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Once we were at the top of the ravine, the going was quicker and we moved silently through the path, our sounds muffled by the snowfall. The clouds had moved in and now a light flurry had started, softening our footsteps even more. Although still overgrown, the trail wasn't as bad as it had been back in the ravine. Someone had to be keeping it under control, and my guess was the Indigo Court. The light fell through the trees in an odd, slanted way, and the silver-tinged sky lent an air of foreboding to the disturbing ambience that filtered through the woodland.
I kept my eyes open for the stand of red huckleberries. I knew them by sight, even without the berries in blossom. Blue huckleberries grew more frequently over the Cascades, in eastern Washington. I was beginning to wonder if Grieve's instructions were right when, within a few minutes, I saw a thick patch of them ahead--there must have been twenty or thirty bushes in one grouping.
"Start looking for the Faerie ring. Don't step inside of it--we need to go around it. Grieve was clear on that. Don't step inside the ring of toadstools."
I glanced around. Toadstools were another commonality in the forest--their growth spurred on by the dampness and the thick decay that littered the forest floor. Moss grew heavy in these woods, and ferns, and all plants misty and magical. That they'd be up during the snow was odd, but then again, this was a magical wood and the Fae could work wonders with the flora.
We slowly passed through the stand of huckleberries and I was beginning to wonder yet again if we'd made a wrong turn when Leo said, "I found it."
Off to our left, about ten yards past the shrubs, a wide ring covered the path. A good twelve feet in diameter, the ring was comprised of toadstools that were rust and brown, with white spots that dappled their skin. Some had blossomed out--their tops flat and fully open, ready to spore. Still others retained bulbous heads, tightly closed to stem. Their aroma was heady and bitter: pungent earth, tangy like fermented dirt. The snow within the ring was pristine, untouched by even animal prints, and the trail to the side was clearly visible.
Rhiannon backed away. "There's something wrong with that circle."
Leo knelt beside it, careful not to place his hand inside. He reached down, touching the ground beside the ring. "The magic here is deep--strong. Earth magic, but not friendly to us. I can feel it pulsing through the ground, touching the trees and plants all around here."
I reached out, trying to listen, but my power lay with the wind and there was little I could latch on to. "Kaylin, what do you think?"
Kaylin motioned for us to move back from it. "Rhiannon is right--this Faerie ring is a trap. Don't step inside, don't even put a single finger inside of it. I don't know exactly what would happen, but it's waiting for its next victim."
"Grieve said to skirt the outside of it. From here, we walk for another hour until we come to what he called the Twin Oaks. There we'll turn right after stepping between them, and we'll be at the Marburry Barrow." I glanced at the sky, wondering how long we'd been out here so far. It was cold and getting colder, but I wasn't willing to turn around and go home yet. "Anybody have any idea of what time it is?"
Kaylin flipped open his cell phone. "Reception here, not so good, but the clock says we're going on ten thirty. It took us an hour to cross the ravine and talk to Chatter. So if we keep a good pace, we should reach the Barrow at a little before noon."
"Let's get moving then. I'm chilled through. Walking helps."
I sucked in a deep breath and headed around the mushroom ring, bypassing the danger by keeping to its edge. The tingle of magic followed me, reaching out to jar my senses but otherwise left me alone. One step over the line, though, and we'd be in big trouble.
Traveling was easier at this point, although we had to keep a clear lookout for hidden rocks and roots beneath the snow cover. Twice I stopped, holding my hand for the others to wait as I tuned into the wind, listening to noises coming along the slipstream.
Once, I caught the distinct impression of a shriek that vibrated down my spine, a bolt of fear hidden in the one, lone cry. I kept quiet, not wanting to alarm the others. Not ten minutes later, another noise set my alarms ringing, but what I thought might be another goblin dog turned out to be a rabbit loping by. It stopped for a moment, nose twitching as it stood on its hind legs to look at us, before it turned to dart back into the undergrowth.
"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late . . ." I whispered under my breath. But since the rabbit carried neither a pocket watch, nor wore a waistcoat, I decided this wasn't our rabbit hole. Too bad Myst wasn't as innocuous as the White Queen.
Sure enough, at about twenty minutes to noon, the forest began to open out into a clearing and up ahead we could see a pair of oak trees, towering huge. The path led right between them, and beyond, the route blurred to the eye.
"A portal . . ." Kaylin said.
"What?" I turned to him as he joined me at the trailhead.
"The oaks--they make up the sides of the portal. From here, I can't see anything but a barren mound, but want to make a bet we walk through there and bingo, we'll be facing the Marburry Barrow?"
I nodded, slowly. That would account for the indistinct blur around the edges. "You're right, I think. Grieve said they were a portal, that we had to pass through the oaks to find the Barrow. But now I'm wondering whether there might be members of the Indigo Court prowling the outskirts? We know they can go out in the daylight, so what's to prevent them from being there? Maybe I didn't think this thing through enough before suggesting we come out here."
Rhiannon pressed close to my side. "My mother's in there, and Peyton. They need me. I have to try."
Leo frowned. "I brought a few things from Marta's ritual gear that might help us." He set down his pack and began to fish through it, bringing up a handful of what looked like vertebrae. "Snake bones," he said. "I've studied enough to know that these can be used to create a cloud of poison--"
I looked at him. "Poison? I thought you were a healer."
"Heather taught me from the beginning: A witch who cannot hex, cannot heal. The balance of light and shadow--there's a place for the dark, Cicely. You know that from the life you led." He shrugged. "We have to be willing to do whatever it takes, considering who we're facing and what's at stake."
Blinking, I realized just how far down the road we'd come in just a matter of a few days. Danger was no longer a concept. We were staring it in the face. And the world needed both life and death, but in balance. The Vampiric Fae were upsetting that balance.
"Yeah, I get it. You think that the gas would work on the Indigo Court?"
"We don't know, so save it as a last resort," Kaylin said. "I know one way to slip in there and see what's going on."
"And what's that?" I asked, glancing at him.
