Adi stared at him. There was the man she loved. This time Honi was standing up for her, defending her against his family. Her heart suddenly felt lighter.
Another man stepped forward. Standing next to John, with his arms crossed in front of his chest. The expression on his face was belligerent and cold.
"You mean that story John told us about spirit-walking? We all know he has to say that because he is the shaman. But really, Honi, none of us believe in this nonsense. These aren’t the olden days anymore. Spirit Walkers don’t exist, except in children’s stories. And the fact that you believe these tales, shows us the dangerous influence this girl has on you. Not only has she got some kind of power over you, but last night we were told that she herself suffers from these… delusions.”
Honi staggered back as if he had been slapped in the face. The color drained from him. Adi opened her mouth to defend him, but then thought better of it. They were surrounded by Honi’s family, friends, and people that he had known all his life. She’d been told time and time again that she was an outsider. And for the first time since they arrived, she gave up all hope of ever being anything else but.
Her eyes wandered from face to face. She found sympathy in some of them, but mostly, there was blankness, coldness, even hatred. They blamed her. And they blamed Honi for running away. She couldn’t help him any more than he could force his family to accept her. So she kept her mouth shut and waited.
After what could have only been a few seconds, Honi tried to speak, only to be interrupted again. From the back of the room, a man, older than all the others, limped towards Honi, an ice-gray polar fox by his side. Silently, people moved out of his way. He obviously commanded a lot of respect.
Adi stood straighter and pulled her shoulders back. She somehow knew this man held the power to make a decision on behalf of the entire community. He must have been at least ninety years old, bent over, although his eyes were clear and sharp.
"I have known you since the day you were born," he began with a voice broken by age, yet clearly audible. He spoke with an odd sing-song that made his delivery even more powerful.
"You have always been a good boy. An obedient boy. Nobody forced you into this decision. You gladly accepted your community’s support and money to make your way in the world, Honi. All we asked for in return was that you would give back to us as we gave to you. As you chose to accept our gifts, you also chose to run away from your duty. This is your day of reckoning. You either do what you know in your heart to be the right thing, or you walk away from your tribe."
Adi’s knees trembled as she listened to these words. She understood, as everybody else in the room did, the words that were left unspoken.
"If you walk away, you won’t be welcome back."
Her range of emotions cycled from disbelief to sadness for Honi’s plight, to burning anger for putting the young man into such a terrible situation. Nobody said anything. Nobody even cleared their throat. Everybody was waiting for Honi’s next words. Honi’s face was as pale as Adi had ever seen it.
His eyes were full of pleading, and it made her heart ache. He looked from person to person, from his parents to his aunts and uncles. As Adi watched, his shoulders dropped, and he seemed to shrink. Just when Adi was ready to give up and walk away, Honi opened his mouth.
"I cannot make this decision right here, right now. Please give me some time to think about it."
Then he lowered his head, turned around, and walked out of the room. Nina rushed after him.
Adi’s face felt frozen. The cold radiated from her churning thoughts to her heart until she could not feel anything anymore. Honi had not stood by her. She knew it was the one question he’d carried with him for the last two years since they first met each other. While he was away from his community, he had chosen her over and over again. But now that it came down to it, now the gauntlet had been thrown down by the elders, she was not sure how he would decide.
Adi had no idea how long she sat there, watching the elders and the extended Fisher family talk in hushed tones. Nobody acknowledged her, and very soon, the room began to empty. Once the last person had closed the door behind them, her whirling thoughts finally focused down to one.
She had been deserted before, and she had survived. She would survive this as well.
20
He never came back to her bedroom at all. Honi never attempted to explain himself or asked for her advice. It was as if they had split up, and Adi was only waiting for the confirmation. When she ventured out of the room to scavenge up some lunch, she was again treated with icy courtesy by his family.
Eventually, she gave up. It was over. She spent half an hour packing up all her belongings. She hadn’t had time to get a wireless internet card for her cell phone, so she went to the library, hoping that they would have wifi.
The library was open, and one of the two ancient computers was free. For an hour, she researched how to get out of Heota. There were no buses, no trains, and no taxis. It looked like she had no choice. She would have to hitch a ride to the next large town. Surely they would be glad to get rid of her, she thought bitterly.
On the way back from the library, she walked past the bar. The sign outside offered a choice of burger with fries and chicken pie. She stopped and looked through the window. The pie seemed to be popular with the handful of customers inside. In the back of the room, Honi sat by himself, nursing a mug of something.
This was her chance to finally talk to him. She entered the building and sat down opposite him. Honi looked up and his mouth twitched as if attempting to smile at her. It never made his eyes before he stared back down at his drink. Adi waited for a moment longer before speaking, but he kept his eyes down.
"Were you going to tell me, or were you hoping I would go away quietly?"
His reaction was gratifying. His gaze flew to her face, and his mouth dropped open in shock.
"What do you mean? Tell you what?"
Adi regarded him calmly, hiding her churning emotions. He did seem to be as clueless as he sounded.
"Were you going to tell me to leave?" she finally said. Honi continued staring at her. Releasing an irritated sigh, Adi got up.
