Coal: Book One of the Everleaf Series

by Constance Burris

  "No buts. Keep your promise."

  "What am I supposed to do? Chalcedony isn't listening to me," Coal said, despair weighing heavy on his chest.

  "You do whatever it takes," she ordered before she knocked on the door. Djamel opened it, and she was gone. Coal watched the door, too ashamed to face Elizabeth.

  "Are they going to kill me?" Elizabeth asked, filling the silence.

  He faced her and tried to sound cheerful. "No. They were just trying to scare you. Everything will be better in the morning."

  "Can I go home tomorrow?"

  "Maybe. If you go directly to sleep." The lie cut at his heart. But what did it matter? She'd be gone tomorrow, and he'd never see her again.

  "Okay. I'll be good." She wiped her nose on the back of her hand before she clenched her eyes and feigned sleep.

  As he paced the room, he kicked a small bottle across the floor. After he picked it up, he realized it was the sleeping potion Mireya had told him didn't work on Elizabeth. His heart quickened as he stared at the small bottle in his hand. Had Mireya left it on purpose? She'd already told him it didn't work on Elizabeth, but it could work on others ...

  Do whatever it takes to keep your promise.

  Before he lost his nerve, he knocked on the door and pulled off the black stopper of the potion.

  Djamel opened the door with a hand on his sword. "What is it?"

  Coal brought the bottle up to his mouth and blew. As soon as the dust hit Djamel's face, his eyelids closed and he fell backward. Coal grabbed Djamel's shirt and pulled him into the room before he hit the floor. It took all Coal's strength to pull the unconscious fey onto the bed before he ran to the door and closed it.

  Elizabeth stood in the corner of the room shaking. "Is he dead?"

  "No," Coal replied, shocked by the question. "I just used some of your sleeping potion on him."

  She cried as if she didn't believe him and thought she would be next.

  "I promise. He's not dead," Coal said. "See? His chest is moving. He's breathing."

  Elizabeth walked slowly over to Djamel's motionless body. "Oh."

  "Lizzy, do you really want to go back home?"

  "Yes," she whispered as if she was scared to wake up Djamel.

  "Then, you have to trust me. You can't cry. You've seen Chaley. Princesses are strong. They don't cry, and they don't hesitate."

  "I don't want to be a princess anymore. I just want my momma." She began crying again.

  "Princess or not, you do not get to cry. No crying until you get home. Do you understand me?"

  She stopped sobbing, but her lips quivered.

  "If you want to go home, you can't cry," Coal said. "You have to be brave."

  "Like a soldier?"

  "Yes, be a soldier. You have to promise to do what I say, or you won't make it back to your mom."

  "I'll be brave. I promise," she said, sounding more confident.

  "Good, let's go."

  He covered her in the cloak she had worn earlier and carried her out of his room.

  Coal's heart pounded in his ears as he and Elizabeth hurried to Chalcedony's room. They'd been lucky. The hall and the stairs were empty. Everyone was either in the conference room discussing Elizabeth's punishment or cleaning the mess from the party.

  He put Elizabeth down in front of Chalcedony's door and motioned for Elizabeth to stay quiet by placing his index finger on his lips. She nodded.

  "Chaley," he whispered, praying no one would answer. Magic guarded the door, and Madoc, Coal, Chalcedony's shadows, and now Elizabeth were the only ones allowed to enter the room. If an intruder entered, Legacy would alert Chalcedony and Madoc.

  When no one answered, Coal turned the doorknob. He was about to enter when Elizabeth pulled him back.

  "No," she whispered, fresh tears glistening in her eyes.

  He bent down and tried to put as much urgency in his voice as he could while still whispering. "The way out of Legacy is through Chaley's room. You don't have to be afraid. She's not in there. It's empty."

  Elizabeth didn't look reassured. She held his hand so tight it was going numb, but when he stood and entered the room, she followed.

  The moonlight beamed through the window, highlighting the dressing screen. It almost felt like an omen, Coal thought as he walked further into the room.

  "Are we climbing out of the window?" Elizabeth asked.

