Emily got to her feet and watched as Corbbmacc and Garrett carefully lifted Celine between them and carried her after the wizard. Rascal flapped after them, his gaze never straying from Celine’s unconscious form.
For a moment, Emily stared after them, wondering if she had the strength to follow.
“I don’t trust him,” Mona said flatly at her elbow.
Emily looked at her in surprise. Mona’s face was drawn, and she was holding Miraculum tightly to her bosom.
“Don’t misunderstand,” she said quickly, “I’m happy he helped your friend…more than anyone, maybe. I just don’t…trust him.”
Emily nodded. She wasn’t entirely sure if she did either, but they had gambled everything on what he’d said. She had to see this through to the end.
Behind them, Haake was guiding Michael away from the water’s edge and up the sand in their direction.
Wearily, Emily turned and started walking up the beach toward the wizard’s cave, and the others trailed behind in her wake.
Chapter Forty-Two
The sweet aroma of roasting food still lingered in the air as Emily stared into the flames of the small campfire outside the wizard’s cave. She felt properly full for the first time in what seemed like years, and the stew, a mix of meats and vegetables in a thick broth, had certainly been the best meal she’d known since finding herself at Seven Skies.
With a sense of wonder that was almost akin to religious awe, she held a crude clay cup between her hands. She relished its warmth against her palms and breathed deeply of the steam wafting up from the cup’s contents. She’d been sitting this way, staring into the rich, dark liquid, for a long time. She wished this moment could go on forever; she wished that night would never come.
At last, she brought it to her lips and sipped. The delicious bitter flavor filled her mouth, and she closed her eyes, savoring the brew and the rush of memories that accompanied it. It wasn’t her beloved Starbucks gingerbread latte, but it was coffee, and that was good enough for her.
Someone sat down beside her, and she glanced over to find Corbbmacc, a faint smile on his lips, watching her. His hair was damp, and it clung to the sides of his face in clumps that were a shade darker than their usual gold. The dirt and blood of the last few days had been washed away, and he was once again the boy with the good looks of a movie star she’d first met in the stables at Seven Skies.
“You like that stuff,” he observed.
Emily smiled back. “Yeah, I do.”
Corbbmacc made a face. “I think it’s disgusting.”
“That doesn’t really surprise me,” she said, sipping again.
“Here, try this.” He tossed something small and bright toward her, and instinctively, she reached up and caught it before it could hit her in the face.
A small orange-red berry lay in her palm. The firelight glistened off its shiny surface, and Emily stared down at it, bemused.
“What’s this?”
“Just shut up and eat it.”
Tentatively, she brought the tiny fruit to her lips.
It was unlike any berry she’d ever tasted. Sweetness filled her mouth as its juice rolled across her tongue. Its flavor was slightly spicy, like cinnamon, and for some strange reason she could not quite identify, it put her in mind of baking Christmas cookies with Casey and her mom.
Before she realized what she was doing, she’d raised her cup back to her lips and sipped again. The coffee mixed with the final remnants of the berry’s flavor, and she closed her eyes, letting the combination carry her away for an instant.
Corbbmacc made a disgusted sound beside her. “Seriously? You mixed it with your gutter water? That’s just wrong!”
She laughed and opened her eyes. “It’s coffee,” she said sweetly, “and it’s delicious. So was that berry. Thank you.”
Corbbmacc flushed and looked away. “Sure. There’s a bunch of those bushes over…” He waved vaguely down the beach.
“Oh, and Corbb?”
“Yeah?”
“If you ever call my coffee ‘gutter water’ again, I’ll shove this cup up into a place where its maker never dreamt it would go.”
Corbbmacc looked back at her, blinked, and then they were both laughing. It felt good to laugh. Some of the others looked their way, but no one came to join them by the fire.
“Where have you been, anyway?” she asked, taking another sip of coffee and studying him over the rim of her cup. “Not just getting berries, I guess.”
“No,” he said, sobering. “Garrett and I have been watching to see if Marianne would follow us down here, but there’s no sign of her or her guard. Everything is quiet.”
“I wonder what she’s doing. It’s making me nervous.”
“I’m more nervous about you going alone to the island.”
“I won’t be alone.”
“Oh, come on, Emily. You know what I mean. Celine and Michael are not going to be much help if—”
“There won’t be any trouble.” The wizard crouched down beside the fire. He was holding handfuls of dried leaves and petals, and he began feeding them slowly to the flames.
“So you say,” Corbbmacc muttered.
“And there won’t be trouble with Marianne or her guard either, at least for the time being.”
“How can you be sure of that?” Emily asked, setting down her empty cup and studying the wizard closely. “She must know where we are and that we’re hemmed in down here. If she attacked us now, we’d have nowhere to run.”
The old man chuckled softly, adding a few more leaves to the fire, then brushed his hands together. “She won’t come down here. Not so close to…” He trailed off and nodded toward the gentle waves that lapped against the shore.
“What’s so special about the lake? The island?” Emily asked, not looking away.