"It’s okay, Honi. I understand that your duty to your tribe comes first. I’ll ask somebody in Heota to give me a ride to Lawton."
Adi turned away, her eyes stinging. Honi grabbed her arm hard and spun her back around. His eyes were huge, full of hurt. For a split-second, Adi felt gratification that maybe he was in as much pain as she was.
"What do you mean, leave? I don’t want you to leave!" he shouted.
Adi stared at him, angry and sad all over again. "Have you forgotten I was in the room this morning? I heard the ultimatum that was put to you. If you don’t do as they ask you to, you’re going to be thrown out. I can’t do that to you. And I’m not sure that’s the decision you would make, either. So let’s make this easy. We had a great run, but in the end, it wasn’t enough."
Adi turned away again. Honi wouldn’t loosen the grip on her arm. "No, Adi, wait! I want to be with you! I’m sorry I wasn’t clearer, but I needed some time. Not to make up my mind, but to figure out how to get out of this! I’m waiting for John to get his advice.”
His eyes stared at her imploringly, with so much emotion Adi had no choice but to sit down again. He seemed so sincere, so scared of being left alone.
“John is the most senior member of Council, and no final decision is taken without his say-so. He understands how important it is what we are doing. Sure, I feel guilty about taking people’s money. But I can’t allow anybody to take away my choice of what I want to do in the future. If that means I have to pay back what I’ve borrowed, so be it. It might take a while, but I’ll do it. But I sure as hell don’t want to lose you!”
Honi looked at Adi with so much hope in his eyes, that Adi felt herself go all gooey inside. He didn’t sound like he was lying. And she remembered something else.
"Well, that’s great. And I’ll be ha
ppy to help you. Plus you hadn’t started paying for law school, because that would have been really expensive. It could have been much worse."
He smiled at that and squeezed her hand. Adi returned the gesture. She could well understand his logic—she hated being beholden to anybody. Then she turned serious again. There was something he needed to know.
"So I’ve found out some things since yesterday.”
Honi nodded for her to continue.
“Yesterday, I went spirit-walking. You know how you met Con? Well, I met Nina in the spirit world. Honi, she is a walker. But the weird thing is that when I got back and spoke to her, she seemed really confused. I don’t think she knows what she is.”
Honi’s eyes had grown large. Adi continued quickly before he could say anything.
“She mentioned the queen. At least I think it was the queen because Nina called her Spider Woman. But the description fits.”
His face had dropped while listening. He looked confused, but also upset.
Before Adi could continue, he said, "Okay, assume that I believe you. I don’t know what to think of that. Spider Woman is a legendary figure in Mekui’te mythology. But she has nothing to do with the faerie queen."
Adi’s stomach dropped again. Assume I believe you? Since when did Honi have to work on believing her? They spirit-walked together, and Honi knew the powers that Adi had. They’d only begun exploring her abilities. Why would he doubt what she told him about Nina? She tensed up, every muscle in her body tightening. There was only one reason why he wouldn’t believe her. He still thought that she was jealous of Nina.
In the meantime, Honi continued, "I’m telling you for the last time, Adi. Nina has been a good friend to me over the years. Yes, we dated briefly, but she knows that I’m with you now. You need to let it go. Without her help, I don’t think I can stand up to the elders."
Without Nina? What about without Adi? Adi’s thoughts were churning. She was so tense, her body felt like it was vibrating. Her face heated up. Really, she had had just about enough.
Through clenched teeth, she snarled, "I can’t believe you’re saying this! I heard you two talking about how much you miss each other. I heard you, Honi! You said that you wanted to be with her, and if the timing had been right, you would have been. I appreciate that you’re with me now, and that you feel loyal enough to not dump me, but you’ve gotta listen to me. I’m not saying these things because I’m jealous of her. I’m saying these things because I’m genuinely worried. There is something wrong with the spirit animals in this town.”
Adi took a deep breath and continued, “And while we’re talking about your precious Nina? Her spirit animals are the weirdest of them all. She’s at the center of it. And she’s warned me twice now to stay away from you!”
She shouted the last sentence. Then she pulled away sharply from Honi’s grip, spun around, and stomped out of the bar. She was outside before she realized that she had raised her voice at Honi. She’d been loud enough that she’d outed herself as a spirit walker in front of at least ten guests.
Adi dropped her head and sighed. If this place was like any other small town she’d ever been to, the rumors about her erratic behavior would spread. Soon everybody would know she was jealous of Nina. She hadn’t exactly endeared herself to Honi’s friends and family. This would only make it worse, if that was even possible.
If she’d been in a cartoon, there’d surely be a little black cloud over her head. She felt so down, so upset. The library had closed, and she wasn’t going back to the bar. If she had to leave, she needed to hold on to her money so the store was out as well. She literally had nowhere else to go.
But the weather was clear and it was still only early afternoon. She looked east, towards the trees that were butting up right to Heota. She had no intention of going back to the house if she could avoid it. A nice walk would help clear her head—she wore decent enough shoes, and the path looked well-maintained.
