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Rhia stood still, staring. “But…but…I can.”
“What?” I whirled, staring at her. “You can see it?”
She nodded, her lips pale, as she stared into my eyes. “I can see the door, Cicely.”
“Does that mean…Grieve, are you sure that only those of Cambyra Fae should be able to see it? Because if so, that means…”
“Rhiannon also possesses Fae blood in her veins.” Grieve looked at her. “You possess fire magic, like Chatter.”
“No,” she whispered, pressing her fingers to her throat. “I can’t be part Fae. Mother…she would have told me.”
“My mother never did. And Heather said you will know your father in time.” As I stared at her, a suspicion began to form in my thoughts, but I kept it to myself, not even wanting to dwell on the possibility at this point.
“We must hurry. We can speculate on Rhiannon’s heritage when we have found Lainule’s…treasure.” Grieve touched the door handle and it sprang open to his fingers, as if it had been waiting for him.
I peered into the darkened opening. A swirl of color began to spin, gold and green and brilliant blood red. My dream, this was my dream.
I looked up at the others. “We have to take a leap of faith here. No hesitation, only action.”
And with that, I swung my legs over the edge, inhaled deeply, and before they could stop me, I pushed myself over, falling into the swirl of color, leaping into the rabbit hole.
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?”>Rhiannon paused. For a moment she seemed to waver, but then Heather laughed, and her laughter was like an icicle through the heart. Rhia stepped back and held out her hands, dropping the stake on the ground.
She whispered, “Fire, burn through me,” and a spray of fire shot forth from her fingertips, surrounding Heather, lighting the gossamer gown aflame.
Heather screamed as the flames roared to life, feeding on the cloth. The next moment, she threw herself into a snowbank, extinguishing the burning material. When she rose, a murderous smile filled her eyes.
“I can play rough, too, my darling daughter.” Another whisper, and this time the forest shook, the ground beneath our feet shifting. I lost my balance and fell, as did Rhiannon. Kaylin went sprawling over a tree trunk. Chatter and Grieve caught hold of trees to keep themselves afoot.
Heather was intoning a dark chant, deep and ancient, and terrifyingly old, and the tree next to Rhia began to topple toward her. I screamed as Chatter rushed forward, grabbing her around the waist and rolling clear just as the tree landed where she’d been standing.
