“Not all powers in the world are from the Maker though.” Ever stood, suddenly restless. He had never been any good at sitting still. “Many strengths are born of evil, stolen from places in the earth that should never be touched. For example, until recently, the Tumenian monarchy ruled with a dark power of their own, which was originally molded and shaped by greed, greed so intense that it began to aid the hands of its wielders. Others are gifts, or curses, rather, from the enemy of the Maker. Of course, none are as potent as those from the Maker, himself, but,” he stopped and looked at the young man directly, “underestimating our enemies has gotten us into trouble more times than I can tell.”
“That is why we take these individual witches and sorcerers so seriously,” Acelet jumped in. “Even a single person dabbling in powers he should not hold and cannot understand can do a great deal of harm.”
“I’ve heard stories...” Eloy said. “My mother told me once of the Glass Queen as a child, before the queen’s son came here. And trolls. And the Fae! Were the Fae such a people?” His eyes were huge, making their whites stand out against his skin, which was the color of dates.
“Yes and no,” Ever said. “They were an imaginative people, and the Maker gave them the ability to create wondrous worlds of their own from only their minds. He even allowed their homes to be temporary, so they could continue to build and rebuild again to their hearts’ delight. In addition to that, they had the ability to build temporary bridges between their home and everyone else’s so that they could hop between realms and travel the world, taking new ideas with them wherever they went.”
“What happened?” Eloy asked, so enraptured that he seemed to forget the food he was still holding.
“They got greedy. During their first exploration of Destin, they came upon the Fortress and decided it should be their own. The Fortier line was nearly ended during the battle, and as a result, the Maker sealed the veil between worlds, and the Fae were banished to their own land.”
“But it was through these forests that they were said to have made the original visit,” Acelet said as he stirred the stew, his eye glinting with a wicked enjoyment as he watched the young man shiver. “Of course, they’re not the only ones who have haunted this region. In the five hundred years since their disappearance, other evils have taken up residence. Witches, sorcerers, trolls.” He paused and lowered his voice menacingly. “We even found a band of blood seekers here once, a group driven mad by their excess dabbling in the Sorthileige.”
Ever frowned at his general, for he was enjoying Eloy’s discomfort a bit too much for Ever’s taste.
“But why would someone want a bunch of children?” Eloy asked, slowly taking a bite of what by now must have been very cold stew.
“I do not know,” Ever said. “We can only guess that the thief intends to use them for a spell, to threaten the people of Destin, or to lure us into the forest.”
“So this might be a trap?” The young man’s dark skin seemed to pale in the thin moonlight that was now shining down through the trees.
“It probably is.”
“Then why are we here?” Eloy glanced around them, as though he might see the abductor step out of the shadows at right then.
“We need to find these children, regardless of the reason for their disappearance. Besides, the Fortress and its power are with us. Don’t ever forget that this light,” Ever held out his hand and a blue flame appeared suspended above his palm, “is far greater than the darkness through which we now walk.” As he spoke, the blue light flooded the campsite and all of the trees around it.
“So,” Eloy swallowed, “what do we do now that the queen is gone?”
“We wait.”
But in truth, waiting was the last thing in the world that Ever wanted to do.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Henri and Genevieve
Isa groaned as she reached up and felt the tender spot just above her left eye. That would leave a pretty bruise. What had she been thinking, dashing off alone into the house? Guilt pricked at her conscience as she remembered Ever’s warnings. When she opened her eyes, though, Isa was reminded what she had run into the broken house for in the first place.
A little girl, sitting not four feet away, stared at her unashamedly with eyes the color of morning glories and hair as yellow as the sun. She couldn’t have been any older than five. Behind the girl lounged a boy. His eyes and hair were the same color as the girl’s, but he was a good deal older and wore an expression that was far less open.
“Well, hello there.” Isa stopped rubbing her head and reached down to seat herself more properly on the ground. The sun was so bright that she had to squint, so when she finally looked around her, she nearly fell backward in surprise. She and the children were sitting on a small patch of sand in the middle of a great body of water. Isa had never seen the sea before, but that was all she could imagine this unending water to be, as it stretched on to the horizon in all directions. The sun beat down upon them, and the only shade in sight was cast by the two strange trees in the center of their little island, trees that climbed up into the blue sky with only a few wide fan-like leaves at the top. The oddest part of the scene was that their island was not alone. Hundreds of identical islands floated around theirs, each island holding two or three children as well.
And the air that surrounded them was rife with fear.
“Where are we?” Isa whispered, more to herself than the children, but the girl answered her anyway.
“We’re in the Boggart’s land.”
“We are not.” The boy, who was leaning back against one of the trees, crossed his arms and huffed. “I told you, the Boggart isn’t real.”
“If he isn’t real, then why does everything change when we’re asleep?”
“I don’t know, but it is not the Boggart!” He looked at Isa again. “Who are you? You’ve been asleep a long time.”
“My name is... Miss Isa.” Isa decided to forgo her title so the children wouldn’t be even more hesitant to speak with her. Not that being without a title had ever bothered her.