  "No, there is a magic portal behind the screen."

  "Oh," Elizabeth said, making it sound like a question.

  He stopped when he saw Mischief sheathed on the bed. The sight made his hand itch. What if Bren had disobeyed Chalcedony's order and still patrolled the forest?

  With the sword strapped to his back, they continued to the back of the screen. He'd return it as soon as Elizabeth was back home, he promised himself.

  Elizabeth moved closer as they huddled together in the cramped space. Moonlight spilled over the top, giving them enough light to see.

  "How does it work?" Elizabeth whispered.

  "I say the spell, and then we'll be magically transported to the forest."

  "But we're human. You said humans can't do magic."

  "According to Chaley, the door holds most of the magic. If I can do a little magic, the screen should do the rest."

  He didn't tell her about how Chalcedony had made him promise not to use it. Chalcedony would understand, he reassured himself. She'd be mad at first, but he was giving her a way out of punishing Elizabeth. Instead of her looking weak, he'd be the traitor--the human gone bad. That's what they'd always expected from him anyway.

  "Are you ready?"

  Elizabeth nodded.

  Coal closed his eyes and recited the simple verse Chalcedony had taught him when they were young. "Take me from this place. Take me to the forest. Let me run. Let me be free."

  Chapter Nine

  Coal opened his eyes, expecting grass underneath his feet, but Legacy's wooden floor was still beneath him. He bit his lip. Elizabeth stood with her eyes closed so tight it seemed as if she were steeling herself against getting hit.

  I must've said it wrong. He began the verse again. This time, he kept his eyes opened and enunciated each syllable of the spell.

  Nothing happened.

  Elizabeth opened her eyes. "Are we almost there?"

  "One more time," he said, with false cheerfulness.

  He repeated the spell.

  Once again, nothing happened.

  Maybe she'd moved the door or changed the spell. But she'd told him it had been the same for generations. What am I doing wrong? he thought frantically.

  Then he remembered. The first time he'd used the portal, Chalcedony had said the rhyme quietly with him. He'd thought it was strange at the time, but he'd dismissed it as Chalcedony making sure he'd said the spell right. He had been so eager to believe he had magic that he'd ignored the fact she'd also been saying the spell.

  Chalcedony had made the door work, not him, he realized. She'd told him that anyone with a little bit of magic could open it, and he'd believed her. His heart ached as he admitted to himself that he had no other plan to get Elizabeth past the guards.

  "Lizzy, it's not working. I'll have to think of some other way to get us out."

  "What's wrong with it?" she asked.

  "I thought I had enough magic to make it work, but I don't."

  "Maybe I do," she whispered.

  "We can't do it because we're humans. I'll think of something else. There has to be another--" He stopped short when he heard something outside Chalcedony's door.

  "Someone's coming." He wasn't sure what Chalcedony would do if she found them there, but once they found Djamel passed out in his room, there was no way he could pretend he wasn't trying to escape with Elizabeth.

  He looked down to check on Elizabeth when he heard her reciting the spell.

  "We're human, it won't work," he said, just before the world disappeared and the force of something invisible and dark took his breath away.
/>   After a few horror-filled heartbeats, the world reappeared under Coal's feet. Unable to keep his balance, he fell to his knees. His heart beat as if it were going to explode. His head hurt. It was as if he'd been ripped out of Legacy and a little piece of his brain had remained behind. For longer than he would have thought possible, his world was nothing but pain and chaos. He pulled at something--the wet grass--as a bout of pain shot through his head. Slowly, the worst of the pain passed.

  He had been holding hands with a little girl--Lizzy.

  He opened his eyes. The moon, although bright, only showed the silhouette of wildflowers and trees. "Lizzy," he muttered, "where are you?"

  Something groaned in the distance.

  "Lizzy!" On his hands and knees, he tried to determine the direction of the moan. His head felt like it was about to burst. What had happened to him? This hadn't happened when he'd used the portal with Chalcedony. What if he had hurt Elizabeth? He stood, trying his best to ignore the searing pain.

