“I do.” The Mapmaker turned to the desk beside him and picked up a rolled sheet of parchment. “Where’s the globe?”
Alyx pulled it out from the bag before tossing the empty canvas onto one of the tables.
“Excellent.”
“What do you want with it anyway?” Israel said. “It’s just a snow globe.”
“That’s none of your business.” The Mapmaker snatched the globe. “At last.”
Alyx grabbed the rolled-up parchment from him.
At that moment there was a hissing from behind the counter. Israel hadn’t noticed it before but there looked to be a back room there. A cat was at the partly open doorway, his back arched and fur on end, and he was hissing…at the Mapmaker.
Israel frowned and squinted at the cloaked man. If only Israel could see his face. “Drop your hood.”
At the same time, Alyx unrolled the map. She let out a distressed cry and lifted up her ink-stained thumb. “This map,” she hissed. “The ink is coming off. It’s a fake.”
Israel unsheathed his weapon. “You cheater. You’re not even the Mapmaker, are you?”
The cat lunged for the fake Mapmaker, causing him to stumble aside and swipe at the feline with a cry. Amid hissing and scratching of claws, the animal leaped off the Mapmaker to land at a safe distance on the counter. His hood fell back, exposing his face.
He looked like a Viking: sledgehammer jaw, cruel, thin mouth and frosty-blue eyes that seemed to pierce Israel’s soul.
“You’re right,” the fake Mapmaker said, glaring at both of them, his voice clipped and sharp as nails. “I’m not the Mapmaker. But it won’t do you any good now.” He slipped the globe into the pocket of his robes. “I am Elder Michael and you two have crossed me for the last time.”
Vix’s voice came back to Israel. “Castle Speranza. We had our community here, at least we did until Elder Michael came and—” Fear shot through him, and for a second the ghost of pain seared his through wrists and across his eyes, making him squint.
He heard Alyx unsheathe her weapon. “There’s only one of you and two of us. Give up and we’ll think about letting you live.”
“Never underestimate me,” Elder Michael said.
Israel’s eyes cleared just as Elder Michael sent a flame-blue pulse of light at him from his open palm. Israel jumped aside, trying to avoid it, but he moved too late. It caught him in the shoulder and the magic soaked into his body. Israel fell to the floor, dropping his sword. His eyelashes fluttered as a wave of sleepiness washed over him. It would be so easy just to close his eyes…
“Israel!” Alyx’s voice cut through the darkness. “You’ll pay for that.”
He clung onto it like a life raft, and he let it bring his consciousness back up to the surface. He wouldn’t leave her alone here.
Israel’s eyes flickered open just in time to see her lunge for Elder Michael. Israel tried to cry out for her to watch out, but it was too late. Elder Michael ducked aside from her sword, his movements like lightning, and the same blue pulse exploded out from his palms, hitting her square in the chest and throwing her back across the store, her sword flying aside with a clatter.
Alyx lay there like a rag doll, her eyes wide open, her body prone. Oh God. Was she dead?
He had to do something. But this wave of sleepiness was so thick, like a woolen blanket.
Elder Michael laughed as he towered over Alyx. “I’ve been waiting so long to get my revenge.” He tilted his head at Alyx. “I thought you might like to remain awake as I kill you.”
Alyx wasn’t dead. She must still be awake. But why wasn’t she moving?
Because she was underneath this magic too.
Israel had to fight this thing…this…“DreamWalker.” It was the same magic that Jordan had used on him at his apartment.
“Look, he’s already fighting it,” Balthazar said.
There was a way to fight it. Israel just had to fight it now and fight hard.
Elder Michael walked over to where her sword had fallen and picked it up. “Pity. Felled by your own sword.”
Israel pushed at the DreamWalker with all the strength of his mind. The sleepiness was falling away. But it wasn’t fast enough.
With sword in hand, Elder Michael walked back to where she was lying among scattered papers. “Seems like your afterlife doesn’t agree with you, Alyx. You should have stayed a warrior and an immortal.”
Israel’s sword was on the floor beside him, inches from his hand. He could almost reach it. Almost.
“And to think you gave it all up for him.” Elder Michael pointed at Israel with her sword, but his eyes remained on her. “Now it’ll be your downfall.”
Israel shoved the magic off him as hard as he could, concentrating his effort on his right arm. The corner of sleepiness fell off his arm. With renewed energy he lifted his arm and reached for the sword. Almost. Almost.
“Goodbye, Alyxandria.” Elder Michael lifted up her sword, its sharp tip pointed directly at her heart.
Israel grabbed his sword. And threw it.
It made a whooshing sound as it cut through the air, immediately followed by the sucking sound of metal embedding into flesh. Elder Michael let out a choking sound, his eyes wide open.
At the same moment, Israel felt the DreamWalker magic lift off him completely. He heard Alyx inhale loudly as if she’d been underwater for too long.
Elder Michael began to fall, his sword still aimed at Alyx’s chest.
“Move!” Israel yelled as he sprang to his feet, his heart jamming up into his throat.
She let out a cry and rolled aside just as Elder Michael crashed onto the ground, the sword stabbing into the wooden floor where she had just been lying.
