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I had to make a choice. I glanced up at Grieve. We could run away together. The thought struck me as quickly as a lightning bolt and disappeared just as quickly. There was no place to run. If we let Myst win, she would spread out, her Shadow Hunters growing, breeding, feeding, and eventually a good share of the world would be once again encased in ice—only this time it would be ice formed of the frozen blood of her victims.
I shook my head. I will not run or turn away. I will meet the challenge, regardless of what it means for my future.
Then you were truly well chosen. Open the lid, Cicely.
Ulean’s gusts blew steadily around me, rippling across the waters. I sucked in my breath and opened the lid.
Within the flat, narrow box rested a pair of keys—one golden, one silver. They glimmered, and as I slowly reached in and took the silver one in my hands, a slow, cool rush began to rise through my body. I caught my breath and, not knowing what pushed me, turned to Rhiannon and held out the box. She held my gaze for a moment, then lifted the golden key.
We clasped hands and turned to the water. Something within was compelling me and apparently Rhia as well. As we faced the pond, the keys tightly in hand, the pool of water began to bubble. It fumed and frothed and rippled out in concentric circles as if something had jarred it from below. And then the water began to surge out, a ringed tidal wave splashing toward us out of the shallow crater in which it lay. I panicked—that much water could drown us, but as we stood there, facing the oncoming surge, something inside whispered to be calm, to wait.
“Get behind us!” I barked the order to the others, and Chatter, Grieve, and Kaylin crowded in without argument.
As the surge foamed out of the bowl and toward us, racing white steeds leading the wall of water, I sucked in a deep breath. Rhia did the same. We steeled ourselves, closing our eyes, but the expected impact didn’t come. Instead, it was as if we were standing on boulders in the center of a rushing river.
I opened my eyes, cautiously, to see the waves swirling around us, splashing us as they rolled by. But Rhiannon and I—and the men behind us—stayed dry as the waters parted around us.
It felt like we were in some surreal revenge-of-naturemovie. The surge seemed to continue for hours, but it must have only been a few minutes, and then the path cleared.
I glanced behind us to see the water rolling through the opening through which we’d come. The Black Annis’s body was gone, swept up in the flow.
“Look.” Rhiannon’s hushed voice focused my attention again and I turned back to the crater that had been the pool of water. There, in the center, a pillar had thrust itself up from the ground. Formed of what looked like skulls, the bones were interlaced with amethyst and quartz, peridot and garnets. A grisly tower, with a door in the center that was gold on top, silver on the bottom, with two keyholes.
A tremor started in my legs and worked its way up to my heart. This was it. This was the beginning of the last leg of our journey. We were nearing Lainule’s heartstone. I glanced over at Rhia and she nodded. We stepped forward, into the crater, and crossed the sloping bottom toward the tower.
Grieve, Chatter, and Kaylin silently followed behind us. They did not question or try to interfere. Once we reached the tower, we could measure its true height. It was thrusting out of the ground like some gigantic stalagmite, a good twenty feet high. And from here we could see that the skulls were intermingled with leg and arm bones, woven together in a tapestry.
The bones were purest white, shimmering with both their own light and the light of the gems. I wanted to reach out, to caress one of the skulls near me, but when my hand neared it, a low hiss made me withdraw. A golden green snake wove its way out of the eye socket, staring at me as it coiled, waiting. I nodded to it. There were guardians still, and we’d have to walk softly from here on out.
I turned to Rhia. “Are you ready?”
She nodded. “Yes. I think…we have to do this at the same time.”
And so we stepped up to the door, inserted our keys, and on the count of three, we turned them, and the tumblers clicked into place.
Chapter 12
The door slowly swung open, the keys staying within the locks. The archway was rounded, and the floor within was tiled just like the passage through which we’d first come—the stones shimmering from some dark and brilliant internal light.
I looked at the others, then stepped through. As I passed the entryway, a hush descended, and once again the pressure of ancient magic fell on our shoulders.
Grieve slipped up to my side and motioned for me to stop. “Let Kaylin take the lead. I sense he is needed here.”
I nodded, pressing back against the wall to allow Kaylin to slip by. We were working as a single entity now, trusting each other’s instincts. Kaylin stopped beside me, touching my cheek.
“You and Rhiannon…life will never be the same,” he said, then faced front. We fell in behind him, single file—me, then Rhia, Grieve, and lastly, Chatter brought up the rear.
The passage was short, opening into a room. But in front of the room, a lone maiden sat. I would have called her a girl, but she was dressed in a flowing gown and her hair rippled with gold, spilling down her shoulders. She looked as fragile as a butterfly caught in a strong wind. At first I thought she was a spirit—and maybe I was right, but there was no way in hell any of us were going to touch her to find out. The power surrounding her was so strong it shoved us back, like a giant hand separating her from us.
She was playing a stringed instrument that looked like a miniature harp. I listened, trying to catch the music, but the moment she strummed the strings, the wind caught up the sounds and tore them from earshot.
Who is she?
Ulean danced by, whispering as she passed. She is the Maiden of Knowledge. The Daughter of the Air.
Is she one of the Wilding Fae?
No, she is far more than that. She is…she simply is. This is but one of her avatars. Ulean softly rested on my shoulders, her susurration tickling my ears. You must answer her questions to pass. If not, she will rip you to shreds.