  "Lizzy, where are you?"

  "Ahhh," Elizabeth moaned.

  Searching, he saw her black cloak lying a few yards away. He half-ran, half-stumbled towards her.

  "Are you okay?"

  "That was fun." She giggled.

  He pushed her away. "You scared me."

  She stood, laughing. "That was so much fun!"

  Coal grabbed his head; her laughter made his headache worse.

  "Are you okay?" she asked.

  He took his hands from his head and opened his eyes. "I'm okay. How are you?"

  "I'm fine." She jumped up and down. "Did I do magic? I did magic, didn't I?" Her face glowed in the moonlight. The brightness hurt his eyes, and he had to look away.

  "I don't know if you did magic." Why was his head hurting? He assumed it was from the portal, but if so, why wasn't Elizabeth in pain?

  "Then why didn't it work with you?"

  "I don't know." His head hurt too much to think of an answer. He didn't care. He should have cared, but he didn't. "What are we doing in the middle of the forest? We should go back home to Chaley."

  Her smile disappeared. She dimmed, almost blending into the darkness once again. "No. You promised to take me back home."

  "Take you back home?" he repeated. Then, he remembered why they were there. How had he forgotten? He breathed deeply, and the world became less foggy. "Yes, I'll take you home, and then I can return to Legacy. That's the plan."

  "Okay." She clung to his hand. "Which way do we go?"

  "Princess," Avonnah said through Chalcedony's door.

  Chalcedony moaned and peered outside her window. The sun was still low in the sky in an early, dark-blue dawn. "Go away. I'm sleeping!"

  "B-b-but--" Avonnah stuttered. "It's important."

  "You heard me. Go away."

  There was always something important. Urgent matters that couldn't wait, but she needed sleep. Staying up half of the night listening to the dwarves and the giants argue about the punishment of a little girl had been draining. However, by the end of the night, they had bonded and agreed to work together on their water problem.

  Now, she deserved some rest.

  Just as she had managed to fall back to sleep, Madoc's voice boomed through the door. "Wake up, Chalcedony."

  "It's early. Let me sleep. Can't you wait one more hour until you have me send a little girl to be worked to death?"

  "They're gone."

  Chalcedony lifted her head from her pillow, heart racing. "Who's gone?"

  "Coal and the child," Madoc answered. "They've run away."

  She jumped out of bed, almost tripping on the blanket wrapped around her foot. She threw open the door. Run away? Coal and Elizabeth? "That's impossible. Djamel is guarding them."

  "He was knocked out by the sleeping potion that was supposed to be used on the girl."

  Her thoughts were racing, but she asked coolly, "How long have they been missing?"

  "No one noticed Djamel was gone until five minutes ago."

  Coal would never run away. She had given him permission to lead his own life, yes. But he would never leave without saying goodbye. "I assume you've already locked down Legacy, and you're searching the town?"

  "Of course," Madoc said.

  Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. She fought the urge to place her hands in her hair and let everything soak in a bit longer, but hesitation was not part of her training. "Is Djamel still in Coal's room?"

  "Yes. He's having a hard time recovering from the sleeping potion."

  She walked past Madoc and Avonnah and headed for Coal's room. Madoc's Rule Number Ten: See It For Yourself. Only Rely On Second-Hand Information If You Have No Other Choice.

  Djamel sat on Coal's bed, cradling his head.

  "Djamel, what happened?"

  He saw her and quickly averted his eyes. She didn't know if it was because she was wearing her nightclothes, a bra, and panties, or he was ashamed for letting a human boy outmaneuver him. With as many ladies as Djamel was rumored to court, it was probably the latter.

  "Talk," Chalcedony ordered.

  "Yes, Princess." He kept his gaze on the floor. "Coal knocked on the door, I opened it, and then he blew something in my face. The next thing I know I'm being doused with water."

  She made herself stand completely still, watching for any movement from Djamel that might indicate he was lying. "What time were you knocked out?"

  He closed his eyes as if to concentrate. "Not long after I was ordered to his room."

  "Are you sure no one took them? We had a lot of guests last night."

