Night Seeker (22 page)

Freeze-frame…falling down, deep, there’s a swirl of green and gold, and a streak of red, and I’m in the middle
of a giant kaleidoscope…and I am turning in the air, head over heels, skydiving into a magical well, playing Alice down the rabbit hole
…

Freeze-frame
…and the plunge mellowed, the currents catching me up like a parachute. I was able to catch my breath and as I looked up, all I could see were faint glimmers that might have been movement, or just the swirling color of this psychedelic journey I was taking.

Freeze-frame
…and the sparkling colors vanished as I slid through a low-hanging cloud and landed on my butt, in a deep, dark tunnel, coming down hard on a stone floor. I pushed myself to my feet and moved. If the others were following me, chances were they’d be landing right about where—

Just as I darted to the side, Kaylin landed on his feet in a crouch. He moved to the side next to me. Rhiannon was next, and she nearly took a nasty tumble, but Kaylin managed to catch her before she fell. She flashed me an anxious look as we waited. Within another moment, Chatter and Grieve had joined us.

“How do we get back up again?” Rhia glanced up at the swirling, nebulous, glowing clouds that covered the entrance to the portal. “And what about the trapdoor?”

Chatter shook his head. “Not to worry, I cloaked the entrance. But as for getting back up through that, I have no clue. We’ll figure it out when we come to that point.”

I moved over to examine the wall. It was glowing with the same shimmer that the other tunnel had had, only this one was brighter, warmer. I leaned my forehead against the smooth wall. Something within the glassy tile connected with me, sparking off images of summer nights, warm and delicious and filled with ice-cream cones and stargazing and dragonflies. I could almost smell the dusky summer evening riding the slipstream as Ulean swept this way and that.

Grieve joined me. “What do you feel, my love?”

I took his hand, slapped it against the wall, palm first. “Tell me what you sense, can you feel it? Can you feel Lainule’s heart? This is her private sanctuary. Can you feel the essence of summer, deep within the structure of the tile?”

He closed his eyes, took a long, deep breath. And then, as he started to shake his head, his eyes flew open and he jolted back, panting raggedly as he dropped to his knees and curled over, hiding his face with his hands. “I remember…I remember…” The pain in his voice tore me to shreds as I ran to him, knelt by him.

“Are you all right? What happened?” I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, but he shook me off.

“I…remember what it was like…what
I was like
before
she
turned me.” He slowly sat up, loss spreading across his face like a blight over the land. “I am tainted. I am tainted. How can I ever be whole again?” A snarl rose to his lips and his eyes narrowed. “How can I live in two worlds at once?”

Chatter rushed forward. “Grieve, can you hear me? You must listen to my voice. Follow my voice. Follow it home. Follow me.” His words took on a dark tone, swirling like autumn leaves, and I found myself falling into their cadence as he spoke.

Grieve snarled again, and I could see the Shadow Hunter within him, waiting for release. But he remained in control, his expression set, as he fixated on Chatter’s face. I did not speak.

“Follow my voice home, follow it back…follow the thread through the snow. Can you see the snow around you?”

As if in trance, Grieve nodded. “All around me. There is only snow, only the everlasting chill and the silver stars in her eyes. She is so cold…so terribly cold.” He shivered, but Chatter gave me a look that kept me frozen in place.

Chatter whispered to Grieve. “Follow my voice through the snow, follow it through the woodland, through the deep, dark forest. Like a golden thread it unfurls, like a golden arrow, my voice will point the way. Can you see the words on the slipstream? Can you feel them calling you?”

Exhaling slowly, Grieve’s eyes began to flutter, and I realized Chatter was hypnotizing him. Rhia and Kaylin stood by my side, frozen, waiting.

“Yes, I can see them.” Grieve’s answer was quiet, without the snarl, without emotion.

