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“Yes, I can see them.” Grieve’s answer was quiet, without the snarl, without emotion.
“Follow my words as they guide you through the snow.” He paused, then said, “The snow is beginning to melt, turning into a trickle of water. The trickle of water grows, turning into small rivulets, and then into small creeks, into raging streams that follow the path through the woods. See the snow vanish, feel the sun rising higher in the sky as Summer regains the land. Can you see this? Can you feel the warmth on your face as the light returns?”
“Yes, I can see it. I can feel it!” The longing in my beloved’s voice cut me to the quick. We had to find a way to break the hold Myst had on him, to clear his blood…There had to be a way to turn him back into the noble prince he once was.
“Let the light encompass you, draw you back, bring you back to your heart again, to your core, to your wolf. Let the light into your eyes, let Summer’s song fill your heart.” Chatter knelt by Grieve, and he reached out and cupped Grieve’s chin with his palm. I could see how much it cost him to watch his best friend stagger under the weight of Myst’s curse.
After a moment, Grieve took another long breath, and he looked up at Chatter. While no words were said, I clearly heard a whisper of thanks pass between them. Chatter offered Grieve his hand, and as Grieve rose, the two nodded, a private moment between them. I looked away, feeling helpless and hopeless. But then, as I leaned back against the tile, the tingle of Lainule’s heartstone echoed through me and I stood, ready to press on.
The tunnel was full of her essence. It was all around us, almost as if she, herself, were here. I turned to the others. Rather than embarrass Grieve by asking how he was, I decided to just continue.
“Ready to go?” I wasn’t sure if he’d want to take the lead or not, but Grieve and Chatter moved to the front again.
“We’re ready. Let’s go.” Chatter gave me a quiet nod.
I swept in behind him, Rhia took her place behind me, and then Kaylin at the back. As Grieve led us down the passage, away from the glowing clouds of the portal, the tiles took on a life of their own and whatever spark was within them shone through, as if we were walking through a hallway surrounded by shooting stars.
I wondered how far we’d have to go and how we’d find the heartstone. I wanted to shake the worries out of my head—I’d been too entrapped by my own thoughts lately and the constant questioning of every move I made was beginning to wear on me. Not to mention it had been a couple of days since I’d gone out in my owl form and I was beginning to realize that that was not a good thing. Once I’d unleashed my Uwilahsidhe nature, it needed to stretch its wings and fly on a regular basis.
Speaking of…I glanced back at Rhiannon. She’d seen the door. Only those with Cambyra blood could see the door. Which meant…I slipped back and took her hand.
“Lost in your thoughts?” I said as she startled, looking up at me as if she hadn’t realized I’d been there.
She nodded. “Yes, thinking…”
“About your father.”
“About my father, yes. If I am like you…we are truly twin-cousins. But I can’t help but wonder. Do you think Wrath is my father, too?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. He could be. Which would mean we truly are sisters.” I found myself hoping that was the case—Rhia was the only sister I’d ever known, and to know that we were not only cousins but sisters would be a blessing. “I hope he is.”
She smiled then. “I think I’d like that. I like Wrath.”
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” I squeezed her hand. “We’ll find out when we return home. If we can retrieve Lainule’s heartstone, surely she’ll tell us the truth.” But the Summer Queen’s words suddenly echoed through my mind, rushing through on a cool gust of wind. When you save a life, you bear its burdens the rest of your days.
Up ahead, Grieve suddenly stopped. The passage ended, opening into a chamber. Chatter and Grieve slowly entered, standing to the side. I dropped Rhia’s hand and walked toward the arch. As I stepped through the arch, my breath spiraled out of my body and I found myself on my knees, facing the most incomparable beauty I’d ever seen in my life. Any life.
The chamber was vast. So vast there was no telling how wide or long it was. Filled with giant dark roots of trees and stalagmites and stalactites, it was both cavern and barrow. Pale vines, devoid of pigment, trailed down from the tree roots, like some ghostly mirror of ivy plants gone mad.
They coiled around the rock pillars, around the roots that plunged down through the chamber into the ground below our feet. Like floral snakes hiding in tree boughs, they waited. A sparkle of crystal flowers dappled the albino leaves, violet and rose and brilliant peridot.
I slowly crossed into the chamber, unable to fully take in the beauty that spread before me. A pool shimmered in the center, wide enough that a boat sat on one end. The boat could fit six people and was white, painted with oak and ivy leaves. By the scent, it had been carved from a cedar log.
The pond rippled softly against the shore. At first I thought it was white sand, but when I drew closer, the sand was actually made up of millions of tiny white pebbles.
To my left, the shadows took hold—I could not see what lay between the roots and stone pillars creating a labyrinthine path. And to my right—another path, leading into the distance.
I turned back to Grieve, my breath hushed. “Where are we?” My words sounded lame, breaking the silence, perhaps the first words spoken here in thousands of years.
He shook his head. Chatter did not know either.
I cautiously made my way over to a fallen stalactite, gingerly sitting on it as I tried to figure out where to go from here. Rhiannon joined me. She took my hand as we sat there in silence.
Kaylin crouched near the water, his fingers reaching out to touch it, but he stayed his hand a few inches from the lapping waves, a look of uncertainty on his face. We were at an impasse.
Ulean, I don’t know what to do next.
What does your heart tell you?