Israel’s sword was poking out of Elder Michael’s back, right where his heart was. He was dead.
Israel ran to Alyx’s side. She was still lying there with a stunned look on her face. “Can I just say, I am so happy you’re not dead.”
Alyx felt across her chest with her hands as if making sure there were no holes in her. “Me too.” Her voice shook slightly.
“Need a hand?”
She slipped her hand into his and he helped pull her up. Israel’s heart gave a little kick as they stood facing each other for a moment. He had almost lost her. But he didn’t. He wanted to take her face in his hands and kiss her.
She tugged her hand back and he let her go, trying to ignore the wave of loss that flowed through him. Why did she keep pulling away?
“Did you do that?” she asked. She was pointing at the sword in Elder Michael’s back.
“I guess I did.”
She raised a perfect dark eyebrow at him. “How the hell did you do that?”
“I just grabbed my sword and threw it.”
“And you just happened to throw it with perfect accuracy.”
He shrugged. “Beginner’s luck?”
She put her hands on her hips. “Have you ever thrown a sword before?”
“No. Well…” he said quietly. “Not in this life.” Perhaps he was beginning to believe all this past life stuff.
“So you just…remembered how to throw a blade?”
He grinned. “Feel free to be impressed.”
Alyx rolled her eyes, but Israel could swear he detected a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
The cat meowed and slid across Israel’s feet, rubbing herself against him and purring loudly.
“I think someone has a crush on you,” she said.
“Jealous?”
“Totally.”
Really? Israel blinked. Did Alyx actually admit to being attracted to him?
“Jealous of you. I love cats.” Alyx reached down to scratch his ears. “Hey, kitty. Where’s your master?”
“Alyx, his paws…”
They were stained red.
Was that blood?
In sync they turned their eyes to the back room, the door still partly open. Israel pulled his sword out of Elder Michael’s back and Aly
x pulled hers out of the floor. They crept toward the back room, Israel in the lead, stopping just before the door. He held up three fingers. Two. One. He kicked the door open and lunged inside, sword at the ready. He halted in horror.
There on the floorboards was a man lying on his stomach, blood congealing around him.
“Is he…?” Alyx asked as Israel stepped around the sticky pool and bent over to find a pulse. There was no pulse.
The real Mapmaker was gone.
So was their hope of getting their map.
Alyx felt sick. She tore her eyes away from the dead man. She couldn’t look at him anymore.
That’s what her parents would have looked like at their car accident.
She was pulled back to the present when she felt Israel’s hand on her arm. He took her sword from her and led her out of the back room. He closed the door behind him, dropping their weapons.
“You okay?”
“They’re dead,” she heard herself say. Not he. They.
He wrapped his arms around her and his warmth enveloped her. Her hands pushed against him. But he didn’t release her. She shook her head back and forth against his chest as tears rose to her eyes, all those stupid sharp and twisted feelings tumbling up and out, angry and wild from being tucked away for so long. The lid on her box had broken wide open. All because of him. His caring about her was like the sharp tips of knives cutting away the straps she’d used to keep herself closed tight. “Let go of me. Let go of me,” she cried, trying not to let her voice break.
But he didn’t.
He just held her, their bodies flush against each other, one of his hands rubbing gently across her back. Slowly, she felt her breath steady and her body begin to calm. A tiny warmth like a small fire lit up in her chest. She could stay here, like this. Always.
This would be a dangerous thing to get used to.
She inhaled slowly and forced herself to pull away. This time he let her go.
She shot him a smile. She wanted to thank him for how he handled her, but her vocal chords seemed to be tied into knots.
He smiled back and nodded. He knew.
She cleared her throat. “What do we do now?”
“The map must be here somewhere. We just have to find it.”
“But we don’t even know what we’re looking for or what it looks like.”
“You’re not giving up on me now, are you?” Israel teased softly.
“No.”
“Good. I’m sure we’ll know it when we find it.” He began to rummage through the scattered papers on the counter.
Alyx let out a huff and surveyed the mess in the room. It was going to take forever to search this whole place. No, it was going to take the rest of autumn and winter. They didn’t have that much time. There had to be a better way of finding what they needed.
Her eyes came to rest on the snow globe that had fallen to the floor on its side. It must have rolled out of Elder Michael’s robes when he fell.
She walked over to it and picked it up in her hands. The real Mapmaker had been killed for this. Someone—she suspected the real Mapmaker—went to the trouble of hiding it and leaving behind a riddle. But why? She and Israel had almost died retrieving it. What was so special about this snow globe anyway? Why did Elder Michael want it so badly?
She frowned as she stared at it. She had never looked at the globe this closely before. It wasn’t like other snow globes she’d seen in the real world. Usually they had a small city or figurines inside. The inside of this globe seemed to be empty. Did it even have snow in it? She grabbed the base with both hands and shook.
The glass filled with tiny violet flecks that swirled around. She squinted as she peered in closer. Those weren’t flecks, they were butterflies flapping tiny wings and flying around inside the globe.