“Follow my words as they guide you through the snow.” He paused, then said, “The snow is beginning to melt, turning into a trickle of water. The trickle of water grows, turning into small rivulets, and then into small creeks, into raging streams that follow the path through the woods. See the snow vanish, feel the sun rising higher in the sky as Summer regains the land. Can you see this? Can you feel the warmth on your face as the light returns?”

“Yes, I can see it. I can feel it!” The longing in my beloved’s voice cut me to the quick. We had to find a way to break the hold Myst had on him, to clear his blood…There had to be a way to turn him back into the noble prince he once was.

“Let the light encompass you, draw you back, bring you back to your heart again, to your core, to your wolf. Let the light into your eyes, let Summer’s song fill your heart.” Chatter knelt by Grieve, and he reached out and cupped Grieve’s chin with his palm. I could see how much it cost him to watch his best friend stagger under the weight of Myst’s curse.

After a moment, Grieve took another long breath, and he looked up at Chatter. While no words were said, I clearly heard a whisper of thanks pass between them. Chatter offered Grieve his hand, and as Grieve rose, the two nodded, a private moment between them. I looked away, feeling helpless and hopeless. But then, as I leaned back against the tile, the tingle of Lainule’s heartstone echoed through me and I stood, ready to press on.

The tunnel was full of her essence. It was all around us, almost as if she, herself, were here. I turned to the others. Rather than embarrass Grieve by asking how he was, I decided to just continue.

“Ready to go?” I wasn’t sure if he’d want to take the lead or not, but Grieve and Chatter moved to the front again.

“We’re ready. Let’s go.” Chatter gave me a quiet nod.

I swept in behind him, Rhia took her place behind me, and then Kaylin at the back. As Grieve led us down the passage, away from the glowing clouds of the portal, the tiles took on a life of their own and whatever spark was
within them shone through, as if we were walking through a hallway surrounded by shooting stars.

I wondered how far we’d have to go and how we’d find the heartstone. I wanted to shake the worries out of my head—I’d been too entrapped by my own thoughts lately and the constant questioning of every move I made was beginning to wear on me. Not to mention it had been a couple of days since I’d gone out in my owl form and I was beginning to realize that that was not a good thing. Once I’d unleashed my Uwilahsidhe nature, it needed to stretch its wings and fly on a regular basis.

Speaking of…I glanced back at Rhiannon. She’d seen the door. Only those with Cambyra blood could see the door. Which meant…I slipped back and took her hand.

“Lost in your thoughts?” I said as she startled, looking up at me as if she hadn’t realized I’d been there.

She nodded. “Yes, thinking…”

“About your father.”

“About my father, yes. If I am like you…we are truly twin-cousins. But I can’t help but wonder. Do you think Wrath is my father, too?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He could be. Which would mean we truly are sisters.” I found myself hoping that was the case—Rhia was the only sister I’d ever known, and to know that we were not only cousins but sisters would be a blessing. “I hope he is.”

She smiled then. “I think I’d like that. I like Wrath.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” I squeezed her hand. “We’ll find out when we return home. If we can retrieve Lainule’s heartstone, surely she’ll tell us the truth.” But the Summer Queen’s words suddenly echoed through my mind, rushing through on a cool gust of wind.
When you save a life, you bear its burdens the rest of your days.

Up ahead, Grieve suddenly stopped. The passage ended, opening into a chamber. Chatter and Grieve slowly entered, standing to the side. I dropped Rhia’s hand and walked toward the arch. As I stepped through the arch, my breath spiraled out of my body and I found myself on my knees,
facing the most incomparable beauty I’d ever seen in my life.
Any life.

The chamber was vast. So vast there was no telling how wide or long it was. Filled with giant dark roots of trees and stalagmites and stalactites, it was both cavern and barrow. Pale vines, devoid of pigment, trailed down from the tree roots, like some ghostly mirror of ivy plants gone mad.