“You’re the first new grownup in the Boggart’s land,” the little girl said matter-of-factly. “All the other grownups just bring us food. They won’t even talk with us even though I tell them I’m bored!”
“And what might your name be?”
“I’m Genny. Well, Stepmother always calls me Genevieve, but I like Genny.”
“Genny it is then.” Isa smiled at the girl, then looked at the boy, who still lounged against the trunk of the smaller tree. He seemed to be all elbows and knees, but there was something about him that was oddly familiar. “And what is your name?”
“That’s Henri,” Genny piped. “He’s mad because he don’t want to be here.” She paused, and the smile suddenly melted from her face. “It’s my fault,” she whispered as she began to twist a lock of her long, yellow hair around one of her fingers.
“What’s your fault?”
“That we’re here. We were lost, and Henri told me not to go to that house of sweets. But I did. And just when I was about to eat it, we came here.”
“We weren’t lost. You’re gettin’ it all wrong. And come here. You’re mussing your hair again.” With an expertise Isa had only ever seen in mothers, the boy lifted the girl and placed her in his lap, where he began to nimbly braid her hair. “Our parents sent us into the forest,” he said in a quieter voice. “Actually, our father and our stepmother. She was never our mother.” His voice grew even quieter.
“What happened?” Isa asked softly.
Henri didn’t answer at first, just kept braiding. Just when Isa thought he might not answer at all, he finished the braid and sighed. “They sent us into the forest. While we were in the forest, a big lightning storm came. While we were out looking for the smell of sweets, we accidentally found our way back to our house, where a tree had landed on the roof.”
“That’s when I asked him to come here,” Genny said. “He smelled it, too, but he wanted to
see the house first.”
“We were already looking for the sweets,” Henri mumbled, reddening a little. “We just found the house by accident along the way.”
“I am so sorry,” Isa managed to say. While most of the missing children had parents who had come to the Fortress begging for help, these children had been, it seemed, unwanted to begin with. How any parent, or even step-parent for that matter, could dispel children was beyond Isa. It might have been a providential thing for the horrid people that the tree had killed them, for if it hadn’t, Isa would have made sure their punishment was swift and severe.
Ugh. Isa shook her head again to herself. Such dark thoughts! Ever had been right. She was far too close to this problem to solve it without bias. But then again, she was too deep now to give up. Besides, Isa had absolutely no idea as to where she was or how she had gotten there. Or, most importantly, how to get out.
“How long have you been here?” Isa asked the boy, who was now tying a worn leather cord at the bottom of Genny’s new braid.
“Five days,” Henri said.
“Every day is different,” Genny added, leaning towards Isa and getting a reprimand from her brother, who was still trying to tie her hair. “Yesterday we were in a meadow of poppies. The day before, we were next to a big puddle.”
“A lake,” Henri corrected her.
“A lake.” Genny rolled her eyes dramatically, then she looked at Isa with a sudden intensity. “There is lots of power here. I can feel it.”
Isa frowned, examining the children once again, more closely this time. How was the girl able to sense the power that surrounded them? Most humans could feel dark power in some sense, but to them, it was merely uncomfortable. Genny, however, not only felt the darkness but knew exactly what it was.
Before Isa had time to ask, a shadow rose out of the water behind her. Isa spun to face it, hand on the hilt of her sword. A woman stood before her, oddly dry though she had just risen out of the lake. She held her hands out in front of her, then slowly put a finger to her lips.
“Please,” she whispered. “You must come with me. Quickly!”
“What for?” Isa asked, hand still on her sword.
The woman glanced over her shoulder, though Isa could see nothing but more water and islands behind her. “They will be angry if they find out I’m helping you! Now come, before they realize I have gone!”
Isa looked back at the children. Genny looked worried as she stuck her thumb in her mouth. Even Henri seemed disconcerted. “What do you want of me?” She turned back to the woman.
“I promise you will be returned to them. I need your help, though. I am trying to get you home!” The woman glanced around again.
Still, Isa hesitated. Something felt very wrong. In fact, everything about this situation felt wrong. But, she figured, what more damage could she do by following along and seeing what this woman wanted? Finally, Isa nodded.
Without a word, the woman took her by the wrist and pulled Isa into the water. Isa fought to grab a breath before being pulled under, but to her shock, as soon as she was underwater, she sucked in a breath only to realize that she could breathe.
“How—”
But the woman held up her hand and shook her head before turning and beginning to swim. Unfortunately, Isa had never been a very good swimmer, and after only half a minute was lagging behind. Her long dress made it hard to kick, and the muscles she strengthened in the practice room were far different from the ones used to swim.
Just when Isa’s arms felt like they might fall off from all the swimming, the woman stopped. Isa stopped, too, but couldn’t see what the woman was looking at. The pile of sand at their feet looked just like any other. And yet, when the woman touched it, a hole opened up, barely wide enough for a single person to fit through. After one more careful look around, the woman dove into the black hole. Fortress, Isa silently prayed, that looks like a terrible way to die. Please let me come back out alive. Then she grabbed at the edges and pulled herself through.
