility of a tasty mouse or the chance to dip her white-tipped paws in the cool waters along its shoreline made her stride lengthen. Freedom shivered through her and she gave several short happy yips as she stretched her muscles and ran.
Despite the heavy cover of night, she saw Elise and Emerald perched in the maple tree long before they were aware of her. She slammed to a halt in surprise when she did and then sat out of sight for several long moments to observe them as they slept. The child was unfamiliar. But she remembered the woman. Oh, yes indeed.
#
When the small bronze fox ambled into view below them Elise watched its progress with curiosity. Her night vision was excellent and she could make out every whisker. If she’d been inclined, it would have made a suitable snack. Emerald was sleeping, her mouth hanging open, chin tucked on her chest.
Elise watched the little fox move along the path, expecting the small animal to pass them by unnoticed. So it nonplussed her when instead it stopped dead center of the trail, parked its behind in the dust, tail curling around its slim body and looked straight up at her. Brilliant blue eyes sparkled as they met Elise’s lighter blue eyes with human intelligence. Elise started. An Other; she’d been outed.
Her muscles bunched and she stiffened her posture. Should she attack before the Magical informed its brethren of their presence? Before it was too late?
The fox sneezed, its eyes moving along the branch to where Emerald had woken and was blinking the sleep from her eyes.
Fox and child stared at each other, green eyes on sharp blue. The small creature gave a high sharp yip and Emerald laughed. She untangled herself from the heavy trunk of the tree and jumped down and crouched on the ground. Immediately, the little animal wandered closer until the fox and child were nearly nose to nose. Emerald giggled, enthralled. “What a beauty you are,” she breathed.
The little animal yipped again, as if to say, of course I am! Then plopped down on its rear haunches and cocked its head sideways as if to listen.
Emerald considered her new little friend, her eyes sparking in sudden comprehension.
“Sadie Cross. And Jerry Waverly. We need to find them. Can you help us?”
Elise was just climbing down from her lofty perch, still undecided on whether killing the shifter would be the best course of action, when she heard her daughter’s last words. She gasped, staring at her daughter in disapproval. Now she’d told it their business too!
Emerald was nodding and getting to her feet. “Mom, she wants us to follow her. I think she’s gonna help us.” Elise stared at her daughter’s trim form as she fell in line behind the small animal racing up the trail. She should question her, chastise her for her foolishness. Instead, she tucked in behind them both. She’d learned a long time ago to trust her daughter’s oddities. Besides, they’d been waiting for hours and seen no one.
Ahead, the red fox dipped in and out of the shadows, skirting dead fall and more with ease. As they trotted to keep up Elise realized something. As quick as she was, the Other was crippled. She was dragging her back leg behind her.
CHAPTER FIVE
The moon cast slim echoes of light ahead as they moved wraith like through the woods. Combined with their preternatural sight, they could make out everything they passed. Which included the looming shadows cast by the buildings of Rule 9 Academy, visible through the veil of trees on their left. It was nearing midnight, and unless you were a nocturnal animal or a vampire; you were most likely in bed. The only other being that might be out at this time of night was probably up to no good.
When the fox stopped dead in its tracks, small nose quivering and lifting to scent the air, Elise and Emerald did the same, eyes sharpening as they followed the tilt of that slim head. Her attention appeared to focus on the building that sat front and center of the compound, the outer half of it encased almost entirely in glass. As they watched, a tall figure moved along the front sidewalk and up the steps. At the door, the shadowy form turned as if sensing the weight of eyes upon its person and seemed to stare straight at them. All three remained immobile, though it was difficult not to follow their instincts to crouch and hide. They had to trust the thick edge of the wood’s shadows to conceal them.
Something about the figure made Elise’s heart beat faster, and her breathing grew difficult as panic threatened to swamp her. Something about the build and motion of that figure was familiar. She remembered well the shape and demeanor of the man that had sentenced her family to death by decapitation.
After more time th
an was comfortable, the figure turned and fumbled with the door before entering. No lights winked on and the figure disappeared from view inside the building for whatever purpose he had planned, legal or otherwise.
Emerald shot her mother’s waxy complexion a concerned look. Elise shook her head, firming her lips and giving a sharp jerk of her head to proceed. They moved on, skirting the rest of Rule 9 and emerging onto the short path behind the main buildings.
They entered a clearing, manmade and small. A large fire pit took center stage, surrounded on three sides with several rows of tiered benches, forming a small amphitheater in the middle of the woods. The little fox turned and waited for them, nose quivering and blue eyes direct as she hesitated and waited for her companions.
“I don’t see Sadie or Jerry. Were we really going to find them in the middle of the woods?” Elise hissed sarcastically. Had it had led them on a useless journey to nowhere?
Emerald nodded and spoke up, her eyes intent on the fox. “I think she wants us to wait here.” Elise shot her daughter an impatient look.
“How long? And since when did you talk to animals? That’s a new one.”
Though it was difficult to tell for sure, she thought her daughter might have blushed. “I’m not. Not really. I just get a sense of what they want. And she’s not an animal, not really, is she?”
Elise looked away. No, she was mostly human and she could run back to rule 9 and the judge and who knew who else and tell them exactly where to find them. Then it would be game over. She tried to tamp down the rising unease. She wondered what the age limit was for decapitation. Would they consider Emerald to be a criminal too?
“I don’t like it. Not at all. You’re asking me to trust an Other with ties to this world and no knowledge of ours. That way lays a fool’s journey.”
“I know, mother. But we have little choice. Trust me.”
Elise scowled, “But I don’t have to trust her.”
The little fox stood and gave a shudder, reaching up with a hind foot to itch behind its ear before it gave them a last look and promptly wandered off, back towards Rule 9 Academy.
Rule 9 Academy Series Boxset: Books 3-5 Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy (Rule 9 Academy Box Sets (3 Book Series) 2) Page 30