Within a few minutes, she’d left the houses of the village behind. She turned around once, and all signs of civilization were gone. She was surrounded by large conifers, their trunks green with moss.
The path was maybe three feet wide and leading steadily upwards. She’d read that there were copperheads and timber rattlesnakes in the area, but they were shy and avoided humans. To be safe, she stomped as she walked, giving the snakes plenty of warning of her passing through.
Honi had warned her of bears, though. Adi stopped moving and listened. A branch cracked, and she squinted hard to find the cause of it. Bears were freaky. They could outrun and out climb her. Playing dead sometimes worked, she’d read. Her breathing sped up, her palms suddenly covered in clammy sweat.
Between the rough tree trunks, something moved. Something large. Adi held her breath until she could make out what it was: a young man carefully picked his way through the undergrowth. As he drew closer, it was obvious that he was a skinny thing, his limbs too long and too thin for the rest of his body. As she watched, he turned his head and stared right at her. Shyly, he lifted his hand and waved.
Adi waved back. When she smiled tentatively, Con grinned at her, before running off into the opposite direction. Adi smiled and shook her head. She hoped to see the kid again. It was pitiful that such a small and insignificant interaction would make her feel better. But it had. Smiling, she turned around and retraced her steps back into the village.
21
Aligning her heartbeat with the sound of her feet hitting the loose surface of gravel while taking deep breaths of sap-scented air was equal to any meditation session Adi had ever attempted.
By the time she reached the village outskirts on her way back, her emotions were level and calm. She’d taken the events from the last few days, twisted and turned them in her mind, trying to put them into some kind of logical order.
Since she’d arrived, weird things had happened, and people had acted strangely. Each interaction by itself wouldn’t have been noteworthy. Take Nina for example. Nina didn’t like her. Since she wanted to get back together with Honi, that wasn’t surprising.
But then there were other encounters, like the one with Honi’s father. When Adi’d met him in hospital at Honi’s bedside, he’d been friendly and accepting. The same with the Mekui’te shaman. John had known they were both spirit walkers and had encouraged their relationship. Both men had done a complete turnaround.
Adi couldn’t believe Honi’s refusal to continue his law degree was at the bottom of it all. Honi’s record would make it very difficult, if not impossible, to find a reputable law school that would accept him. According to his medical records, he’d overdosed with illegal drugs. Which was technically true. Both his father and John knew that.
Adi stopped dead. She’d gotten caught up in the drama as much as everybody else. Ever since she’d arrived, she’d reacted instead of analyzing. There was no logical explanation for the level of people’s hostility towards her. And maybe that was the explanation.
There was an outside influence at play. It had to be. Look at the weirdness—the spirit animals that looked so very ill without their humans being affected. The raven that popped out of existence. The fact that she was dream-walking. Honi as well. They hadn’t done that in years!
Adi had seen first hand what Faerie was capable of. Hadn’t Honi mentioned the queen twice? If anybody knew what was going on, it was the ruler of Faerie. She needed to talk to the queen again in order to find out what was going on. The ruler of Faerie was in charge of keeping the worlds safe. If something strange was afoot, she had to be told. The last time she’d traveled to the queen’s realm, she’d been sidetracked by Nina. This time she wouldn’t be distracted.
With renewed determination, Adi sped up until she nearly ran to the Fishers’ house. The door thankfully wasn’t locked when she pushed against the surface. She didn’t want to speak to anybody if she could avoid it. As quickly as she could, she reached her bedroom and tried to lock the door.
She had been sure th
ere’d been a key in the lock last night, but today, it was gone. Another weird thing in a whole series of weirdness. At least she wasn’t locked in, although that thought gave her little comfort. Adi didn’t want anybody do walk in on her while she was spirit-walking. She’d be in a deeper trance than usual. It left her more vulnerable and exposed than during meditation. It wasn’t like she had a choice, though.
Adi settled onto the bed, and within seconds, she traversed the barrier between the human world and Emain Ablach. The atmospheric change around her body was striking. Where one moment she was inside a small room, she now felt a soft breeze, pregnant with flower scents, on her cheek. Her eyes flew open, and she looked across a familiar vista of swaying grasslands and dark forests.
Pieces of dried grass were stuck to her clothes and hair. Adi got up and brushed off her jeans. She’d learned that spirit walkers could influence the physicalities of this realm, just by using the power of their minds. She visualized the queen’s castle and set off.
Normally this was enough to shorten the distances in this land. She expected to be able to see the castle within a few minutes. But when Adi looked around ten minutes later, there was no sign of a castle. In fact she’d only traversed some of the grassland, no different to walking in the normal way. Adi furrowed her brow. This was the second time that her powers had let her down in the spirit world. How odd. Maybe if she called out loud, she’d attract the ruler’s attention.
"Hello? I need to speak to the queen of Faerie!”
Adi listened for a moment, then felt entirely stupid. She’d just shouted into empty grassland, and nobody had responded. Probably because there was nobody here. But she was running out of time. Eventually, somebody would try to get into the bedroom in the human world. What would they do if they found her motionless on the bed, after her adventure the other night? They’d have her admitted for sure this time.
books 1 - 3 Page 56