  "It was Coal who blew the potion at me. No one else was in the room except for the girl."

  "Legacy's protective spells would have alerted us if anyone had tried to take them by force," Madoc added.

  She bit her lip. "Where the hell would they go?" she said, more to herself than anyone else.

  But Djamel answered, "He seemed intent on getting that girl home."

  "Avonnah, did anyone see them leave?"

  "They didn't leave through any of the main entrances. The guards were adamant about that."

  "Damn him." There was only one other way out. "Damn him!"

  "Get up, Djamel," Chalcedony crossed her arms and tilted her head. "You had a very simple task: keep Coal in his room."

  "I know, Princess. I failed."

  "Avonnah, you were just promoted." Chalcedony never took her gaze from Djamel. "Give her your sword."

  He grimaced, but then straightened his face just as quickly. It wasn't much, but demoting him made her feel a little better.

  "Avonnah, get a group of guards together and meet me in my room," Chalcedony ordered before she left.

  Damn him! Coal was such an idiot. She should have known he was going to do something like this. She understood him trying to protect the girl out of his overblown sense of morality. But betray her? He would never do that. There had to be some other explanation.

  "Are we almost there?" Elizabeth asked with a low, nervous voice. The only sound in the forest was the shuffling of their feet and chirping crickets. It was still dark, but the sun had begun peeking from behind the horizon.

  "Yes." He hoped she didn't hear the doubt in his voice. They'd been walking all night, and they should have run into the door by now. When he'd come with Chalcedony, it had been daytime. The darkness made him doubt himself.

  "Your hand is sweaty," Elizabeth said.

  Coal laughed. A little while ago, it had been her hand that was sweaty. "I'm a little hot."

  "But it's cold out here."

  Coal shrugged. Maybe he wasn't hot. Maybe he was cold. "We have to hurry. We still have far to go."

  "You said we were almost there."

  "We'll be there soon," he said sharply. He didn't want to answer any more questions. Time was no longer making sense. His eyelids felt as if they weighed a ton, and his feet dragged. Every movement took all of his strength. He should have stayed at Legacy.

  "Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked.

&
nbsp; "I'm fine," he lied. "We're almost there."

  "How can you tell? Your eyes are closed."

  "No, they aren't." He forced his eyes open. The effort made him fall to the ground. "Just let me rest for a little while."

  "Get up. We don't have time to rest. Let's go." She pulled his arm, groaning with the effort.

  "I'm up." Coal made it to his knees. His head hurt. His entire body hurt. A small, cool hand touched his forehead.

  "You're hot," Elizabeth said. "What's wrong with you?"

  "Nothing is wrong with me." He tried to stand, but fell and everything began to spin. Am I dying? I can't die out here. Who will take Lizzy home if I die? "Come on. We have to go back."

  "No. You said we can't."

  "We have to. We don't belong here." He became stronger just saying the words. He grabbed Elizabeth and began dragging her, his strength finally returning. It felt good to feel good.

  "No," Elizabeth said. "I don't want to."

  "We have to go back." Coal tightened his grip on her arm. She clawed at his hand, digging her nails into his skin. He ignored the small stabs of pain and pulled. "We have to go back."

  Chapter Ten

  Chalcedony knelt in the forest and placed her hand on the grass. Concentrating, she ignored the early springtime chill and focused on sensing Coal. She'd never tried to find someone by feeling for their presence, but she knew Coal better than anyone. She knew when he entered the room. She knew when he was happy. She knew when he was upset. And she had always been able to sense where he was in Legacy.

  If he was here, she knew she'd be able to feel him.

  She didn't. So he wasn't. But he had been.

  He'd lain right here in the grass. Where the hell was he now? She stood and wiped her damp hands on her thick leather pants. Neither Coal nor Elizabeth should have been able to make it out of the forest. Why couldn't she find them?

  The six soldiers she'd brought through her once-secret portal stared expectantly while they waited for orders.

  "Search the forest again. They have to be here somewhere." She knew they weren't, but that was the only order she could give until they learned something new.