They coiled around the rock pillars, around the roots that plunged down through the chamber into the ground below our feet. Like floral snakes hiding in tree boughs, they waited. A sparkle of crystal flowers dappled the albino leaves, violet and rose and brilliant peridot.

I slowly crossed into the chamber, unable to fully take in the beauty that spread before me. A pool shimmered in the center, wide enough that a boat sat on one end. The boat could fit six people and was white, painted with oak and ivy leaves. By the scent, it had been carved from a cedar log.

The pond rippled softly against the shore. At first I thought it was white sand, but when I drew closer, the sand was actually made up of millions of tiny white pebbles.

To my left, the shadows took hold—I could not see what lay between the roots and stone pillars creating a labyrinthine path. And to my right—another path, leading into the distance.

I turned back to Grieve, my breath hushed. “Where are we?” My words sounded lame, breaking the silence, perhaps the first words spoken here in thousands of years.

He shook his head. Chatter did not know either.

I cautiously made my way over to a fallen stalactite, gingerly sitting on it as I tried to figure out where to go from here. Rhiannon joined me. She took my hand as we sat there in silence.

Kaylin crouched near the water, his fingers reaching out to touch it, but he stayed his hand a few inches from the lapping waves, a look of uncertainty on his face. We were at an impasse.

Ulean, I don’t know what to do next.

What does your heart tell you?

That I am afraid, and lost.

Then what does your instinct—your gut—tell you?

I closed my eyes, trying to listen past the fear. For a moment there was only a sense of confusion, but then a small voice laughed over the surface of my bewilderment. I listened again, and realized the laughter was coming from me…from the Faerie tattooed on my breast.

I caught my breath as a whirl of music raced through me and my feet began to tap in time to the rhythm. Jumping up, I began to dance around the stalactite, laughing aloud, driven on by the mirth and joy in my Faerie’s voice.

Rhia was on her feet, joining me, and we clasped hands, leaning back, circling each other as we danced. Her eyes sparkled and she smiled, the years falling away. We were children again, dancing through the Golden Wood, hurrying to meet Grieve and Chatter.

Kaylin moved toward us, but Grieve caught him by the shoulder and shook his head, motioning him back. I could not hear what he said, but Kaylin nodded and stayed his ground.

And then, finally, our circling grew slower and Rhia and I stopped, my hands palm up, her fingers resting lightly atop mine. We gazed into each other’s eyes. I began to whisper.

“Wind…wind…winds arise and come to be my guide.”

Rhia opened her lips and her words slid out, flowing over mine.
“Fire rising ever higher, light the way before me.”

“Winds of change, attend me, and never leave my side.”

“Flames burst forth from my heart, and light the path clearly.”

Our fingers trembled, and a ball of energy—fire and wind—rose between us, emerging from our hands, to hover over our heads. We looked up and watched as it spun around and around, and then—with one quick streak—shot out over the boat, showering it with sparks—and across the pond into the darkness.

“We cross the water.” I turned to the men. “We must go where the boat will lead us—and it will lead us by itself. That much I can tell you.” I didn’t know how I knew, but I could feel the nature of the vessel in my heart. The boat was alive.

Grieve and Chatter nodded. The boat shifted as we approached, turning sideways in the water to make it easier for us to climb aboard.

I took the front, kneeling and looking out over the water. Grieve sat behind me. On the seats behind him, Kaylin, then Rhia, and lastly, in the aft of the boat, Chatter. The moment we were settled, the boat silently began to glide out onto the water.

The boat cut through the water, a silent creature slicing through the pond, as the ripples spread out along the sides. With need for neither oars nor sails, the magical ride carried us into the mists rising from the surface. As the fog rose up, I wondered where it was taking us. We were obviously in a different realm—we’d crossed through a portal, and should we burrow straight up, we wouldn’t find ourselves in Myst’s forest. We were traveling in uncharted
territory, and dangers, along with our treasure, waited at the end.
Here be dragons
, and all that sort of thing.