As soon as she was inside, Isa heard a thumping sound. The hole was covered, and for a moment she stood in inky blackness. It didn’t last long, though, for much to Isa’s shock, a candle was lighted, and the woman sat upon a rock, facing her. They were in a cavern of sorts, with walls made of a black rock riddled with holes.
“How are we...” But Isa couldn’t finish the question as she stared at the underwater candle. It was all too much.
“I am sorry for the... unusual method of bringing you here,” the woman said in a rich, low voice. “But my people will not look kindly upon an assisted escape, and that is exactly what I am trying to help you do. They won’t think to look here.” She stretched out a hand, palm up. “My name is Sacha.”
As they briefly grasped hands, Isa realized that the woman, who she had thought to be young at first, was quite a few years older than herself and probably even older than Ever. Her long goldenrod hair was pulled back into a convenient twist at the back of her neck, and the thinnest of lines edged her eyes and neck. Her face had a certain, undeniable handsomeness to it, though, with its angular shape and even proportions. Her gray eyes watched Isa just as curiously as Isa studied her. Isa suddenly had the sensation of having seen this stranger before. It was the same feeling she’d gotten with Henri, although she knew without a doubt that she would have remembered someone with such specific features. Who was this woman? Or rather, what was she? Was she a human, or something else?
“I thank you,” Isa said cautiously. “I must admit, though, that I am a bit confused. Where are we, and how did we all get here?”
“I will be frank with you. You and the children have stumbled into the world of the Fae.”
“The Fae!” Isa gasped. “But our worlds were sealed off after...”
“After my people attempted to take control of your kingdom.” The woman nodded. “Yes, I know. But somehow, the veil has been reopened.”
Isa frowned. Ever had told her once that the veil between the worlds had been sealed by the fire of the Fortiers. Such a seal could not have torn easily.
“I do not know how.” The woman shook her head. “All I know is that a few months ago, the children began to appear in our world. As soon as my people realized they were human, they began to capture and keep them.”
Isa nodded. “But I still don’t understand how we got here.” She waved her hand at the underwater cave. “And Genny said something about the world changing every night?”
“I’m afraid that in order to understand that, you will need to know a little more of our world,” Sacha said as she settled herself on a rock. It was so odd to watch her hair move up and down with the currents of the water, but to be able to breathe and speak as though they were above ground. “My people live in a world of constant change,” Sacha said. “Unfortunately, it seems your human children are more sensitive to the tear than most of your human adults. That is, except for you, of course. I hope this isn’t too forward, but I must ask. However did you find us?”
Isa had many, many of her own questions to ask before she wanted to answer any of Sacha’s, such as how they spoke the same language when they were from such different worlds, or about the house of sweets, which Isa knew the children had seen before entering the little cottage, or how the woman appeared to be so familiar with their customs with so little interaction between the peoples. So she decided to indulge this request as simply as possible, and see what results it bought her. “I came in search of the children.”
At this, the woman’s gray eyes grew large. “You don’t have a child of your own who—”
“No,” Isa said quickly, trying to quell the pain as it tried to grab hold of her.
“Oh,” the woman said softly. “I only meant to reunite you should you have had children here. No mind then.” They were quiet for a moment as Isa put herself back together. Finally, Sacha spoke, placing her hand in her hair twist absentmindedly. “The two children in your pod seemed to like you well enough. It’s quite curious.
None of my attendants can get the boy to speak.”
“My pod?”
“At the moment, it looks like an island. But really, it’s the way my people are keeping the children in their places.”
“As in cages?” Isa frowned.
“I suppose you could put it that way. They look less intimidating because we can make our world look just as we want it. Islands, coves, clouds.” She shrugged. “They all look better than cages. I opened yours quickly enough that my people shouldn’t have noticed.”
“So what do you need me for?” Isa stood and walked nonchalantly to the nearest cavern wall. She touched it. The wall was solid, but at the same time, it felt as though her hand might pass right through.
“I need your help to find the tear in the veil. I want to send you all back before I try to reseal the veil once more.”
Isa turned to study Sacha once more, trying to probe her heart as she did. But to her surprise, the woman’s heart was as hard to reach as the strange hole they’d swum into. Was that simply because she was Fae? For a brief moment, Isa closed her eyes and pressed harder, until she was nearly shaking with the effort. Finally, she felt something. It wasn’t much, but Isa suddenly felt sure that for whatever her reasons, Sacha truly did wish to help them find the opening in the veil.
“I’m grateful for your help. Truly. But I have to ask... why are you risking so much to help us?” Isa had to know.
Sacha looked at Isa for a long moment. Sadness flitted through her eyes and heart. “This tear isn’t new,” she finally said. “I don’t know why the children have begun to come now. No one has been here for years. They aren’t the first, though.” She shook her head. “There was a man who moved through the veil and into our world long before the children.”
Beauty Beheld: A Retelling of Hansel and Gretel (The Becoming Beauty Trilogy Book 3) Page 5