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He made a low sound in his throat but didn’t elaborate.
I tugged my dirty T-shirt over my head and wiped the sweat from my forehead with it. “You don’t have anything else to say about that?”
He shrugged. “No, what is there to say? She’s evil, and we knew that.”
“How am I supposed to toss true love in her face, Ernest? That’s not something visible to fight with.”
“Isn’t it?” he asked. “I knew you loved Josephine from the moment I saw you give her one of those broody stares.”
“So, staring at Josephine will kill Deidamia?”
Ernest chuckled and slid my eggs onto a large, flat rock. I nearly ate the rock itself. “Thank you,” I said, wiping my mouth.
Ernest took a seat and glanced out at the Dark Woods. “I think Deidamia is more human than we think she is, Kellan. She’s lonely.”
“Why don’t you ask her on a date, then? I’m taken, sadly enough.”
Ernest gave me a bored look. “She’s heartbroken. The evil in her life has eaten away her soul. I have an idea, but it’s going to take some magic on my part.”
“Speaking of,” I said, eating my other piece of bread. “I’ve seen you do hardly any magic, old man. I’m starting to think you talked Fern into believing you can do magic.”
He laughed. “The most powerful people do not walk around waving their skills in everyone’s face, Kellan.”
“Well, we need your magic right about now. I need you to pull it out of your satchel or from underneath that robe. I’m beginning to grow tired of doing everything around here.”
Ernest smiled. “I sent Josephine and Fern to find the spindle.”
“Touché,” I said. “You did do that ... with my help.”
Ernest sipped his canteen of water. “I see what Josephine sees in you that no one else does. You’re much nicer than you play to be.”
I groaned. “Don’t go ruining my reputation, old man. I need people to think I’m cruel, so they’ll be scared.”
“Got it,” Ernest said, standing up and readjusting his robe. “I won’t let anyone know if you help me down this hill. I may have magic, but I’m still old.”
“Are you sure we should go in so soon?” I asked, pouring some of my water over the campfire. “Should we wait on Josephine?” I asked.
Ernest looked out over the Dark Woods. “We have days to go. They will find us, Kellan. Have faith that she’ll figure out who has it and bring it to us.”
I had hope that she would pull through. I didn’t want her to land in the dark forest alone with me. I needed to protect her. I was the prince in this story, wasn’t I?
The princess wasn’t meant to go off alone in the Dark Woods.
Ernest stepped beside me. “I wasn’t joking about helping me down this hill.”
I wrapped my arm around his waist and held him tightly to me. The steep hill we began to walk down felt like sliding deeper into the world.
To the place where all my problems began.
Ernest held on to me for dear life the further we descended toward the forest. The silence grew heavier, and the death of the greenery felt sticky, like quicksand.
A heaviness pressed against my chest, and I took a deep breath to push it away. Only it didn’t go away. It clung to me like a child.
“Something feels wrong,” I whispered. “I think something is wrong with Josephine.”
I stalled on the hill, torment and panic drowning me in my own anxiety. “We have to keep going,” Ernest whispered.
But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t get rid of the pain in my chest.
