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Father barks my name, and it bounces off the walls, startling me. The book I’d been staring into, unseeing, slips from my fingers and falls to the floor, hitting my foot, and I cringe. Not from the slight sting but from the thought of damaging one of the books I’ve worked so hard to obtain.
Damn him.
“Coming, Father,” I yell down from the loft before carefully picking up the book and sliding it back onto the shelf. There will be time to examine it for damage later. I know better than to keep him waiting, especially when he’s like this. I can practically feel his anger radiating off of him from here.
“Tell me you have news on her?” he barks even before I’ve hit the ladder.
Hello, Father. Nice to see you. Oh, I’m good, thanks for asking.
Yeah right.
I know the only thing he cares about is finding her. I descend the ladder as slowly as I dare, trying to pull myself together. I don’t need to anger him right now, not when I have so much to hide. But I also need to find my usual indifferent nature, the logic of things, facts. Something that usually comes naturally.
I never questioned much before.
She changed everything, but he can’t know that. Not if I want her to survive, and I do, so badly that it feels like a shock to my system. I didn’t know it was possible to care this much about someone, especially considering I’d only just met her.
“No, Father, nothing new. They whisper of a change coming, but nothing appears to be any different yet.”
With my feet firmly on the ground, I turn to face him, bowing my head before I dare meet his eyes. It’s a sign of respect and obedience, not one he deserves but one he demands, something I learned the hard way long ago.
“The bloody trees, boy?” he snaps, annoyed. He glares at me momentarily before turning away abruptly and heading into the kitchen. My cottage isn’t huge, but it has everything we–I need.
I shake the thought of her away, focusing instead on watching my father. I know how he feels about how I get information, but it’s all I know. Besides, he should understand better than anyone, all things considered. The dryads were once the protectors of Salona. If anyone knows about what is or will happen in the realm, it’s them.
I know most fear them now, though, and with good reason. Now, more often than not, they kill anyone they find, their magic twisted and dark like my own—like everything in this forest.
Maybe that’s why they don’t attack me, won’t harm me no matter how often I used to wish they would when I was a child. I found friends among the monsters the rest of the kingdom discarded, the same way they did me.
Maybe that’s why Father doesn’t trust their word; they’re tainted now. It’s the only thing that makes any sense to me. I can’t imagine he would fear them as the others do.
“Well, tell your trees they’re losing their touch,” he chuckles, pulling out the bread I made last night and moving toward the stew I started, hoping to mask her scent. He skips a bowl, dipping a chunk of bread directly into the pot before stuffing it into his mouth with a satisfied hum.
The one thing my father has always appreciated was my ability to cook, but never this much. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen my father smile and have fingers to spare.
“What do you mean?” I ask, careful to ensure I keep my tone neutral.
Whatever has him in a suddenly good mood can’t be good. His smile unsettles me. Just last week, I would have been overjoyed to have him return in a good mood. To learn something, anything that might help us on his never-ending quest, in hopes of having it over with.
But that was before I met her.
Now…
I don’t know what I want, but I can guarantee it’s not what he wants.
Not anymore.
Father’s smile grows, twisting up his face unnaturally. Someone as evil as him doesn’t do joy often enough for it to be natural.
“I found her.”
Ifelt her the second we came through the gate. Logically, I knew she was here when she left. Where else could she have gone? Yet I couldn’t stop the feeling of panic that came with her disappearing again.
Opening the moon gate takes a lot of magic, something I learned the hard way when I left years ago. It had taken almost everything I had to travel between the two realms. Leaving me drained for days, but that didn’t matter. Knowing I was one step closer to her made it worth it. Unfortunately, being in a realm that wasn’t as plentiful in magic, my own had never really returned to normal. After years of searching, I’d known I would need help to leave again, but I’d always assumed that help would come from Serena. We would have easily had enough power to go home between the two of us.
With her gone, my options became limited. I didn’t love the idea of bringing these guys with me, especially when they’ve made it abundantly clear how much they dislike me. But with no time to think of a better option, I wasn’t going to be picky. It was them or nothing, and if it meant getting to Serena, I’d do just about anything.
Things between the realms work differently. It’s not just our magic; we’re different as a whole, as people. We age differently, whereas those in the other realm show signs of age after only fifty years. My mother is almost eight hundred and looks younger than some of the fifty-year-old professors I had while there. I don’t know exactly how it breaks down, but I know enough that I’d bet the few hours Serena was gone before we arrived were more than just a few hours to her.