“You never change,” the wizard sighed. “Still asking questions, and I could answer some of them, and that would only lead to new and more difficult ones. Wait until tonight. When you return from the island, if you still have questions, I will answer them.”
The wizard stared into the flames for a long moment, then turned to Emily. The leaves and petals he’d added to the fire filled the air with a sweet, slightly pungent odor that reminded her uncomfortably of Marianne’s hateful roses.
“Now,” he said with a more businesslike air, “I believe you have something for me.”
Emily blinked. “Have something for you?”
The wizard frowned at her. “The crystal,” he said.
Emily’s hand went to her pocket, and her fingers closed around the crystal’s rough, jagged shape through the leather.
“Why should I give it to you? It was given to me.”
“Because it is dangerous, and I have more use for it than you do. Marianne’s gone to a great deal of trouble to keep any of it from falling into my hands, and now that a piece is here, I intend to take advantage of it.”
Emily looked away, gazing out over the lake and thinking about his words. She remembered how the crystal had made her feel in the mines. Corbbmacc’s face came into focus before her mind’s eye, and she remembered attacking him when all he’d done was try to help her. She remembered the vision she’d had of Daniel’s severed head rolling across the floor, and Michael’s lifeless, bludgeoned body. Maybe the wizard was right. Maybe it was dangerous. Maybe she was better off without it.
She pulled it from her pocket, looking down into its misty depths. Sunlight reflected and refracted from its surface. She thought of the last time she’d seen Derek in its mists, the two of them separated by a barred window framed by bloody curtains.
“The world was divided,” he’d told her, and she understood what that meant. She was divided, and that chasm in her soul had been made painfully clear during her time in the mines.
“The crystal makes us do things, terrible things…”
Maybe Daniel had known more than she did. Maybe he’d intended her to give it to the wizard.
In the end, it was the memory of Corbbmacc rubbing the bruises she’d made around his throat that decided her, and she reluctantly held the crystal out to the old man. The wizard took it from her wordlessly, and it disappeared into his robes.
Emily felt a hand on her shoulder, and with a start, she looked up into Mona’s solemn face.
“She’s awake,” she said simply.
Emily scrambled to her feet and followed Mona into the cool gloom of the cave. She blinked rapidly, impatient for her eyes to adjust.
Her gaze fell on Celine, sitting against the wall with Rascal curled up in her lap. Even from here, Emily could hear the low rumble of his contented purrs as his mistress absently stroked his fur.
Celine had a cup to her lips, but she did not seem to be drinking from it. She seemed to be staring off into the shadows at the back of the cave, distracted by something only she could see.
She looked a little better. There was more color in her cheeks, and the uniform white of her hair was somehow less frightening than seeing it mixed with its former golden glory.
When Emily sat down beside her, Celine looked over, seeming to rouse herself from a waking dream, and they only stared into each other’s faces for the space of a minute.
“I’m still ’ere,” Celine whispered. Emily couldn’t help but smile at that.
“Yeah, you are.”
“Mona says the old man—the wizard, she called ’im—she says he gave me a potion to ’elp.”
Emily nodded.
“But I’m not sure it were such a good thing,” Celine murmured, almost to herself. She took a sip of water and then set the cup gently on the floor beside her. Idly, she went on stroking Rascal’s fur, staring down at her hands. “I feel so tired, Em. So tired.”
Emily reached out and took Celine’s hand. The flesh beneath her fingers felt dry and loose, and the joints were swollen and twisted with age. She tried to ignore these things, but she felt her heart breaking inside. “It’ll be okay, Cel. You’ll feel better after you’ve had more time to rest.”
Emily bit her lip and glanced toward the cave entrance, wondering if she should tell Celine that she would have to go with her to the island. Outside, she could see the jagged shadows of the western peaks as they fell in dark triangles across the water. Evening was coming, and it wouldn’t be long before night fell.
“The wizard says we have to go to the island tonight,” she said, looking back at her friend.
“We?” Celine asked wearily. “All of us?”
“Just the three of us. Me, and you, and Michael.”
And as the words left her lips, the image of another trio filled her mind. She saw three tiny figures tumbling from a drawstring bag and into her open palm: a knight, a bishop, and a king. Just the three of them.
She looked down at the sword that still hung from her belt. She was the knight.
Her gaze shifted to Celine. Sweet, sweet Celine, with her power to heal. She was the bishop.
She thought of her vision. She remembered Derek and Michael walking toward her along the shore of another enormous lake.
“Not this lake, but one very much like it…”
Derek, a knight like her, and Michael…his king? Could that be right?
“What are yeh thinkin’, Em?”
Emily shook off her reverie.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe something…maybe nothing.”
She reached out and embraced Celine. She felt the girl’s small, slender arm wrap around her shoulders, and for a while, they simply held one another.
At last, Emily pulled back, holding Celine by the shoulders and staring seriously into her face.
“I want you to promise me something, Cel.”
“A’right…if I can.”
“No more healing. You’re done. I…” She broke off as her throat tightened around the words. “I don’t want to lose you.”
Celine sat very still, staring back at her. She looked so very, very old. Silently, a tear trickled from the corner of one eye, but she did not wipe it away or acknowledge it at all.
