Chapter One
The sun had gone down by the time Florian told Rune everything about what they’d done up to that point. Throughout the conversation, she kept interjecting and asking questions, but overall she seemed quite impressed that they only had three more Arrows to go, and was especially fascinated by Florian's abilities.
He’d mostly glossed over the stuff about old magic and the hag, only mentioning that they had gone to see her for guidance. He would tell her eventually, just like he had with Koji, but everything with Soleil and Thaddeus and his tether to them was a lot to cover when he was trying to tell her about everything else. To her credit, Rune appeared far more interested in the hag’s abilities to wield old magic than the reason they had gone to see her, and didn’t press him on explaining any further. It still seemed to interest her less than Florian’s Changeling abilities.
“So you can shift into whatever you want, as well?” she asked.
“Er, sort of—I have to be able to touch whatever it is first,” he said, and a smirk split her features.
“Oh, you’ll have to touch me, then?” she laughed, eyebrows waggling, and Florian flushed bright red.
“Uh—I mean—” he stammered, unsure of how to respond, but she interrupted him before he could embarrass himself any further.
“I’m only teasing,” she said, still laughing. “No, we’ve heard alllll about you and the wolf prince, even all the way here in the kraken kingdom. And anyway, you’re way too skinny for me.”
Somehow that was even more embarrassing, so Florian remained silent as she chuckled.
“Sorry, sorry,” she laughed when he didn’t respond. “Anyway, I can definitely help. Let’s have you try shifting tomorrow, alright? We’ll need to be in the water, and it’s going to be freezing before much longer now that the sun’s down.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Florian said, grateful to be moving on.
“You guys can stay here for tonight,” Rune continued. “I didn’t get the chance to sort out a guest house for you, obviously, but we can do that tomorrow as well. Guest house first, and then we’ll head into the water to shift.” She hesitated, glancing at Koji. “The first shift is always tough, so it should probably just be you and me, Florian. Sorry, Koji.”
Koji shook his head. “No problem at all.”
Florian remembered his first shifts as a wolf and a dragon. Those had been difficult, especially the dragon, so he imagined something even larger—the tentacles he’d seen suggested that they were downright enormous—would be even more of a struggle.
“Yeah,” he agreed, nodding. “Let’s do it.”
Florian didn’t sleep well—he and Koji were set up with blankets and pillows in the same sitting-room, but it still felt like sleeping on the floor. He spent most of the night curled on his side, watching the fire die back down to softly glowing embers and listening to the quiet crackle with the occasional sound of Koji breathing low and deep with sleep.
He thought about Kade, hoping he was alright, wondering what was happening to him then. Was he sleeping right now, or laying awake with nerves, too? Was Kallik still alive, or was he already gone?
He wouldn’t know until it was all over. There was nothing to be done now, he told himself over and over, but still sleep wouldn’t come easily.
Rune came to wake them shortly after the sun rose, trying to sneak past them quietly to the kitchen. Florian was a light sleeper, though, and could hear the sounds of water boiling and something cooking on the stove as he lay half-awake. Koji didn’t stir until Rune came in with mugs of coffee for each of them and another platter of food, this one with warm bread, bacon, and eggs.
“Rise and shine,” she said, setting the food and drinks down on the table, as Florian and Koji sat up from their pile of pillows and blankets. “Figured we’d better get an early start. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Thank you for the food,” Koji mumbled sleepily, reaching for the coffee first.
Once they were done with breakfast, Rune cleaned while Florian and Koji packed their things back up, then Rune led them out into the village. They walked along the main pathtoward the far end of the village and over a small hill. On the other side, more cottages were nestled between the road and the taller summit, veering away from the shore. Some already had smoke rising from their chimneys, but others were still dark.
“Here we are,” Rune said, leading them into one of the smaller homes, this one with a thatch roof. “This used to be old Astrid’s home, but she spends most of her time in the water now and lives with her son’s family when she’s on the land. So it’s furnished, but it might need some dusting.”
“You’re sure it’s alright for us to stay here?” Florian asked dubiously.
“Oh, sure,” Rune said, waving her hand. “I’ll clear it with Astrid when we head down, but we’ve used it for guests before. Not that we get a ton, but every so often.”
“Guests? From where?” Koji asked, looking surprised.
“We usually have a formal visit from a representative of the wolf kingdom once a year or so,” she said, shrugging. “And there are kraken shifters who live on Earth but come to visit family or friends sometimes. So there are guest cottages if they can’t stay in a relative’s house.”
“I see,” Koji said slowly, still looking unsure. It seemed the dragon kingdom never received visitors from what Florian could tell—not that the Winter Court got many, either. But from what he’d seen of the village so far, it seemed like the kraken kingdom was a tougher place to live than the rest, so it only made sense that more of them would live on the Earth, while still wanting to stay connected to those who remained in the Veil.
And despite all that, Torsten didn’t want to help them fix this. Anger flared in Florian’s chest all over again, but he tamped it down as best he could. He’d already known that both Tetsuo and Torsten thought their mission was doomed from the start, but still, it filled him with frustration. Retrieving the Arrowsto end the Blight would benefit everybody—yet so few seemed interested in helping him.
When they walked into the little guest cottage, it was dim and covered in dust, so Florian quickly moved on from his thoughts as they set to work. It was a small house with a similar layout to Rune’s home, but with only one floor: the front door opened to a short hallway, leading to a sitting room with the kitchen to one side, and a bedroom and bathroom on the other.