The center of the snow globe shimmered and the base seemed to break apart as if something was pushing out of it. There, rising up out of nothing, were clusters of miniature buildings with tiny windows and sills, as well as smooth steps leading up to painted front doors. They created streets between them with old iron benches and posts holding ornate Victorian lamps. How incredible. A world within a globe.
She studied the buildings and one of them caught her attention. It was in the very center of the globe. It had a large red sign out front reading…Mapmaker. These buildings inside the globe were of this very area.
The butterflies began to fly into a kind of formation. They flew down in between the buildings, creating a long, thin violet line along the streets starting from the Mapmaker’s store.
Alyx gasped. They were making a path. They were showing her where to go. “Israel, look.”
“What is it?” He dropped the papers in his hand and jogged to her side.
She thrust the globe under his nose to let him see it. His mouth parted and his eyes widened and she knew that he could see it too.
“This isn’t just a snow globe,” she said. “This is the map.”
Chapter Thirteen
Alyx and Israel walked down the streets of Saint Joseph following the path on the real street that the butterflies had laid out for them in the globe now resting in her hand. As they walked, the buildings in the globe shifted to keep their current location in the center. The butterflies at one end flew across to the other, reassembling themselves to continue their path.
Israel nudged Alyx. “See, we’ve got the map. We’ll get you out of here in no time.”
She chewed her lip and glanced up to the mountain, her sleeping figure still shimmering in the sky above it. Even as they were nearing the edge of the city limits, the mountain still seemed so far away. Who knew what lay between here and her escape. “Maybe.”
Finally they reached the edge of Saint Joseph. Up ahead the thick stone city walls loomed up higher than their heads, blocking out most of what was on the other side. The iron gates had been thrown wide open as if waiting for them.
Alyx stopped in the shade of the single giant elm that stood guard at the side of the wall. Israel stopped at her shoulder. Through the open gates was the start of a closed maze, the walls and ceiling covered in ivy creating an emerald and yellow tunnel. Summer was becoming autumn. In the globe, a few of the butterflies had turned into yellowing autumn leaves. They were clearly indicating a path through the maze. She stared at the enclosed maze and shuddered. “I don’t like this,” she said to Israel.
“Neither do I, but what choice do we have?”
She let out the lungful of air she had been holding. “Let’s just get through it as quickly as we can.”
“You don’t want to go in there,” came a soft, watery voice.
She jumped, looking around her for the man to go with the voice. But she couldn’t see anybody near them.
She turned to Israel. “You heard that, right?”
He nodded.
“So where did it come from?”
“Up here,” the voice said.
On the wall? Alyx stumbled back as she craned her neck up. There wasn’t anybody sitting on top of the wall either.
“Not up there. Up here.” There was a shaking of branches and several golden leaves fell about her head.
Alyx spun and stared.
Was that a face midway up the tree trunk? She stepped closer. “Hello?”
The grooves of the tree trunk shifted into a smile. “Hello, Alyx.”
“Are you serious,” Israel said as he came up beside her. “A talking tree?”
“We met a talking stone dragon and I fought a statue of Atlas and you’re shocked that the plants are now speaking?”
Israel gave her a look. “I guess if you put it that way…”
“Hello to you too, Israel,” the tree said.
“Who are you?” Alyx asked him.
“I am Deciduous, the guardian of the maze.” The tree shivered. “Don’t enter if you value your lives.”
“But we have to go through it to get to the mountain beyond,” she said.
“The Heartless Mount
ain,” the tree whispered and shuddered again, more leaves falling from his branches.
The Heartless Mountain. The hair on Alyx’s neck rose.
“Is there another way to get to the mountain?” Israel asked.
Deciduous gave them a mournful look. “Not that I know of. You’ll have to risk the Maze of Whispers.”
Alyx swallowed and turned to stare at the entrance. It may have been her imagination but she could swear the light inside the maze had grown dimmer. “What’s inside the Maze of Whispers?”
“Only what you fear.”
Her skin prickled. She turned back to Deciduous. “What does that mean?”
“That’s the thing about fear,” he continued, ignoring her question. “You can’t always trust it.”
“What can we trust?” Israel asked.
The tree gave them a pointed stare before his face dissolved into the grooves of the trunk again. A whisper went through his leaves like a soft wind. “Trust each other.”
Chapter Fourteen
Alyx took a hesitant step into the maze, Israel at her side. The air here was cooler than before and she was glad for her jacket. She swore she heard something whispering up ahead in the gloom.
There had to be another way through to the mountain.
Before she could turn back, the gates slammed shut behind her with a loud clang that echoed through the maze. She grabbed the gates and shook. They didn’t even rattle. Whatever invisible hand that had shut them had locked them too. She gazed longingly through the bars. The dream town of Saint Joseph looked so safe and familiar. Why did she have to be in this cramped maze?
She shoved down her apprehension and turned her back on the way she just came. The only way out was forward.
“Stay close,” Israel said.
They walked deeper into the maze, her ears pricked, her eyes alert. Pieces of interlocking gray stones created their path, small tufts of grass poking up between the cracks. It seemed they were alone in here but she could sense something… The things you fear.
Every few steps they would consult the snow globe to make sure they were still going the right way. Neither of them wanted to get lost in here.
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