“I can’t promise, Em,” she said at last. “But I’ll try.”
Chapter Forty-Three
As the sun descended behind the rocky mountain peaks, the wizard led Emily and her friends down the sand to the water’s edge. The waves washed over their feet, soaking through their boots, and Emily shivered, looking out over the dark lake as it rapidly vanished into shadow. The weather had turned over the last few weeks, slipping from the heat of high summer to the first mild days of early autumn. That, coupled with the fact that it lay in the shadows of the rocky spires, chilled the lake’s waters until the cold seemed to burn their flesh.
From the corner of her eye, Emily saw Celine hugging herself against the bitter wind that blew in off the water and the ghostly patterns of gooseflesh on her bare arms. It was strange seeing her without Rascal on her shoulder or encircling her ankles. The kitsper had become a part of her, but Celine had made him stay with Mona and the others when they’d left the cave.
Michael, though, seemed oblivious to the cold. His entire body was thrumming with excitement, his face alight with eager anticipation.
He knows, she thought wonderingly, watching as he scanned the rippling surface. He knows better than any of us what this means.
The moon, which had only been a pale crescent in the sky as the sun sank from sight, now hung bright and silent high overhead. It peered down from between two of the craggy mountaintops—the sleepy eye of a malevolent giant. Its silver light glimmered on the water as it rose and fell, breaking into gems of infinite colors. The island, far away across a seemingly limitless expanse of dark water, was little more than a shadow in the night. Only the translucent ghosts of rainbows, where the moonlight touched the mists that shrouded its shores, marked its presence.
Above them, the wind howled, and its cry was answered in a ghastly cascade of screaming echoes.
“They are here,” the wizard called out to the lake. “They have come.”
For a long time, nothing happened. Somewhere in the distance, Emily heard the cry of a bird of prey as it hunted through the night. Amidst the jagged peaks, something howled.
A splash, far out in the lake, broke through the hiss and rush of the waves, and Emily strained to see what had produced it. The first was followed by others in rapid succession.
“What is it?” she almost asked, but the words died in her throat as she saw them.
Large dark shapes were rising up from the depths, and at first, she could not tell what they were. More and more emerged from the water, marching toward them in a slow, steady procession.
One appeared in the water only a few yards before them, and in the moonlight, she could at last see that it was an enormous rounded stone. What seemed like hundreds of them stretched in a line out across the water and toward the distant shadow of the island.
She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see the wizard walking away, heading back up toward the flickering campfire that still burned just outside the cave.
“Where are you going?” she called after him, alarmed.
He paused and looked back at her over one gaunt and bony shoulder. “I have done my part,” he said, then turned and resumed his slow limp up the beach.
“But what are we supposed to do?”
The wizard ignored her, and his dim shape melted into the shadows.
There was another splash behind her, and when Emily turned back to the lake, she saw Michael already wading out to the first of the stones.
“Wait!” she called to him, and she put an arm around Celine’s shoulders.
“Are you okay with this, Cel? Are you up to it?”
Celine gave her a sideways glance. It was too dark to see, but Emily could feel the smaller girl rolling her eyes.
“Does it matter, Em? I don’t think we’ve got a choice, do yeh?”
Emily sighed, and together, they waded into the icy water.
Michael waited for them on
the first rock, watching their approach with obvious impatience. The childlike aura about him had been replaced with a greater sense of awareness than Emily had ever seen in his eyes.
He reached down and helped Celine onto the slick surface of the stone without a word, and Emily clambered up behind her. Already, her hands and feet were growing numb with cold, and the stone beneath her felt as smooth and as slick as ice. Waves crashed against it, creating piles of glistening foam on all sides, and between it and its neighbor was a foot-wide band of roiling water.
“We should hold on to each other,” Emily said, watching as spray from the waves covered the stones ahead of them. They were apt to slip and break their necks, or else fall into the lake.
“It’s just water, Em,” Celine said, a touch of the old mischief in her voice. “If yeh fall, yeh swim, and someone fishes yeh out.”
Emily moved to stand between her friends. She put an arm around each of them. This was it, then; this was what she’d come all this way for. She steeled herself, and together, they stepped across the water and onto the next stone.
They moved slowly, clinging to one another as they scrambled for purchase on each slick rock. All around them, the waves lapped at the stones, sending icy sprays of mist and foam into their stinging faces. The wind blew Emily’s hair behind her in a fan as she guided the others from one stone to the next.
The cool, clean air and the sweet water were exhilarating. Their freshness seemed to revive Emily in a way that the meal and rest had not. She felt, well, alive, for the first time in a very long time. Her pulse quickened as they went, bringing warmth back to her freezing limbs.
As the island grew closer, she thought she saw movement in the water around them. At times it was merely a flash of iridescent colors amidst the foam that topped the waves. At others, she thought she saw dark shapes rising up above the surface before sinking down into the depths once more. She would catch glimpses of motion from the corner of her eye, but when she turned her head to look, all that greeted her were shadows and the dark, fathomless depths. Was it her imagination? She didn’t think so.
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