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Kartik steps into the clearing, stops when he takes us in, bloodstained and half wild. He takes a step back, ready to retreat, but not before Felicity sees him.
"What are you doing here?" she screams.
Kartik doesn't answer. Instead, his eyes flit to the rock in my hand. I drop it fast, and it hits the earth with a thud.
In that one instant of distraction, Felicity seizes her chance. Grabbing a sharp stick, she charges Kartik, scraping him across the chest. Blood seeps up through the torn shirt, and he doubles over from the surprise of the gash. Her new skill as an archer is on display. She's got the stick poised, ready to run him through.
"I told you we'd carve your eyes out the next time," she growls.
I had thought Felicity dangerous a moment ago, when she felt powerful. I was wrong. Wounded and powerless, she is more dangerous than I could imagine.
Injured, Kartik is unable to defend himself for the moment. "Stop!" I shout. "Let him go and I'll take you into the realms."
Felicity is panting, the stick still raised above his eyes.
"Fee," Pippa whines, sounding a bit scared herself. "She's going to take us."
Slowly, Felicity releases him, saunters back to join us.
"She'll give us the power once we're there," she says, trying to save face. "I'm sure of it."
On the ground behind her, Kartik is worried. I give him a small nod to let him know it's going to be all right, though I don't know that. I have no idea what will greet us on the other side of that door now. I don't know what they've started, if anything. I only know that I've got to do it.
Felicity gives me a hard look. Things have changed forever. There's no going back. I follow them into the woods so that they can dress again. Soon, they are ready.
"Take my hands," I say, hoping for the best, fearing the worst.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The door pulses with light. When we stumble through, everything seems as it was. The river sings sweetly on. The sunset is still a gorgeous spill of colors. Flowers float by.
"You see?" Felicity says, eyes shining in triumph. "There's nothing amiss. I told you she only wanted the power for herself."
I ignore her, listening for anything out of place.
They glide down into the meadow ahead of me, walking toward the garden, hand in hand like a trio of paper-doll cutouts from a doily.
The wind shifts, bringing the scent of roses and that other, unfamiliar stench, which sends me running after them.
"Wait! Felicity, please listen, I think we should go back."
"Go back? We just got here," she says, mocking me.
Ann's face is a stone. "We're not going back without the power to cross over by ourselves."
The huntress is suddenly by our sides. It startles me. Odd that I never heard her approach. I can't help thinking of her offering me the berries. It makes me cold all over. She wipes a ringer across Felicity's bloody face, rubs the stain with her thumb. She brings the finger to her mouth, tastes it and smiles.
"You've made a sacrifice, I see."
"Yes," Felicity says. "Will you grant us the power to enter the realms?"
"Didn't I promise that I would?" She smiles but there's no warmth in it. "Follow me."
I grab Felicity by the arm. "This is wrong. We shouldn't go," I whisper.
"No, somethings finally right," she says, breaking away and running after the others.
I follow them under the silver arch, into the grotto. My mother is nowhere to be seen. The smells of my childhood waft by. Curry. Pipe smoke. And something else. There it is again. That unpleasant stench.
